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A typical ultrasound view of a dog with pyometra, the large dark areas marked U are the two large distended fluid filled horns of the womb. A healthy womb has about the diameter as a pencil.

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Like all small animal vets I often carried out pyometra operations on dogs, while this is a very serious disease I found it professionally satisfying to deal with, why should this be? Well, in most cases it easy to diagnose so you are confident when you advise the clients, also it is a life saving operation, if you carry out surgery there is a a very high chance that the dog will live, if you don’t carry out surgery there is a high chance the dog will die.

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The term pyometra means pus in the womb by the way, and now a concise description of the disease:

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Cause: The cause of this disease is quite complex, it usually follows cystic endometrial hyperplasia which is a type of womb disease, this changes the internal environment of the womb and makes it prone to bacterial infections. Once the bacterial infection is established it goes wild and a full blown pyometra is the result. Other contributory factors would be the use of drugs to postpone or control the dog’s seasons. Pyometra can also occur in stumps left after spaying and on occasion following womb infection after the animal has given birth.

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Clinical Signs: [Symptoms] These dogs will be lethargic, will have no appetite and will be drinking much more than normal. Some will have a vaginal discharge which cases are called an open pyometra, others will have no vaginal discharge and these are termed closed pyometras. Obviously these dogs are not spayed, they are usually more than six years of age in my experience and they will have been in season a few weeks prior to the onset of symptoms.

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Diagnosis: The above clinical signs would on their own be very suggestive of pyometra. I found ultrasound very useful to confirm the diagnosis in these cases, X-rays could be used as well, and a high white cell count is also indicative.

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Treatment: The main treatment for this disease is an immediate hysterectomy operation [ Spay ]. It differs from a normal spay operation in that as the dog is usually quite sick you need to provide additional support like putting it on a drip and a higher level of post operative care.

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Prevention: Spayed bitches almost certainly will never get pyometra.

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So thats the pyometra story, the moral of which is firstly get your dog to the vet quickly if there is any suspicion of this disease, and secondly have your bitch spayed at a young age. There are other sound reasons to do so other than prevention of pyometra.

Scott
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