2968. A 9-year-old not spayed Maltese became comatose

Aug 18, 2015

This morning, I went to the pet shop to buy hamster food. The aunty at the pet shop asked what caused her niece's Maltese to die?  She had not asked the niece who was grieving over the death.

I told her that the Maltese was comatose and had fits when her niece brought the dog into my clinic 3 days ago. The dog had septicaemia as the total white cell count was 70 (5-17 being normal) and the neutrophil % was 98% (60-70% being normal). There was insufficient blood glucose.

The dog was recumbent and despite IV drip and glucose, the dog died after 2 days of in-patient. She was in heat 3-4 weeks ago and I suspected pyometra.

Brownish red blood oozed out from the vagina after she died and the niece saw it. The parents and the pre-teen children came to visit the dog. The niece got a man to cremate her.

This death could have been prevented by early treatment or by spaying the dog at 6 months of age. This dog would have lived much longer as her kidneys and liver were normal as shown in the blood test. Her teeth was encrusted with tons of tartar but the niece ignored my earlier advice to get dental work done.

Bacteria could have reached the blood stream via the mouth or infected uterus. It is hard to say where the bacteria in the blood originated.

I did not want to bring out this sad topic with the aunty as this was death that could have been prevented by spaying.