# Pyometra or pregnancy?



## Aaisha (Aug 20, 2012)

Okay so my husky is a six year old female. She has been on heat and has mated with my male. They stopped mating about 2 weeks ago. For the past week she has been lethargic and anti-social.. which is extremely abnormal for her. For the past 2 days she's had a loss of appetite. The vet told me that she has pyometra but did not go into detail about it, just told me that they are performing surgery tomorrow and are removing her uterus. I've been looking at the symptoms of pyometra and the symptoms of pregnancy and she only shows the common symptoms between the two... I haven't seen any abnormal discharge, she is not dehydrated and the vet told me this morning that her blood is normal. An x-ray was taken and the vet showed it to me and said that there was "something there in the uterus"... This is a public vet and they have posters everywhere saying that every animal they treat WILL BE STERILIZED. We cannot afford a private vet for a second opinion. I don't want to kill any puppies but at the same time I don't want to take the chance of my girl really being sick. I need advice on what to do before surgery tomorrow ??? HELP!!!!


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Aaisha said:


> Okay so my husky is a six year old female. She has been on heat and has mated with my male. They stopped mating about 2 weeks ago. For the past week she has been lethargic and anti-social.. which is extremely abnormal for her. For the past 2 days she's had a loss of appetite. The vet told me that she has pyometra but did not go into detail about it, just told me that they are performing surgery tomorrow and are removing her uterus. I've been looking at the symptoms of pyometra and the symptoms of pregnancy and she only shows the common symptoms between the two... I haven't seen any abnormal discharge, she is not dehydrated and the vet told me this morning that her blood is normal. An x-ray was taken and the vet showed it to me and said that there was "something there in the uterus"... This is a public vet and they have posters everywhere saying that every animal they treat WILL BE STERILIZED. We cannot afford a private vet for a second opinion. I don't want to kill any puppies but at the same time I don't want to take the chance of my girl really being sick. I need advice on what to do before surgery tomorrow ??? HELP!!!!


Lethargic anti social loss of appetite and often drinking a lot too is signs of pyometra.

You dont always get a discharge, there is two types open and closed. With open the pus drains from the uterus so you do see a discharge that can range from quite normal looking to dark pus.

The closed type is the worse and even more life threatening. The uterus gets sealed sealing in all the pus, then you often dont even know until the signs of them being ill as described. The vet canl tell by x rays and sometimes palpation as the uterus is enlarged and bloated.

I dont want to be harsh, but if you cant afford a private vet now for a second opition, what would you do if she had whelping problems like a puppy got stuck and she needed a cesar or she developed uterine inertia.

Dont know what the dad is or if they are full sibes, but the breed rescues cant cope with the numbers in now and have a waiting list and every dogs home seems to have a few sibes as it is.


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## jayne5364 (Oct 21, 2009)

Has she had a litter before, or any health tests prior to mating. Six years old is very old, dangerously old for a first litter. Also, as you have the male, have they been mating continuously? That could lead to an infection. 
Do you not have insurance that would cover a private vet?


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## chichi (Apr 22, 2012)

Sorry but if you cannot afford for a second opinion on something so serious (where you dont trust the opinion youve been given) you should not be contemplating breeding your bitch. Have you any idea how expensive rearing a litter can be????? Not to mention if the bitch were to need a c section or have any other serious complications.

As you clearly have a lack of funds available....you will have to go with this vets advice. Pyometra is not something you can faff about with or your bitch could pay....with her life.

Also you sound new to breeding so if your bitch is possibly pregnant for the first time at the age of 6...I think shes too old for a first litter anyway....jmho.

Dont worry about any prospective puppies at this stage. Just worry for your bitch. She is the here and now.


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## Aaisha (Aug 20, 2012)

Sled dog hotel said:


> Lethargic anti social loss of appetite and often drinking a lot too is signs of pyometra.
> 
> You dont always get a discharge, there is two types open and closed. With open the pus drains from the uterus so you do see a discharge that can range from quite normal looking to dark pus.
> 
> ...


So basically there is no other option but to have surgery? A few other sites have said something about anti-biotics?


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

3 of my siberian huskies have had to be spayed now due to pyo, each one different, Lunas symptoms were very vague indeed, she had only been off her food for a couple of days, there was no discharge(despite hers being an open pyo), she wasnt drinking excessively...but it was still a full blown pyo! ... & in a closed pyo there wont be any discharge... my vet said bitches dont always present the classic symtoms, so please dont think for a minute your vet is fooling you into getting her spayed....if you dont go ahead your bitch will die...simple as!


.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Aaisha said:


> So basically there is no other option but to have surgery? A few other sites have said something about anti-biotics?


If it was a very minor infection then maybe antibiotics, but if shes got full blown pyo especially closed pyometra, then private or public vet they always perform surgery, dogs can go down hill and die very quickly as the toxins are bing absorbed into the blood stream. It can cause organ failure too.


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## Aaisha (Aug 20, 2012)

Thanks I feel a lot better now


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

Aaisha said:


> Thanks I feel a lot better now


are you going to go ahead with the spay then?


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## Aaisha (Aug 20, 2012)

noushka05 said:


> are you going to go ahead with the spay then?


Yes. I just needed some reassurance. The public vets here are not very trustworthy(from stories i've heard) and I usually take my dogs to a private vet but the private vets are a fortune even if its just for a consultation. I can't afford that right now (been a rough year) and there's no such thing as medical insurance for pets here. I just hope my baby is in good hands and that she gets through this safely.


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## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Aaisha said:


> Yes. I just needed some reassurance. The public vets here are not very trustworthy(from stories i've heard) and I usually take my dogs to a private vet but the private vets are a fortune even if its just for a consultation. I can't afford that right now (been a rough year) and there's no such thing as medical insurance for pets here. I just hope my baby is in good hands and that she gets through this safely.


Honestly it is the best and safest thing as I said thats what vets will do here in the UK as well private as well as the animal charities.


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## noushka05 (Mar 28, 2008)

Aaisha said:


> Yes. I just needed some reassurance. The public vets here are not very trustworthy(from stories i've heard) and I usually take my dogs to a private vet but the private vets are a fortune even if its just for a consultation. I can't afford that right now (been a rough year) and there's no such thing as medical insurance for pets here. I just hope my baby is in good hands and that she gets through this safely.


you dont really have an option if you want to give her a chance of life....but im sure she'll be fine, pyo is an extremely common condition so i expect your vet has plenty of experience....really hope it all goes well for her.

as for breeding you need to have enough money!, for breeders who breed responsibly its never cheap, i have 6 sibes, 5 of them bitches, but in 12 yrs of owning the breed ive only bred one litter...and i would Never do it again, sire & dam were both fully health tested, dam had to have an emergency ceasarian...plus all the other expenses, we made no money whatsoever...but lost plenty!...added to that but sibes and sibe crosses are being churned out by BYB's at an alarming rate, rescues are bursting at the seems with them...breeding is a massive responsibility ...moreso, i think, in a specialist breed like a sibe.


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## swarthy (Apr 24, 2010)

As a slight aside, I notice you said "your dogs stopped mating about two weeks ago" - does this mean they were left free to mate as and when they wanted? 

Apart from the risks to both dogs - as others have said - this in itself can cause infection - generally controlled matings would be limited to 2 or 3 and the dogs separated the rest of the time - my boys are (possibly not very happily) sharing sleeping space tonight because one of my girls is in season - even though I am hoping to mate her to one of them - but if it happens - (getting a bit of the brother / sister syndrome which sometimes seems to follow when they all live together) - it will be managed and the rest of the time they will be separated until her fertile window has gone. 

I've not come across any of the symptoms you've described in any of my girls when they've been pregnant. 

hope the surgery goes well and your girl makes a full recovery.


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## gayle38 (Jul 16, 2012)

TBH she is too old to be bred from anyway so it would be best to go ahead with the op. for you and her sake,


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## swarthy (Apr 24, 2010)

gayle38 said:


> TBH she is too old to be bred from anyway so it would be best to go ahead with the op. for you and her sake,


Whilst I think the OP should go ahead with the neutering based on the information provided.

6 is not too old to breed from a fit and healthy bitch who has previously had a litter without any difficulties.

For a first litter, then it is too old.


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