A Reason For All Things

When Pumpkin was sick last month I had no idea that excessive thirst, not eating and general lethargy were some of the top symptoms of pyometra. I always figured most dogs would have a high temperature and a discharge. Pumpkin didn't. What she did have a was a very high white blood count which the vet said made him early 100% sure it was pyo. Normal is about 6000, hers was 31,000.

Here we are over a month later. Pumpkin is doing great - in fact I tell people she hardly missed a beat.

Last week I had a phone call from the owner of Bonnie (Babe's sister). Bonnie has been feeling poorly lately and her owner is going to take her into the vet. We talk about the possibilities and he promises to let me know how's she doing when I return to town on Monday.

Monday comes andhe tells me Bonnie is still not doing well, that he vet thinks it's aminor blockage and that it will pass on it's own with enough supportive treatment.

Wedensay morning and Bobbie is still not doing well, in fact she has spiked a slight fever on and off. Vet still has not decided what is really wrong with her and wants to do "exploratory surgery". Neither Bonnie's owner nor I am liking this.

I call Bonnie's dad Mike and ask for a definitive run down of her symptoms. She's drinking excessively, she is not eating well and seems depressed and lethargic. She was in season 5 weeks ago.

Sound familiar????

I ask Mike if he's discussed the possibility of pyo with the vet and he says he has but the vet felt there was no indication of pyo "yet". I ask him to find out what the results of the bood test done on Bonnie yesterday were, specifically what's the white blood count. And if it's high, specifically what can cuase that in an otherwise healthy dog.

It's 30,000. Deja Vu all over again.

I tell him to go ahead and do the exploratory surgery but to tell the vet he expects them to find pyo and to spay her if that's the case. I get a call back a half hour later and he tells me they have re-evaluated their diagnosis (probabably based on his questions!!) and now think she does have pyo... she is in surgery now and I'm waiting to hear if that is what it is....

If I had not just recently had my experience with Pumpkin, and had a vet who was so positive on his diagnosis based on her symptoms and the blood work, and if I had not urged Mike to be more forceful, how long might they have putzed around with Bonnie???

Send good thoughts to Bonnie....