How to Treat Pyometra in Dogs
Get your dog rehydrated at an animal hospital., Know that your dog will be started on pain medications., Give your dog her antibiotics., Understand that antibiotics are only one part of treatment.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Get your dog rehydrated at an animal hospital.
To decrease the risks associated with getting anesthesia, your dog first needs to be stabilized.
In particular, dogs with pyometras are often dehydrated because the concentrated toxins impair kidney function.
Dehydration also concentrates toxins in the blood, and so poses a double risk because the heart muscle can become more easily irritated by anesthetic agents, and thus cardiac arrest becomes more likely.A dog has a "maintenance" requirement for fluid.
This is the amount of fluid that is necessary to meet the dog's daily need.
Typically a dog with a pyometra will be put on a fluid flow rate of two or three times the maintenance level, for anything from a 2 to 24 hours prior to surgery, depending on how dehydrated she is.
This fluid will be given intravenously. -
Step 2: Know that your dog will be started on pain medications.
During this stabilization period your dog will be started on pain relief medications that will help to decrease the amount of anesthetic agents necessary to keep her pain-free during the surgery. , During this period your dog should start an antibiotic course to help control the secondary bacteremia and septicemia.
This reduces the toxic effects on her organs so they are better able to process the anesthetic agents, and circulation to vital organs is protected.A broad spectrum antibiotic such as amoxicillin is often prescribed.
This is available as an intravenous injection, Augmentin, for rapid onset of action, and can be continued at home in tablet form.
Potentiated amoxicillin sinks into the womb and is effective at killing most of the bacterial types found there.
This is typically given twice a day by mouth once your dog is well enough.
Make sure to see the antibiotic course through to the end.
Do not stop giving your dog her pills because she begins to look better; even if she is acting like she is better, she still needs to complete the course so that she can make a full recovery. , Antibiotics are essential as part of the treatment, mainly to keep bacteremia (bacteria in the blood stream) and septicemia (blood poisoning) under control.
This still leaves the underlying problem of an infected womb to deal with.
The main option, which is effective and a "cure"
is surgical removal of the womb.
If for any reason this is not possible, such as if your dog is too sick to survive the anesthetic, then using drugs to expel pus from the womb may be considered as the treatment of last resort, in order to buy time.
These medications are outlined in Method
3. -
Step 3: Give your dog her antibiotics.
-
Step 4: Understand that antibiotics are only one part of treatment.
Detailed Guide
To decrease the risks associated with getting anesthesia, your dog first needs to be stabilized.
In particular, dogs with pyometras are often dehydrated because the concentrated toxins impair kidney function.
Dehydration also concentrates toxins in the blood, and so poses a double risk because the heart muscle can become more easily irritated by anesthetic agents, and thus cardiac arrest becomes more likely.A dog has a "maintenance" requirement for fluid.
This is the amount of fluid that is necessary to meet the dog's daily need.
Typically a dog with a pyometra will be put on a fluid flow rate of two or three times the maintenance level, for anything from a 2 to 24 hours prior to surgery, depending on how dehydrated she is.
This fluid will be given intravenously.
During this stabilization period your dog will be started on pain relief medications that will help to decrease the amount of anesthetic agents necessary to keep her pain-free during the surgery. , During this period your dog should start an antibiotic course to help control the secondary bacteremia and septicemia.
This reduces the toxic effects on her organs so they are better able to process the anesthetic agents, and circulation to vital organs is protected.A broad spectrum antibiotic such as amoxicillin is often prescribed.
This is available as an intravenous injection, Augmentin, for rapid onset of action, and can be continued at home in tablet form.
Potentiated amoxicillin sinks into the womb and is effective at killing most of the bacterial types found there.
This is typically given twice a day by mouth once your dog is well enough.
Make sure to see the antibiotic course through to the end.
Do not stop giving your dog her pills because she begins to look better; even if she is acting like she is better, she still needs to complete the course so that she can make a full recovery. , Antibiotics are essential as part of the treatment, mainly to keep bacteremia (bacteria in the blood stream) and septicemia (blood poisoning) under control.
This still leaves the underlying problem of an infected womb to deal with.
The main option, which is effective and a "cure"
is surgical removal of the womb.
If for any reason this is not possible, such as if your dog is too sick to survive the anesthetic, then using drugs to expel pus from the womb may be considered as the treatment of last resort, in order to buy time.
These medications are outlined in Method
3.
About the Author
Evelyn Ruiz
Writer and educator with a focus on practical lifestyle knowledge.
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