pyometria

[woody d]

i have a female that is finishing her first heat, and i ve heard of this pyo, but dont know what to look for. as a kid all we worrried about was bitches not getting prego, now someone tells me about this, so i got something else to worry about. is it common, and how do they get it? any help would be appreciated

[simms]

If you spay your pup,you wont have to worry about it :)

[Suki]

http://www.game-dog.com/forums/article.php?a=109

see if this is what you need~my comp is totally effed up right now, :mad: and it took about 10 min just to put this on, late for work and don't have time to reread it, or post more.
hopefully it'll help.
(is in our Articles section)
gutta fly~good luck

[miakoda]

To put it simply, pyometria is an infection of the uterus. Intact bitches are at risk for this disease and the more heat cycles they have, the greater the chance of them coming down with it.

As for how common it is, I don't know stats off the top of my head. I do know that I've seen many a case of it including one of my own dogs. If left untreated, the bitch will die usually due to a uterine rupture (the uterus fills up entirely with pus).

If you have no plans of showing your dog or competing in sanctioned events with her, get her spayed. No reason to lose a perfectly good dog.

As for symptoms, the bad part is once you recognize them, it's usually too late for your dog as even an emergency spay carries a risk at that point due to uterine rupture. However, symptoms include lethargy, lack of appetite, green or yellow vaginal discharge, high temperature, abdomen sensitivity, & the list goes on. However, it's important to remember that these symptoms are not specific to pyo and can represent other types of infections as well. That is why a veterinarian is a must have.