Yesterday morning, when Pepper was dropped off of by the "dog catcher" one of the first things he said to me was, "Does she ofter wander when she's on heat?" @@$%??#??!! Well, you can imagine my surprise - Pepper was spayed at 3months old (the SPCA spay their puppies pretty young and she was spayed about 2 weeks before we brought her home), she couldn't be on heat!!!??? My heart sunk, did they pick up the wrong puppy? But, sure enough, there's Pepper in the back of the van. And sure enough, she was bleeding! First thought was that she was bleeding from her bladder, but then she peed - normal colour, no blood in it. All very odd. So onto the phone and an appointment with the vet that afternoon (boy, she stunk like they'd disinfected her at the pound too, yuck, start into the dreaded bath, it wasn't much of a home coming hehe)
You may remember that since Pepper was little we've had some problems with urinary infections and a little bit of incontinence. Also, shes had episodes of really yucky pus coming out of her girl bits. We thought that we were getting "on top" of this problem after lots of vets seeing her and investigations and medications. I have been increasingly thinking that her problem was not bladder related but more female reproductive related. She hasn't had any incontinence for months and her infections have become milder and less frequent. But she has never had any bleeding from that "region"
When the vet saw the amount of bleeding (he imagined just some light pink from licking too much or something) he was most surprised! So she had cervical swabs (and the vet said that that is definitely where that bloods coming from) and we are all still left scratching our heads. She's a mystery. One theory is that some ovarian tissue was left behind or that if they have just done a tubal tie as opposed to a full "removal" spay the tie may have come loose - I rang and spoke to the vet who did her spay - she said that her notes indicate a routine full spay with a healthy puppy and no complications. The vet nurse said she was so funny when they took her to do the swabs - she just lay on her back straight away, wagging her tail saying "Rub my Belly!!" It's so nice having such a friendly people loving pup.
We've started her on some pretty hard out broad spectrum antibiotics in case there is a infection above her cervix - she is on 4 different types - until we get the swabs back, but due to the weekend it will take a few days so better to part with a few more dollars and just cover everything. She doens't have a uterus so she can't get pregnant, so we can still go walking and things. 
In the mean time Pepper is her normal happy playful energetic self. A bit confused as to why I'm obsessively following her round with a towel and all the mats are up off the floors! Thank god we have wooden floors.
In the mean time Pepper is her normal happy playful energetic self. A bit confused as to why I'm obsessively following her round with a towel and all the mats are up off the floors! Thank god we have wooden floors.If anyone has had experience with anything like this I'd love to hear from you.
Oh, also, the Dog control people inspected our property - they agreed, its a bit of a Fort Knox, definitely too high for her to jump out and very very safe, so they didn't charge us with a fee (phewwf!) So now we're still head-scratching as to how she got out (or who has let her out)
God, this is really the last thing you need when you've just arrived in a new city, isn't it??!!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is a gynaecologist and he was really surprised to hear about Pepper getting "cervical swabs" and the blood coming from her cervix because in humans, when they perform a hysterectomy (ie. spay), they take the cervix out too - so there is essentially just a "dead end". He says that it's very rare remove the uterus but leave the cervix (which is essentially just the bottom part of the uterus, with an opening) - the 'passageway' is not the cervix but actually the vagina. Unless your vet did an internal exam with a speculum, I don't know if he can tell if Pepper still has her cervix - she could just have a passageway (ie, vagina) leading to a dead end, which is what happens in humans. Of course, they may do spay differently in animals but I would have thought it would be very similar to humans - after all, why would they leave the cervix which has a chance of getting cancerous? It is part of the uterus anyway so it would make sense to take it out. Did your vet do an internal exam on Pepper with a speculum?
The other thing is that Honey actually had some bleeding from her "female parts" when she was about 5 months old and we panicked, thinknig she was coming into early season (our vet wouldn't let us spay her until 6 months - we were just keen to get it done as soon as possible) - anyway, we rushed her to the ER vet who diagnosed "vaginitis" - basically an inflammation of the lining of the vagina, which causes bleeding. Apparently it is very common in female dogs, especially young ones. Honey was put on anti-biotics and it cleared up. So perhaps Pepper might be having vaginitis as well? She would still have a vagina, even if she had been fully spayed.
Otherwise, the other possibility would be the more sinister one of cancer but that is why I was wondering if her cervix was removed...because if her uterus and cervix and ovaries were all removed, then you probably don't have to worry about cancer so much because there will be nothing left in there to get cancerous!
Anyway, will be interested to hear what these swabs come back with!
Hsin-Yi
Thanks for your concern Hsin-Yi, I really do appriciate your kind words! It appears dog spaying is different to a people hysterectomy - they do leave the cervix in female dogs (routinely). And yep he did use a speculum for the exam and said he had a good view of the cervix and was able to take a good sample from the os. Shes had vaginitis on & off along with the UTI's and inconintence, but never bleeding - it would be good if that was "all" it is! We wonder whether she has a stump Pyometra when the remaining stump of all the resected tissues becomes infected. It's quite rare and we would expect her to be sick in herself if she had this, but we're clutching at straws at this stage.
ReplyDeleteOh, I am sorry to hear about this. I have no idea what is happening to Pepper as I am not familiar with this kind of subject. All I hope is it is nothing serious and the bleeding will stop soon without causing any more worries.
ReplyDeleteCinnamon's mum
You're right! That is really is a mystery!
ReplyDeleteMom doesn't have any advice on the bleeding from the girlie bits part, and she's never even had a dog go thru a heat cycle, but some of the groups she belongs to on a computer sometimes talk about heat cycles & what to do while the girlie bits are bleeding. Some suggest getting mens boxers (or briefs) and putting those on the doggie with the dogs tail coming out the man-bits hole. You can also add a pad if she's bleeding that much.
Mom is sure glad that I'm a boy right now!!
Hope you find out whats going on soon.
wags, wiggles & slobbers
Murphydog
hello pepper its dennis the vizsla dog hay i am glad yoo ar bak sayf and sownd!!! that is a mistry tho how yoo got owt i bet it wuz the ninja hedjhogs!!! ok bye
ReplyDeleteGosh, I hope Pepper is ok! I just read about how she mysteriously got out of the fence but you got her back from the pound! Thank goodness! And now she's bleeding? I have never heard of that but sure hope she is better soon and you find out what is going on!
ReplyDelete