Why You Should Have Her Spayed!

Warning up front: there may be some pictures that disgust some people.


Today an older rescue Yorkie came in and saw my boss for what we term "ADR" - ain't doing right. Yeah, it IS a valid veterinary term. Sometimes the owners really can pinpoint it, but know when something is off about their pet.


This dog had a fever and an elevated white blood cell count. A radiograph revealed what, at first, appeared to be her urinary bladder but it was in a bit of an odd position.  So we did an abdominal ultrasound and it looked like she had pockets of fluid and the lining was more indicative of uterus than bladder.


Now this dog was a rescue who everyone thought was spayed. 


So she had surgery and this is what it looks like when a uterus fills with pus:

And when I cut into it (as anyone that knows me, KNOWS, I like to do!):

This was literally a pudding consistency and color.


This dog had a "closed" pyometra - so she was very sick (no draining of all that pus.)


Now her case is not typical - she was rescued later in life with a sketchy history. If you get a puppy though or a young dog that you know never had surgery, you can prevent this problem and the other one I encountered today by spaying your dog. My personal recommendation is to do so before the first heat. Why?


(No pics on this one)


I took nearly the entire mammary chains off on both sides of a 10yr old plus dog because she was not spayed until a week or so ago (by a rescue group). These masses were invasive and likely malignant. THIS could've been avoided if the person that got her as a pup had done the responsible thing.


All in all, you have a healthier, longer lived dog.


And here's the other plus: it's cheaper to do a regular spay than a pyometra. And hey, if you don't have to remove mammary tumors later in life, you save that money too!