Recovery From Pyometra-Good News! - Page 2

I have a dog who had a pyo infection two heat cycles ago. We treated her with hormone injections to help flush her uterus. We also had her on baytril injections and a bland diet. She did well with treatment. We bred her the next time she came in and she had 9 healthy happy pups. She is just finishing another heat cycle. We did not breed her and knock on wood, no problems.

If they decide to breed on next heat be sure that the vet runs a vag culture to see if there's any residual infection early in the heat cycle. Depending on how serious, and if it responds to treatment  if there's some infection they may want to put her on oral, or IV antibiotics or to do a vag. flush to clear the infection. 

Good luck... I'd also recommend frequent swabs durring pregnancy to see what's cooking...

Good idea, Windwalker. I'll never forget one of the first surgeries I observed at the animal clinic. The bitch was pregnant, and had pyometra. The bacteria had eaten right through the uterus. She was lucky to survive!

She was a mixed breed, bred to another dog of dubious ancestry, yet the owner was disappointed to lose the pups! 

My 2 year old bitch was bred by AI and about 30 days later started to bleed. I thought she was aborting the litter and took her in for ultrasound. They found pyo and recommended I spay her. I took her to a specialist and she said we should try since it was an open pyo and recommended the Lutalyse The vet I had taken her to first had started her on Baytril without swabbing her vagina, come to find out she had e-coli that was resistant to everything except an antibiotic that was $70 and needed 2 weeks of it (I cant think of the name offhand, will post later if I can find it). She never acted sick and we re-ultrasounded her 7 days later and the pyo was completely gone. The lutalyse was not bad at all for her, she was drooling for about 3 minutes and I walked her in case she was having cramping and wasnt showing pain, the vet said this would help. The side effects did not seem to bother her and seemed to only last 5 minutes at the most. They also decreased in intensity each time the shot was given. I did this at home and the treatment including the ultrasounds was $700. I bred her on her following 2 heats and she did not conceive. The 3rd heat she was bred and produced 1 male pup. I am going to attempt to breed her again and if she does not conceive or only has another single pup I am going to spay her. Good Luck!

The antibotic was Simplasef(sp?)

Seems that antibiotic resistant E-coli is a common cause of pyometra. Thanks, Pattycakes, I'll pass the info on!

Most doctors and vets give antibiotics without doing a culture first, because it's cheaper. This is one of those times when I strongly feel a culture IS needed!

Never heard of that antibiotic before. Anyone know if that is the correct spelling?

 

Thanks, pattycakes. That explains it....that particular brand name is only used in veterinary medicine, while the names I know for drugs are the ones for humans. Same drug is licensed for use in humans under a different brand name.

Good news from my friend re. her dog!!


Yes! We had an excellent report from Guelph tonight! She is on schedule to come home Monday. If everything coninues the way it has been so far!!!


Thank  you all for your contributions. They were very helpful.

folks<

several years ago i was in contact with louise pennery privately and she gave me some very good information.  i had a female with pyometra and had her spayed.  three years later she was suffering from spondylosis.  very often, these degenerative diseases can be spurred by infections.  if you are going to fool around with pyometra, please be aware that the infections are not limited to the uterus.  even though the bitch appears to be healed, she may not be.  there is a greater risk for reinfection with each heat.  so whether you decide to treat with medication or spay, please keep an eye on the dog's progress.  like humans, a dog can carry a low grade infection for quite some time.  those infections can be to the foot of a number of other ailments.
pjp