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Cracked is back
Dec. 11th, 2007 05:33 pmCracked called, and spoke to Receptionist1 on Friday of last week (at quarter til 5, of course--she lives about an hour's drive away). Receptionist1 tells her that from what she's describing, the dog is most likely either 1: pregnant/whelping, 2: having a false pregnancy, or 3: has a uterine infection (pyometra). She explains that we cannot tell the difference between these over the phone unless the dog starts pushing out puppies. She strongly recommends bringing the dog in the next day to be looked at, or taking it to the Pet Emergency Clinic (because nobody in their right mind wants to deal with her alone after hours here!). Cracked is shocked that a dog as old as this bitch (giant breed, 7 yrs old) could even get pregnant--don't they go through menopause? Receptionist1 explains that dogs don't have menopause, and any dog that's still having heat cycles can probably get pregnant. Cracked then relates that Bitch did "tie" with Evil about 2 months ago. Repeat discussion of possibilities and options. Cracked wants to go take Bitch's temperature and then call back. Repeat discussion of possibilities and options, and that we CANNOT DIAGNOSE OVER THE PHONE. Taking her temperature won't change those options.
Cracked calls back and speaks to Receptionist2, who once more repeats the "cannot diagnose over phone" and options conversation. Cracked decides to watch and see if Bitch has pups overnight. If not, she will come in first thing Saturday morning.
On Saturday, Cracked calls. No puppies, but she can't bring the dog in because she has to go get snow tires on her car. WHAT?!? It's December; winter happens every year by this time! If you need snow tires, why didn't you get them a month ago? And if you've managed to drive this long without them, why do you need them NOW? Repeat conversation of options, with caveat that if Bitch has not produced pups by now, she obviously isn't going to do so--she either has a stuck puppy, or she has a pyometra, both of which are life threatening situations that should be addressed right now (or she is having a false pregnancy, which is not life-threatening but if it was your dog, would you take the chance when 2 of the 3 options might mean she dies?)
On Monday, Cracked calls. Repeat above conversations, I'm too tired of it to type them out.
TODAY, Cracked finally brings Bitch in. Bitch has a raging pyometra with several dead/decomposing pups. Really, truly, impressive in an ohmygod way (dead puppies aren't much fun...). I shit you not, her uterus was as big around as my thigh. This, sadly, means it was so distended/stretched that it was leaking pus into the abdomen through several small tears. So now, on top of the pyometra, she has a peritonitis. Dr M spayed her, flushed her abdomen, and started her on massive quantities of antibiotics, and she was recovering as well as can be expected when I left, but she could just as easily have died (and still may, despite surgery and medications!) because the owner didn't bring her in 3 or 4 days ago, when the uterus would have been much smaller, and we would most likely have not had to deal with the peritonitis and potential sepsis issues.
Previous encounters:
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/60430.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/61451.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/62833.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/68458.html
Cracked calls back and speaks to Receptionist2, who once more repeats the "cannot diagnose over phone" and options conversation. Cracked decides to watch and see if Bitch has pups overnight. If not, she will come in first thing Saturday morning.
On Saturday, Cracked calls. No puppies, but she can't bring the dog in because she has to go get snow tires on her car. WHAT?!? It's December; winter happens every year by this time! If you need snow tires, why didn't you get them a month ago? And if you've managed to drive this long without them, why do you need them NOW? Repeat conversation of options, with caveat that if Bitch has not produced pups by now, she obviously isn't going to do so--she either has a stuck puppy, or she has a pyometra, both of which are life threatening situations that should be addressed right now (or she is having a false pregnancy, which is not life-threatening but if it was your dog, would you take the chance when 2 of the 3 options might mean she dies?)
On Monday, Cracked calls. Repeat above conversations, I'm too tired of it to type them out.
TODAY, Cracked finally brings Bitch in. Bitch has a raging pyometra with several dead/decomposing pups. Really, truly, impressive in an ohmygod way (dead puppies aren't much fun...). I shit you not, her uterus was as big around as my thigh. This, sadly, means it was so distended/stretched that it was leaking pus into the abdomen through several small tears. So now, on top of the pyometra, she has a peritonitis. Dr M spayed her, flushed her abdomen, and started her on massive quantities of antibiotics, and she was recovering as well as can be expected when I left, but she could just as easily have died (and still may, despite surgery and medications!) because the owner didn't bring her in 3 or 4 days ago, when the uterus would have been much smaller, and we would most likely have not had to deal with the peritonitis and potential sepsis issues.
Previous encounters:
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/60430.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/61451.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/62833.html
http://draggonlaady.livejournal.com/68458.html
