My experience with a pyometra.

During one of my weeks of work experience I was fortunate enough to witness a pyometra operation on a bitch. 

This bitch came in, she had been off her food for 2 weeks. Upon hearing this the vet scanned the stomach which showed nothing obvious. Then a urine sample was tested to check for cystitis. Then a scan was done on the uterus of the bitch, which showed an infected uterus. This case was a closed pyo so the puss just built up and could rupture at any time causing peritonitis. So she was booked in for a hysterectomy the next day. The urine sample came back with blood in,white blood cells and slightly dilute suggesting that it could have been cystitis or a reproductive problem. 

The next day.

So the bitch came back in and due to her pre-op bloods showing signs of a kidney problem she was put on a drip. One thing I learnt when observing the vet leading up to this operation was to take time scrubbing up and not to touch anything until you have dried your hands, put your gloves and gown on. 

The first incision was made into the fibre mid line on the abdomen. The vet then created a window to allow access to the abdominal cavity. In an unspayed bitch you look for the bladder then above is the uterus. Which in this case was a large gray tube (pyo). Upon removing a massive uterus about 20cm looking for the ovaries the vet tied many very flat knots right at the base and made sure they were secure, then removed the pyo it was very large for such a small dog about 20-30cm. The bitch was then stitched up with a layer of stitches in  the fibre layer and a layer of sub-cutanious stitches under the skin.

Finally I learnt that the word pyometra means puss (pyo) and metra (uterus).