Has anyone got any experience of Pyometra in a show bitch. My 2 year old bitch was diagnosed yesterday of having Pyometra. She started her season 3 weeks ago during which time she bled heavily. I noticed about 5 days ago she was not her usual bright self and was drinking excessively. Apart from that she is eating normally and has a normal temperature. The vet wanted to spay her but I said she was a show dog and that I wanted a litter from her so he gave her an injection of Millophyline to empyt the uterus and Synulox antibiotics and a 10 day course of Synulox tablets. Do anyone think this is the right course of action or should I take her to another vets.

Personally I wouldn't risk my girl, and all you need to do to continue showing her is get a letter from the vets stating she was spayed due to Pyo and send to the kennel club for permission to show.

If it was my girl I'd have her spayed.

Wendy

Spay! This is far too serious to risk her life just so you can show her! I would not have hesitated. You have probably left it too late.

My girl came round great after being on the tablets and the injections but there again each is different.  My girl was old though so their were other factors of why I didn't have her spayed.  Have to say though if it was a young dog I wd. have it spayed.  I'm going to have my 11 year old spayed inbetween this season and the next as I don't want her to suffer the way her mother did and I want to have a few more years with her yet.

I had to have my Champion bitch spayed & she was the last of her breeding but she came before my desire for puppies from her & risking her life I would do it again today

pyo is too serious to risk! we wanted to make have a litter out of our bitch, but she had pyo and we had her spayed. her life is more important then a litter. and show is no problem.  you will get permisson from KC no-problem.

REMMEBER YOUR BITCHES LIFE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.  If you really care about your bitch!

Editied to say: A friends vet would spey the bitch as soon as diagnosed!  No option, animals lives come first.  Don't be self-centred, Ijust hope you haven't left it too late.

But YES change vets, any vet who offers another option to something that IS life threating isn't worth having!

Thanks for the input to my question. I've decided to take her to the vets tommorow and get her scanned and if it is definately pyometra then I will get her spayed.

I would get a definitive diagnosis as it is only just her season finishing, and often bitches are mopey for a few weeks after a season.  If it is Pyometra and if she seems well then I would think if it is then it is an Open one then it is possible to treat the infection (I understand protaglandin thereapy has been used to good effect) but the usual advice is to mate her on her next season, and when she is in season to put her on antibiotics.

I agree with the others that if she is actually unwell and at risk then get her spayed, but if the vet was only guessing, it would seem an awful shame to take away the chance of breeding on from a good bitch.  Only youy and your vet can really decide based on symptoms and her health.

You can still show her anyway if you send the relevant information to the KC

Best wishes

Any news?

Sweep

Just thought I'd send an update! Today my bitch is looking a lot brighter but never the less I took her back to the vets and asked to see a senior vet in the practice. The vets examined her and said she doesn't feel like she's got pyometra and the the way she walked in all bright eyed and bushy tailed would also suggest that she hasn't got it. The upshot was to leave her on the antibiotics and if she takes a turn for the worse to take her back for a scan. I came away feeling really pleased but I won't hesitate to spay if at all her life is in danger.......she's my baby!

Hope all goes OK, I know how you feel, but the waiting is awful to go through. Hope it isn't pyometra. 

Hope it isn't pyo, but keep an eye on your bitch, it took to vets to tell us it wasn't pyo...then we had her spayed :(

I'm glad your vet doesn't seem to think it's a pyo. 
My bitch had a suspected pyo after her litter so we gave her all the relevent treatment.  Then last summer she started again with the same symptons.  I took her to see my vet on the Friday morning as she was unwell and got the tablets again and we booked her in for the monday am to be a spayed just in case. By fri pm she was throwing up, so the tablets weren't staying down.  A trip to my vet on sat am showed that the pyo was progressing and she had an emergancy spay that afternoon.  It broke my heart, but I love her bitch so much, I just wanted her to be healthy again.  I would have loved another litter from her, as she produced me 4 nice pups. One bitch in a fantastic pet home and 1 dog (i kept) and 2 bitches in the ring & all qualified for Crufts 04 & 05, so am v proud of her babies!!
I hope everything goes well for your girl and she comes through this will no more problems! Please keep us posted.

Please do be really careful - my Terv had a pyo but showed no real symptoms, did not get extra thirsty etc. and the first vets were not unduly concerned about her discharge...my second vet was much better and she was operated on and came through very well.

Lindsay
X

Another update on my bitch! She is still drinking a lot and so I had her scanned today which showed early pyometra. We have been given several options. One is to use a drug called Alizin which will contract the uterus and expel whatever is in there. The second option is to open her up and flush the uterus with saline and antibiotics or thirdly spay.
We have to make a decision soon as the antibiotics on their own won't cure her.

Sophie if this was my bitch I would go for the spay.

Pyometra is a life threatening condition and if antibiotics have not cured it then my feelings are that it will happen again sooner rather than later and then her life may be at risk.

Is it not possible to buy in another puppy with similar bloodlines, so that you can carry on the line.

Thank-you lister for the PM. I decided to go for the injections, so today she had her first one and goes back tommorow for the second and last one and then hopefully (fingers crossed) that will clear out her uterus. If that fails then she'll have to be spayed.

Good luck with your girl, i hope she gets better very soon. Keep us informed.

Good Luck and hope all goes well for you

As you've opted for the antibiotic route this link may help you

http://www.workingdogs.com/doc0099.htm

It was given on CDs a while ago but I save anything useful ;)

Hope your girl is ok

Dill

Thanks for the link Dill, very interesting article!

You're very welcome Sophie,

The author is in this country and can be contacted too :D   Can't remember who gave the link originally but they were on CDs and I thought it was a useful one to keep ;)   Hope its of some use to you.

How is your girl doing.  Are the injections working?