The Flea and It's Life Cycle

Good links to information on the flea and it's life cycle:
http://priory.com/vet/vetflea1.htm
http://www.healthypets.com/canflecon.html
http://www.frontline.com/

Image: Merial

Pyometra - Uterus Infection

Pyometra is a disease that occurs in the uterus. It is an infection that can occur a few weeks (usually 4-6 weeks) after estrus. The disease is mostly common i female dogs, but can also be seen in females of other animals, such as cats, rabbits, ferrets, rats and guinea pigs.
Pyometra in dogs usually occurs when the bitch is older than 6 years of age.


Symptoms

Common symptoms are vaginal discharge, depression, loss of appetite, lethargy, vomiting, fever, pale color, increased drinking and urinating.
These symptoms may not always seem too alarming. It is much like the symptoms of appendicitis in humans, which can bee mistaken for ”normal” stomach aces.


Surgery or medical treatment?

There are two treatments for pyometra. Surgery or medical treatment. The safest and most common choice of treatment is surgery, as the risk of having another Pyometra later on in life is significant if the uterus is not removed.

Surgery is done in the same way as a normal spay, only it is more complicated and involves more risks, as the the organ is infected and enlarged. The organ is also more fragile, and must be handled carefully. The size of the incision in a pyometra operation is therefore much larger than in a normal spay.

Medical treatment is a long term treatment with antibiotics and a drug that causes the uterus to contract.

This treatment should only be used for open pyometras, as less then 30% of bitches with closed pyometras are successfully treated using it. This is because when medical treatment is used on an open pyometra the puss has a way out when the uterus contracts, and with a closed pyometra there is a great risk of the uterus rapturing inside the abdomen, because the puss can not escape. If the uterus raptures it will most likely result in death.

A successful medical treatment does not prevent the dog from developing pyometra again. I fact 70% of successfully treated bitches will likely develop pyometra again within the next two years. This treatment is therefore mainly used for bitches that are meant to be used for breeding.

By breeding the bitch during the next estrus cycle, the risk of developing pyometra again is decreased, but he risk is still great. It is therefore recommended to have the bitch spayed after she's had the puppies.


Stump Pyometra

Bitches that have been spayed can get stump pyometra. This is when the stump of the removed uterus becomes infected, and the condition is more serious if there is any uterine or ovarian tissue left after the original spay operation.


Details about the disease

Pyometra is a result of hormonal and structural changes in the uterus.

It occurs at the point when the dogs heat/ estrus cycle has ended, and the cervix is starting to close.

If bacteria has traveled from the vagina up to the uterus, this bacteria will get very good growth conditions when the cervix closes, and can therefore result in a large infection, a pyometra.

If the infection occurs when the cervix has closed, it is called a closed pyometra.
If it occurs before the cervix has fully closed, it is an open pyometra.

In the case of an open pyometra there will be vaginal discharge.
In the case of a closed pyometra this symptom will not occur.

Foreign Body Was Underpants In the Small Intestine

This is what a foreign body made out of fabric looks like, after a couple of days in the intestines. (Photo by KatDoc.)

A very sick Golden Retriever was admitted to the animal hospital a couple of days ago. He looked very poorly, and had not eaten for two weeks. After having scanned (using ultrasound) and x-rayed him, the surgeons decided to open him up, as every clue pointed to a foreign body in the intestines.

The foreign body turned out to be a pair of underpants stuck in his smaller intestine. Sadly the underpants had been stuck there for a very long time, and the dog did not survive the night, because of the state his intestines were in.

This is not a rare case, and dogs are often admitted to have foreign bodies removed. When the owner reacts quickly it is possible to remove foreign bodies by making the animal vomit, or by the use of an endoscope. This is a procedure that does not require the use of surgery and there are few risks involves.

If the foreign body is left to continue past the stomach and gets stuck in the intestines, it has to be removed surgically. A foreign body can cause a lot of damage.
Even things that you might think are pretty harmless, like a thread, can be deadly. A tread is difficult to discover using x-rays and ultrasound scans, and can start cutting through the intestines!

Precautions and symptoms

Some dogs and cats will eat almost anything. If you think your pet could possibly eat foreign bodies, like a sock, a bone or a piece of string, you need to make sure that anything it could eat, is out of it’s reach. Make sure the animal has lots of toys that are too big to swallow, to reduce the interest of dangerous items. This is even more important when it is home alone, when it might get bored and therefore start exploring!

If you suspect that your pet has eaten a foreign body, you should get to the vets and have it examined. If it starts vomiting, drooling, stops eating or has abnormal bowel movements, it might be signs of a foreign object and you must react promptly.

KatDoc has several interesting posts on her blog, about cases involving foreign bodies. The photo at the top of this post is from one of KatDoc's posts, involving the removal of a sock. The sock looks just like the underpants we removed from the Golden Retriever.

Doggles - Eyeprotection For Your Dog

Doggles are the kind of fancy accessories that your dog can really benefit from. Besides the obvious reason to provide UV protection for your dog, goggles can protect you dogs eyes form foreign objects.

Some dogs come to the vet, time and time again, to have a foreign object removed from its eye. This is painful, can cause serious problems, and it is of course not cheep for the owner. This is especially a problem for dog breeds with bulging eyes, like the Pekingese, Maltese, Pug and Boston Terrier, to mention some, and these breeds’ eyes can also get very irritated from dust and wind.

Doggles can protect dogs’ eyes from dust, wind, and foreign objects. These sunglasses offer 100% UV protection, the lenses are shatterproof and anti-fogging. Doggles are very flexible and have snug-fitting frames with foam padding, kind of like swimming goggles, so you can be sure that they don’t cause any discomfort.

Via Styledash