My Experience With Pyometra

My kitty is a rescue animal who is afraid of her own shadow. I suspected she was unspayed, but as she was a poster kitty for post traumatic stress syndrome, the timing was not right to subject her to the further stress of an operation and stay in a strange vet hospital. I was just beginning to make inroads into making her feel more secure, when she developed symptoms of bleeding from what I assumed was her rectum, as female cats, unlike dogs, are generally not known to have discharge while in heat. After a visit to the local emergency animal clinic and a diagnosis of allergic reaction, I got on the internet and finally came across a condition known as Pyometra, a disorder that is always life threatening. Pyometra is similar to endometriosis and involves a fluid buildup around the uterus, which becomes infected. The pressure eventually closes off the cervix which can then lead to the uterus rupturing. Usually before this happens there is irreversible damage to the kidneys. Either way, not good.

I took kitty to the vet the next morning who confirmed the diagnosis of Pyometra (elevated white blood cell count and appearance of tumors on X-rays). Two hours later she was given the equivalent of a kitty hysterectomy. She is recuperating nicely and her prognosis is good. I was lucky because this is a disease that usually by the time symptoms develop (in her case, bleeding) it is too late. I have been around cats most of my life and until recently knew nothing about Pyometra, mostly because all my female cats, except for this one, have been spayed. So if you have an unspayed female cat who is bleeding, get her to the vet immediately. Although the treatment is not cheap, in the end, what choice do we have?

For a complete account of my experience with Pyometra, visit http://pyometra-bleedingfemalecat.blogspot.com