Sable GSD Brown Vaginal Discharge - Page 1

Hi Im Lorraine, and my dogs name is Torque, she is 7 years old and is a sable GSD, and my baby.
 Today Sept 11th 2011, I noticed She has a brownish milky like vaginal discharge. She came out of heat about a week and a half ago. There was nothing unusual about her heat cycle. There is no an offensive  odour, maybe  a similar smell to blood, she just seems to be licking herself a little more than normal. She doesnt seem to be in pain, she is acting normal, playing, sleeping, drinking water, and normal bathroom habits. The only thing a little different is she isnt eating as much, but it has been very hot here, and she normally eats less when its hot. I dont want to sound like an over protective Pet parent, but she is my baby, and I love her to death. I decided if it hasn't gone away by Wednesday, or if there should be change in her normal activities I will take her to the vet. Anyone have any similar experiecnce?

Get her to the vet ASAP. That's the typical way that pyometria develops. Somehow the horome levels are just right a couple of weeks after the heat to cause a uterine infection. If left untreated, she could die. However, since it's an open pyo (discharge is coming out, rather than being contained in the uterus, it's a little less dangerous than a closed pyo. Still, get her to the vet tomorrow, if at all possible! This will NOT get better on its own!

OMG. Thankl you so much for a quick reply. I will make an appointment now or if there is no one there first thing in the morning. What do they normally do to treat it?

Called the Vet appointment is tomorrow morning. Again I cant thank you enough for your reply. 

Sounds most definatley like Pyo, watch her closely tonight and if you feel she may not be feeling/doing well get her into the emergency vet.  Pyo is treated with spay or a harsh/painfull regiment of hormones/antibiotics....which may or may not work.  She is an older female and should have an emergency spay tommorow.  Sending best wishes for you and your girl!

My next question.
I just gave her a bowl of food, she ate it with no problem. I am hoping I caught this early enough. The only symptoms she has is the discharge and panting, but it has been extremely hot, right now it is 84. My husband and I discussed it and if the vet says to do the surgery we are going to. She walking around with no problems, doesnt seem lathargic at all. She just keeps licking herself. I feel for her I really do. Up until today we never noticed any change in her, and if I didnt see the discharge I would not even guess there was anything wrong. She was looking out the window and barking with no problems. Do you think I have caught it early enough, for her to be ok?

Take the dog's temperature; as long as it remains within normal range--which is 100 to 102.5 degrees Fahrenheit/38 to 39 degrees Celsius--she should be OK until the vet sees her tomorrow morning.  If, however, her temp rises above the ranges shown, it is an indication that the infection is escalating, and you need to contact your vet or the nearest emergency vet clinic immediately. 

It does sound like you've caught things early on--she's eating, she's alert, she's not depressed or non-responsive, and I expect her temperature will be within normal range when you check it.  An open pyometra can be treated with antibiotics and hormonal therapy, though I'm not sure where Olga Ashley got the information that such treatment is painful and harsh--it is a somewhat lengthy process, to be sure, and requires the owner to be very observant of their dog (which you certainly appear to be), and if treatment is chosen the bitch MUST be bred on her very next heat cycle to avoid a repeat of the infection, but painful or harsh it is not.  But for females that are not going to be used for breeding, or which are being retired as brood bitches, the best treatment option for a pyometra is an immediate hysterectormy (removal of the uterus), with or without removal of the ovaries (leaving the ovaries is not usually an option in most areas in the US, but you can ask...).  That will eliminate any chance of it ever happening again. :)

Let us know how your 'Torquie girl' makes out...love the name, BTW!

Hope your girl is doing better and it does sound like you did catch it very early.  My female June (the last daughter of my foundation female, from her last litter, ofcourse) had Pyo after her first heat cycle, I caught it on the morning it started and rushed her to the vet, her pyo was open as well.  I took her to my vet, who is an excellent reproductive vet and has always done the c-sections on my foundation female (I'm vet happy/she was a lazy whelper/planned  c-sections it was) and was actually the vet that pulled June out of her mama.  This vet told me the treatment was painfull and harsh; the other vet I work with there (the main vet's son) agreed.  We did an ultrasound and her uterus was just slightly larger than normal, thus we put her on VERY heavy antibiotics and I returned for ultrasounds every day for a week to make sure the infection was not progressing.  VERY stressful and VERY scary, but June got through it and was bred on her next heat cycle to produce 9 beautiful, healthy babies.  June produced a 2nd litter of 2 boys and could never get pregnant again, she is now in a lovely family home.  I do have her daughter and grandaughter to continue my foundation line.  Maybe treatments have changed now as this was in early 2007, or maybe they used a different treatment, but from how this treatment was described to me, if antibiotics would not have worked I would have spayed my June bug.    

From what I've watched my friend go through with her bitch, I would spay her.

When Story developed pyo after her second heat, Sarah took her to the veterinary college at Guelph, and she was treated with antibiotics and prostaglandin. Prostaglandin is the same drug they use to induce labour in human females, and it causes intense, labour-like contractions of the uterus. It can also cause nausea, vomiting  and diarrhea, so, yes, I would say it is a rather harsh drug. Story was obviously uncomfortable while she was on it. Anyway, between the antibiotics to treat the infection, and the prostaglandin to clean out the uterus, she made a good recovery.

She got pregnant on her next heat, and whelped 7 beautiful pups, but she was on very expensive antibiotics throughout the pregnancy.

Last year, she had a second litter, again with the help of antibiotics. This time, there were 10 pups, but we lost one to a cleft palate.

This time around, Sarah decided to do without the antibiotics. Last weekend, Story began to have a bloody discharge. She was rushed to Guelph, where they examined her, using both ultrasound and a vaginal scope, to look inside the uterus.

All the pups in the one horn were dead, and she had a large black mass in that horn as well.

Now, after numerous trips to Guelph for ultrasounds, she has passed the mass and the dead pups. There is still one dead pup in there, but there are also at least 3 live ones. Sarah is hoping they can keep the remaining pups alive long enough to be delivered, either naturally or by C-section. Her due date is sometime between the 18th and the 20th, so Sarah and I would appreciate your prayers/good thoughts for the next little while.

The cost of this is pretty horrendous, not to mention the worry and sleepless nights!  It's been over $1,500 so far, and if she goes into labour on the weekend, and gets into difficulty, the college charges $5,000 Canadian for an emergency C-section!

I think treating a pyo comes down to being another one of those "YMMV" situations, as both of the bitches that I know well who underwent the treatment had no complications during or after the process, and each went on to successfully whelp several normal, healthy litters. The most recent one was just two or three years back, and the one prior to that was back in 1999--in both cases these were open pyos that were caught *VERY* early, which perhaps accounts for the easier time both girls had with the treatment. Even the ones I observed while working in a practice seemed to handle both the antibiotics and the prostaglandin well, and with little to no discomfort.  Generally, the only dogs I've seen have a rougher time of it with treatment have been the ones that were closed pyos; my bosses always strongly discouraged treatment for those dogs, so we didn't do a lot of them. 

I do believe that spaying is the better choice whenever possible, especially in cases where there never was any intent to breed the bitch anyway, but for those who really want to get at least one (more) litter from their female, treatment does offer that hope.  The cost for treatment DEFINITELY isn't going to be any bargain, though, that's for sure!

Sunsilver, I will keep your friend's bitch in my thoughts, and hopefully the remaining pups can be successfully delivered and will be normal and healthy.  I'm guessing that this is going to be Story's last litter, given this situation?