Tatura Veterinary Group Pet of the Month

Tatura Veterinary Group Pet of the Month - Autumn 2009

Rosie is an 8 year old female border collie. She came in on a Saturday night not feeling very well at all. She’d been on heat a few weeks earlier and now had a smelly, bloody discharge from her vulva. She had been drinking a lot of water and had been quite lethargic, which may have been due to the hot weather we were having at the time, but her pyometra would definitely have been contributing also.

Dr Brett examined Rosie and found she had an elevated temperature, high heart rate and pale mucous membranes. Given the signs she was showing, (lethargy, drinking lots, smelly vulval discharge) and her signalment (an entire female over six years old who had been on heat a few weeks earlier), Dr Brett strongly suspected she had a pyometra.

A pyometra is a gross infection of the uterus and can be life threatening in dogs and cats. The treatment is relatively straight forward although can be risky. It involves removing the uterus (speying) and therefore also removing the infection. It can be risky because the patient is often very sick which makes their anaesthetic a little more risky than usual.

After calling Dr Cindy to come in and assist, Dr Brett put Rosie on an IV drip and gave her some intravenous antibiotics and pain relief to help get her through her operation. The surgery went well and Rosie had a nice rest over night while she recovered from her anaesthetic.

The following day, Dr Brett was happy with Rosie’s immediate recovery. She looked a lot brighter and happier and especially loved having her belly rubbed, a definite sign that she was feeling better. However, he was a little concerned about the continuing pale colour of her gums. He ran a PCV which is a test to determine the level of red blood cells in the blood stream and he found her PCV was a little low. She was eating well and otherwise making a good recovery.

Since the weather was well over 40C for a lot of the week after her operation, Dr Brett, Rosie and Rosie’s owners all felt that it would be best for Rosie to stay in hospital for a few days until her gum colour and PCV improved. All of the staff at Tatura Vet Clinic were quite pleased because they got to give Rosie lots of belly rubs. Nurse Ange and Nurse Dee tested the PCV morning and night for 4 days and it gradually improved to a satisfactory level and Rosie got to go home at the end of a cool week under the air conditioner in hospital.

Rosie came back to have her stitches taken out two weeks later and as you can tell from her photo shoot, she was looking as happy as a healthy border collie should look!