PYOMETRA SURGERY QUESTION: I have a question for Dr. Krista. Below is background information and I will include cost info for anyone that might be searching for cost information in the future and stumbles across this website. (also uploading a picture of doggie with stitches to gallery)

My 7.5 year old Shepherd/Husky mix just had surgery for pyometra. It was approximately $2000 at a pet hospital in Tennessee for the surgery. (actual surgery was a little under $900 and then additional things such as anesthesia, overnight boarding charge, IV, antibiotics, e-collar, medication, etc ended up racking up the charges to almost $2000.) Her symptoms that caused me to go to the vet were not eating, depressed, excessive drinking, constant licking her private areas, and I did notice she was drooling a lot as well. Her not eating was the main thing that had me worried as this dog will eat anything and gobble her food up in seconds and then lick the bowl clean searching for any missing bits under normal circumstances, yet she even turned her nose up at her favorite foods. I had initially been worried about blockage since she had eaten some table scrap bones a few days prior (which I now know not to do for future reference), but after googling , I came to the conclusion pyometra was more likely. She had just finished her heat cycle a few weeks prior, so everything lined up on her symptoms matching pyometra. The vet did an x-ray and blood work and it did end up being Pyometra. I had never heard of this before and really wish I had as this was an expensive lesson for us to learn and painful for our poor doggie. If we had spaded her when she was younger, it would have been $250 at the exact same place I just paid $2000 to for pretty much the exact same surgery. (though now much riskier and doggie sick) The vet did the surgery the morning following her initial examination. (the initial exam was $425 for exam, x-ray and blood work and was not included in the cost of surgery. I received a 25% discount off of this price for being a new customer) She had the surgery at 10 AM and stayed the night to get extra fluids and antibiotics as she had a pretty bad infection and keep and eye on her. I picked her up at 2 PM the day after her surgery. My doggie was happy to see me when I picked her up and seemed to be feeling much better. She wagged her tag and happily jumped in the car and was excited about going in our house. Once in the house, she visibly drooped, though. I thought that was probably normal after having surgery and she slept a lot. She ate that night and I gave her the medicine in her food. This morning, however, she once again refuses to eat- even her favorite foods. She drinks normally, but doesn’t eat anything, so I also cannot give her the medication, which consisted of an antibiotic and pain pill. I tried forcing a piece of bread in her mouth with the pill inside it but she just spit it out. My question for Dr. Krista or anyone who has had experience with pyometra…. is this normal for a dog not to want to eat a couple of days after surgery? It has now been almost exactly 48 hours since her surgery. She went to the bathroom a little bit ago and both urinated and had a wet bowel movement. I have tried offering all different kinds of foods and she shows no interest. She is just laying around. She is still drooling more than normal, but seems in better shape than when I initially took her to vet… but worried about her lack of appetite. How I can give her the medication if she will not eat. Any recommendations?

My dog got spayed on August 1st, she is a 13 year old poodle mix. She also had a mastectomy along with her spay so she has a very big incision. She is on her 4th week and the lower half of her incision does not look like the top half. The surgeon said it may take a while to heal because of the placement but I noticed a bump at the base of her incision at day 4 that has not gone away. She keeps licking at it and the surgeon suggested we must let her heal and later investigate. Also, at day 10 I noticed a white tiny pimple sized thing trying to come through under her skin. I really checked it out today since it has not gone away and it feels like something sharp poking under her skin, she has two of these that feel the same. I am scared she might have torn her internal stitches but the surgeon did not seem too worried. I notice when she eats she seems to look like she feels uncomfortable. She threw up yesterday but I took it as maybe her pancreatitis acting up. I am freaking out and don’t know if I am making a big fuss over nothing. She did not run during her recovery but she would stand up on her hind legs no matter how much I attempted to keep her calm. She did slip 3 times and land on her tummy, twice at day 8 because I had her on a short leash and she would try to run, the third slip was at day 13 and for the same reason of the short leash and attempting to run. I feel so sad and don’t have peace of mind. I feel guilty she slipped on me those three times but then again don’t know what to make of that lump at day 4. After the two slips at day 8 and after on day 10 she started having severe diarrhea. I contacted the surgeons team and they suggested boiled chicken and boiled rice, but at day 12 the diarrhea was a soft serve ice cream consistency and then she thew up so I took her into emergency immediately. At emergency they checked her vitals and incision and could not figure out what may have caused the stomach upset since from her pancreatitis history did not have the swollen tummy and her incision looked fine. They attributed the upset to possible pain med side effect and prescribed a probiotic and to stop the gabapentin. It’s has been a tough healing process for her. I will attach pictures of of what the incision looked like at day 7, 10, and now. I hope it’s not what I am fearing but it’s better to know if I should advocate for her and have them check again. Thanks guys, sorry for the long story but this is my little girl who is my first owned dog and who has been by my side for 13 years. I love her so much and it pains me to see her uncomfortable. Fyi her appetite is always good no matter what and her bowels are back to normal since the 18th of august and they were fine before the 10th of august as well.

Help Dr. Magnifico of Jarrettsville Vet Our beautiful 13 year old Husky/beagle mix Sadie was struggling with getting up and climbing stairs because we thought her arthritis was getting worse. We took her in to the vet to get some pain medicine and they discovered that she has a large tumor on her spleen. We were told that the surgery is quite expensive. We are unable to afford much due to our current financial situation. The doctor suggested that we should euthanize her if we were not going to try to do the surgery. we have scheduled an appointment for tomorrow. 6/3 with lap of love.
My husband was looking for solutions because she is walking around and it is so hard for us to imagine putting her down. We saw the article by Dr. Magnifico. We tried to call Jarrettsville vet and they told us our only option was to put a question on here. Beth.a.acton@gmail.com

My 8 year old chow/lab mix got diagnosed with IVDD 7 days ago. She was chasing a rabbit when her back gave out. She stayed in the vet hospital over the weekend where they monitored those first few days. We are not able to afford the surgery, but we have been working with her since she has been home. I noticed over the last couple days that she is able to twitch her legs in her sleep, which she didn’t do the first 3 days of being home. Is this a good sign or is that just a subconscious reflex?

My dog is 6 months old roughly and she started her heat cycle for the first time 6/10/21 and her brother (unaltered) and her got “stuck” few days ago I know she is pregnant and she started to lightly spot blood Yesterday. What could happen from this besides the fact That puppies may not make it? Also she is pitbull/ rottweiler mix

Hi Pawly Friends, my 3-year-old cat is having UTI and has a blockage. He has a very hard time with urine and sometimes he urined blood. He has no appetite to eat, but when he gets too hungry he will eat his dry food that the vet provided. I brought him to the vet two weeks ago. They unblocked him using a catheter and hospitalized him for almost a week without IV fluids. I brought him back but he’s still weak and wouldn’t eat. After a day of staying at home, he peed in blood in such a big amount. I brought him to the vet again at around 1 am because I was too afraid. The vet uses the catheter again and hospitalized him for another week. Again, I brought him home with some antibiotics and some other meds, he was so hungry because he didn’t eat well in the hospital. I boiled fish for him (no added spices, preservatives, etc) to mix with the dry food because he wouldn’t eat it alone. He ate and drank a lot. After 3 days, he started to pee in the blood again! HELP I don’t know what else can I do to help my baby!

Allergies? My American Staffy mix just turned 1 year old. Once we started cutting our grass this season and flowers/trees started blooming he is sneezing while outside and he is getting eye boogers frequently (only in 1 eye). Are there dog allergy medications, or is benadryl a viable remedy for him? This wasn’t something we saw last year when we adopted him in early July.

Hi! I am interested in doing longer day hikes with our dog. He’s a 3 year old Hound mix and easily does 4-5 miles. I want to get him up to about 10 miles for trips every once in a while. What supplies should we take for him? What snacks would be best? How should I increase his mileage? Should I get him used to booties (I think that might be tough though)? Thanks for any suggestions and advice you have.

My dog is a 3 year old terrier mix and went to a new vet and she said he has mild luxating patella medial grade 1. No other vet ever said anything about that. She said he was probably born with it. Will it effect his walking?

My small 12 pound terrier/chihuahua mix has suddenly (in the past 24 hours) stopped jumping up on things – couch, chair, etc – which is very unusual because she prefers to be on the furniture. She will stand and stare at the couch and seem like she’s going to jump, she even starts to a bit, but then she won’t follow through. If I pick her up and put her on the couch, she will not hesitate at all to jump down when she’s ready. She will let me touch and move all of her legs and has not vocalized in pain. She walks and runs normally and will come up and down the stairs with no problem. I assume she has injured something. Is there an injury to a specific place that would cause her reluctance to jump up but not affect other behavior? (I should note that she is very independent and doesn’t like to be picked up, so it’s not that she’s preferring to be lifted up)