Disclaimer: I’ve already called my vet, but he was in surgery and I am waiting for him to call back
As some of you may know, our dog gave birth to puppies 18 days ago. After the birth, she had vaginal discharge for about 10 days that got more clear as time went by. She had no discharge for about 4 or 5 days. Now, for the past few days, she has a reddish pink discharge again. Yesterday, she was kinda lethargic and my wife thinks she was drinking a little more than usual. She did have diarrhea 2 days ago, but last night and this morning her poops were normal.
My concern is that she has a pyometra. What do you think the odds are, based on her symptoms? If she does, the obvious treatment is OHE (spaying). Is it correct that she would stop producing milk after an OHE? We weren’t planning to start giving the puppies solid foods until week 3…what would we do to care for them if mom can’t produce milk? I’m assuming bottle-fed milk replacer would fill the need, but I’m not sure.
Odds are pretty good that the dog could have a pyometra. Your best chance of recovery is get her seen as soon as possible before she gets septic. Don’t wait for the vet to call you back, if they’re busy they often don’t take time to return phone calls until later in the day when there may not be time left to see the dog. Call back and ask the front desk if they can work you in today because you think your dog could be seriously ill. Many vets allow for the possibility of emergency visits in their schedule.
Get bloodwork and an x-ray done and they should be able to tell you if surgery or antibiotics are the best option. But even if they put the dog on antibiotics only, chances are the pups will have to be weaned, depending on the antibiotic. Some of the stronger antibiotics are not for puppies and they could get antibiotics passed on in the milk.
Honestly, I think a spay is the best option for a quicker recovery and the sooner it’s done the better you dog’s chances. I’ve seen open pyos treated with antibiotics to start with but they always seem to end up in surgery later. It’s better to just go with the surgery before the dog gets septic and develops other complications. Yes, any surgery is risky but so is a pyometra.
She could possibly produce milk for a little while longer but again, even if spayed she should be on antibiotics and some of those are not good for the puppies. If the antibiotics dispensed are not bad for pups and depending on the incision you may be able to leave the pups with mom for some maternal care and to relieve the need to suckle but you will most likely be bottle-feeding these pups regardless of which treatment option taken.
Hand-feeding can be daunting but they are already a couple weeks old and past needing colostrum and they grow quickly so it won’t be long before you can start weaning them. Make sure you use a formula formulated for puppies.
Actually, while pyometra would be on my list, subinvolution of placental sites would be way higher. Pyometra would be a surprise, in fact. If the discharge doesn’t smell foul, SIPS is where I’d put my bet. I see pyometra more commonly a week to a few months after estrus, and rarely after normal pregnancy.
Thank you both for your help. I suspect that she has SIPS. We think she may be drinking more than usual, but it’s hard to tell. She’s also a “lazy bitch” so who knows if it’s real lethargy or just laziness. I will still be taking her to the vet tonight regardless, but I’m more optimistic now that you’ve pointed out SIPS (I had not previously heard of it).
Feel free to ask your veterinarian specifically. I have seen many second opinions where SIPS turned out to be what was going on, yet it had never been considered.
FYI – My wife reports that the discharge doesn’t really smell like anything. Does that practically eliminate the possibility of pyometra? I’m still bringing her in tonight, but I’d like to stop worrying.
Caution her not to get too close with her nose. It’s a funny mental image. Unless a placenta were retained-leading to metritis-I think SIPS is the most likely answer. Cytology of the discharge is helpful; typically consisting of erythrocytes and parabasal epithlial cells.
The vet took an x-ray to rule out pyometra. It came back normal. She decided to take some blood work to determine white blood cell counts to see if she has an infection. She considered SIPS, but thinks it may just be normal discharge. She said it can be normal for this breed to have discharge for up to six weeks.
Of course, when I came back from the vet I noticed that one of the girl puppy’s eyes looks like she has an infection. It’s really watery and she’s keeping it closed. I’ll be telling my vet tomorrow when I get the blood results, but is there anything in the meantime I should be doing?
Good. Always best to get diagnostics done as soon as possible. Where I work we usually see the worst case scenarios after they’ve been cooking for a few days and the animals are pretty sick that’s why I prefer to see people get their pets checked out at their vets as soon as they see anything unusual.
