Spay issues

[Keono]

My Little girl, Anna is a handful. She is mostly obedient (more so than a beagle normally is in my experience) loves kids, dogs, cats and adults alike. She really liked other dogs... so we got her spayed last friday the 25'th of september. it's seven days later and she's caused a bit of a panic. More than any other female dog I've ever owned. two days ago, (5 days after surgery) she somehow managed to get her e-collar off and with near surgical precision, remove the external sutures, and clean her "wound". wow. that sent me and my fiance into a panic. But, we used some wound closures and secured it. thankfully the Sub-Q stitches weren't ruptured, nor did she break the newly formed thin layer of skin. disaster averted. but today, we woke up to her just having pumped a bit of blood out of her vagina.  naturally we were a bit concerned. we took her to the vet and the vet said they would have to do a exploratory surgery (didn't think it was necessary) or we would have to wait to see if it stops on it's own... ok. symptoms. Stretching= spurt of watery blood. intermittent small drops of blood. at one point, some clotting was evident on the paper towels. for a while it didn't bleed when she stretched, then it started doing it again. I do not see any purple-ing under her suture site so I don't think it's any sort of internal bleeding spill-over (I couldn't imagine how it would get into her cervix even if it was internal bleeding). any ideas? her urine is not bloody, nor is her feces. she is not running a temp, and her suture site is not red. some scabbing has occured over the suture site after she removed the stitches, but it does not smell at all. she is eating and drinking just fine. (she drinks like a camel normally, and still is)

[Jim Humphries, B.S., D.V.M.]

Just my opinion on this.  Many dogs discharge blood, blood tinged fluid, amber colored fluid even clots from their vagina after a spay.  Can be quite normal.  The vaginal "stump" that is cut and sutured can bleed and the blood simply exits the body via the small bit of vagina that is left.  

Even though it is not good that she pulled her skin sutures, sounds like you did the right thing and your veterinarian has check that.  IF she was bleeding internally enough to be of concern, by now you would see signs of anemia, swollen painful abdomen and perhaps some blood seeping from the surgical site.  

I don't see any reason at this point to consider an exploratory surgery.  I think she need her collar put back on, and allowed to recover in a kennel or crate for a week.  This will assure that the surg site will heal rightly.  

IF the discharge continues past a week or so it may be from a mild vaginal infection and this can be treated with antibiotics or flushes.  

While not an ideal recovery, I don't think you are in an emergency needing more surgery or even blood work.  

Let her heal in a controlled environment for a good 7-10 days!!

[Keono]

the vet checked the closures. I used an alternative to butterfly bandages and I left room for the wound to excrete any fluids it needs to. there's a new symptom today, the blood coming out of her vagina is dark dark red, almost brown in color. almost like it was indeed a heat. which brings me to some information I forgot to post, she was due for her heat cycle ANYWAY shortly after we were going to have her spayed. I know, it was ill thought out to have the surgery that close to her heat cycle, but we had to get it done. I'm just worried for our little girl, becuase none of this is making any sense to me. my own conjecture leads me to believe that the sub-Q stiches have started to dissolve before she started healing enough, or that this is a pseudo-heat cycle, the latter makes no sense to me I don't know enough about dog physiology to make an educated assumption.

[Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS]

Hello,

Sorry you're having complications after the spay.

I think that you should definitely have a heart to heart with your family vet to try to understand what may be going on inside.

At the same time, I would have them double check your "wound closures" which make me a little bit nervous... Without appropriate wound care, an infection or a abscess would be possible. No need to panic, I would just have them check it out.

After you have a heart to heart, then you can make an informed decision as far as how long to wait and what to do.  Blood work may also be in order to see how much blood loss has trruly occurred (internally and externally).  In other words, is she anemic?

In some cases, the only option for vaginal bleeding after a spay is an exploratory surgery as it may be the only way to 1. diagnose    and    2. treat the problem all at the same time.

Good luck.

Please keep us posted.

Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS
Pet surgeon and author of a free, weekly newsletter for true pet lovers, available at DrPhilZeltzman.com
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