I was reading the post below concerning diarrhea in a post-whelping bitch, Daisy, and thought people could learn from my recent experience. I certainly have. This was a natural birth, all 10 puppies delivered without any invasive treatment, all placentas accounted for. All pups were gaining weight, maybe not as fast as I would like, but reasonable considering the size of the litter. Daisy was lively, doing a great job of taking care of the litter, and, after the pups were several days old, went along on the evening dog walk with the rest of my crew.
Daisy had small amounts of bright red discharge multiple times a day, which worried me. Temperature was normal, and she seemed healthy. Dew claws removed at five days. I mentioned the discharge and the vet examined her by palpation. Uterus seemed a little large, but not enough to have a puppy still in her. She had had some diarrhea, but it cleared up after 24 hours. Then several days later the diarrhea returned and on Friday evening she threw up her dinner along with some grass and then refused to eat her late night meal and breakfast the next morning, at which point I got her in to the vet. Temperature was still normal, uterus still larger than expected on palpation. An ultrasound was recommended, so I took her to my reproductive vet, who fortunately had scheduled a surgical breeding for that (Saturday) afternoon. With ultrasound she was able to see that there was fluid in one horn of the uterus. So somehow Daisy had become infected and the uterus was still bleeding because of the infection. Note that the temperature was normal. Treatment consisted of a hormonal treatment (not oxytocin) to stimulate contraction of the uterus, which made her nauseated for 45 minutes or so, so she threw up. She also was started on a medication to stimulate milk production Clavamox, and was given subcutaneous fluids. She had almost no milk for about 24 hours, so I tube-fed the babies. Now, almost 48 hours later she is eating well, has not thrown up, stools are normal for a nursing mother, and the bright red discharge has stopped. Pups are gaining weight again. So I think we are out of danger.
I asked the vet whether I could have caught it earlier. She actually said that my response had been timely, but that the continued bright red discharge is a danger signal. I could have spared Daisy the digestive upsets if I had brought her in earlier. My regular vet is not a reproductive specialist and, in the absence of any other problems at the time he saw her, did not pick up on that. She said that it is not likely to recur if she is bred again. She also emphasized that this is different from pyometria, being caused by different hormonal state of the uterus.
So I thought that I should post this so that other people - and new mothers- can benefit from Daisy's and my experience. I have been breeding for about 25 years and had never encountered metritis before.
I had a girl with this once. I was told the placental separation site does not heal up. Yes she did have bright red blood discharge. We did use oxytocin and she was fine by the next day with no loss of milk. Thank you for your post. It certainly may help other out in the future.
My vet called this metritis and said that it was an infection. I guess the two conditions would have in common a bright red discharge for longer than a day or two after whelping. Daisy's discharge was mucousy. I dont' know if that is the case for subinvolution.
BTW, Daisy is doing fine. The treatment quickly got her back on track.
Hi Peggy~ Glad to hear Daisy is doing well. W/ true subinvolution you will have discharge of bright red(fresh) blood(it's not a lot but enough and of course the color that makes you go "hmmm") past the normal time frame for discharge and its color...and it doesn't stop. They aren't sick in anyway. I've dealt w/ it a few times through the years. The quickest way to get it to stop is to get the pups on solid food as soon as you can so they aren't nursing as much. That's what worked for me to get the site(s) to close off.
