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by SitasMom on 13 September 2011 - 03:09
Hanny had open pyro and her only symptom was her heat lasted a few days too long. She ate, played fetch, wanted to jump into the SUV, and insisted on protection work......she acted totally normal....
When she was spay it was just horrible......vet said she had it for quite some time and it could have killed her at any time, and that it was most likely quite painful. GSD's are stoic.
After her spay, I had blood tests every week to make sure the infection was being killed. She needed 4 weeks of one antibiotic and then 2 more weeks Baytrill to finally clear her of infections.
Now she's back to being her happy healthy self.
by hexe on 13 September 2011 - 03:09
by Sunsilver on 13 September 2011 - 12:09
by Brittany on 14 September 2011 - 21:09
by Pharaoh on 15 September 2011 - 17:09
Michele
by TorquieGirl on 15 September 2011 - 20:09
Thank you everyone for alerting me to the seriousness of her condition, your kind words and support.
First I would like to say how lucky my Husband (Tim) and I are.
Torque is like our little girl and we love her very much.
I decided to start from the beginning; sorry it’s such a long post.
September 11th: Sunday
It started at about 1 in the afternoon. I noticed that she had a bit of a brownish discharge. I watched her throughout the day and it got worse as the day progressed.
I called the vet about 8pm and explained to him what was happening. He asked if she was vomiting, had any loss of appetite, depression, increased drinking and urinating or if she had fever. Torque had none of the symptoms except the discharge. I couldn’t take her temperature, but her nose was cold and wet. The vet made an appointment for me to go in first thing in the morning. t was about 10:00 and all the sudden Torque started whining and almost howling. I was still up, but Tim had gone to bed, and she had actually woke him up. After about 15 minutes she stopped, and just started breathing really heavy. After another 20 minutes she seemed to be ok and went to sleep. I went to bed and she came with me, and cuddled up on her bed. The next thing I knew I could hear her crying and Tim got up with her. At about 3:00 Tim came back to bed for a bit. Torque was on the bed with us, she was actually Tim’s side completely stretched out. Tim and I had to cuddle up (I’m not complaining!!) because Torque did not want to move. Torque was getting worse and worse with every passing hour. Tim woke me up at 5:00am and asked if I would stay with Torque while he caught a few hours’ sleep. During the 3 hours I was with her she went from being a little sick to being critically ill. She couldn’t hold her bladder, and would be walking and peeing all at the same time.
September 12th: Monday
Monday morning at 8am, I called the Vet to see if I could go in earlier, and they said no problem.
I was getting my car ready to take her when the Vets office called, and he was stuck in traffic cause of a car accident.
Finally I got her to the vet and he confirmed that it was pyometra, and explained it to me. There is open and closed, both are very dangerous but closed is worse because the poison (for lack of a better word) was trapped inside with nowhere to go. Luckily Torque had open pyometra. He then took her temperature and it was 103.5. Which is very high? The vet explained that when pyometra is accompanied by a fever, that means the infection may have spread into blood, liver, lungs, etc. I was now officially terrified. The vet said that he could treat her with medication, if we really wanted to breed her, but we would have to breed her in her next heat. I had no doubt or question in my mind, that she would have the surgery. I explained to him that yes we would love to breed her, BUT her health is more important to us than her having puppies.
He said that he needed to do the surgery immediately right away or she may not make it, she was getting sicker and sicker by the minute. On a good note the Vet said that her heart was strong and she was in otherwise excellent health and she still seemed very happy, playing walking around. I handed the leash over to him and asked him to take care of our baby. I have never prayed so hard in my life. The drive back home seemed to take so long
by TorquieGirl on 15 September 2011 - 20:09
by TorquieGirl on 15 September 2011 - 21:09
I couldn’t stop crying, praying that she was going to be. I was told the surgery would take about 2 hours, and they would call me when she was out of surgery. The vet said that I would be picking her up that evening. I was told that I had to go home and sterilize and clean everything, her bed, toys, places where she lies etc.
After 2 ½ hours I had still not received a phone call, I phoned them, and she was still in surgery. So we continued to clean.
Tim came home and we shampooed the carpets, pulled all the covers off the couches, sheets of the bed, and washed everything. All the toys that couldn’t be cleaned I threw away, I used boiling water to clean all her rubber balls and toys. Threw her stuffed squeaky toys in the washer. I must have done about 10 loads of laundry. (Not clothes) just all the couch cushions, pillows etc. 3 hours had now gone by, so I phoned again, they were almost done just putting in the stitches. The nurse came to talk to me on the phone, and told me that they have no idea how she was still alive. There was so much infection in her uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes, that there is no way she should have even been able to walk let alone play.
The vet couldn’t believe that she had no outward symptoms. I felt so bad, how could I have not known she was this sick? The vet said that even when he looked at her, he never would have guessed it was as bad as it was. Torque was playing with her toys and doing the normal things she always does, she was even trying play with the vet.
Then came the 2nd blow that she would not be coming home that night. Torque would have to remain in the hospital with an IV and a morphine pump. I tell you, my heart was breaking. Even though the surgery was done, she was still not out of the woods. I cried so much that my eyes were bloodshot and my contacts wouldn’t come out!
September 13th
30 this morning, because I could have swore I could hear her. I decided to pass the time till we could pick her up and clean some more. I needed to make sure that the house was completely free of any of the discharge she was leaking. We even steam cleaned the parts of the couch that we could not detach and put in the wash.
September 13th: Tuesday
I woke up at 4:30, I had to wait till 7:00am before I could phone the vet without feeling like an ass for getting him out of bed. (He transfers the office phone to his house at night) Apparently when the staff got to the office there was Torque to greet them she was standing up and barking at them and ready to go. They couldn’t believe it. So we were told that she would be discharged at 11:00am. So naturally Tim and I left at 10:30…..lol
we got to the office and they explained the details of the surgery and how bad it really was. The 2 hour surgery actually turned into almost 31/2 hours. They said that this is the worst case of pyometra that they had ever seen. They wanted to make sure they got absolutely everything. They did a full hysterectomy, removed the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. They asked if they could show me what they took out of her, I said yes, Tim said No thanks (LOL). They took me into the back and showed me her uterus, it should have been the size as a child’s fist; Torques was the size of my two fists put together. The fallopian tubes should be maximum the size of your index finger, Torques was the size of my wrist. The reason everything was 3 times bigger is because they were filled with the brown fluid (poison basically) I couldn’t believe that this had come out of Torque. The nurse just kept telling me how luck we were. I felt so guilty, but the nurse said that she had no symptoms really except for the discharge.
by TorquieGirl on 15 September 2011 - 21:09
(I had assumed that she was just finishing her heat cycle. tail end of her cycle). I honestly felt like a horrible pet mommy, I know Torque so well, and in the past I have noticed when something has changed, but this time there was no changes in her temperament, playing or sleeping habits.
FINALLY the time came when we could see her. She came running up to us, even though she had stitches and a cone on her head. The Vets office was so shocked that she was up on her feet and ready to go. We paid the bill (not telling) got her medications and then came home. I only have a 2 door car, and I think she would have had a hard time getting in so, Tim took her in his truck, because it is lowered, and easier for her to get into. All I know is that today Tim and I became 2 of the luckiest people today , when we got to bring Torque home after her having such a seriously life threatening issue.
Torque will be on the mend for the next few days, she is already slowly getting back to her old self, and her stitches come out in 14 days.
September 14th: Wednesday
Torque is now lying beside me on the couch snoring her little head off!!!
So with that being said if by me writing this note helps to save one family from going through the hell that Tim and I went through, then I have done my job.
September 15th: Thursday
Torque is doing amazing, she is sleeping a lot, but she is very alert.
As a closing note: I used to think people said to have your pets spayed or neutered was just to stop unwanted pregnancies or because there was so many unwanted pets out there, but you never hear people say to have your pet fixed because of the high risk of females getting pyometra, and that it is known as the silent killer. I really wish that there was more information out there about pyometra, because I had never heard of it before. And I am sure that some of you have never heard of it either
not to preach, but if you do not plan to breed your dog please have them fixed, so that you and your family hopefully never have to go through this.
I have added some pictures of her post-surgery. (warning- There are pictures of the incision)
by Red Sable on 15 September 2011 - 21:09
Kudo's to Sunsilver for nailing the symptoms so quickly.
Who says this board never solves anything?!
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