[FEL-L] Re: Felines-L Digest, Vol 9, Issue 8

[Kristin Filseth]

Hi Tim,

I am thinking you were speaking about pyometra. Vaginal pyoderma means
vaginal skin infection, dermis being the word for skin. Pyometra means
infection of the uterus. Of the two conditions the potentially fatal one is
pyometra. It is surely a possibility for an animal to recover from a uterine
infection with no intervention just as it is possible for a dog's broken leg
to heal straight on its own, but usually animals with pyometra are spayed or
given antibiotics plus prostaglandin therapy which contracts the uterus,
either of these are likely to lead to a less painful severe illness. When
antibiotic therapy alone is used, sometimes it doesn't work, or sometimes
scarring will result that decreases the possiblity of future pregnancy,
sometimes it may work fine though, hard to know ahead which it will be. I am
glad to hear your female did well.

There was a study about rates of mammary cancer recently but it
unfortunately didn't differentiate between spayed and unspayed dogs. :( In
humans they know that a certain percent of breast cancer is related to
hormones and a certain percent isn't -- I am not aware of any studies
defining how common the hormonal type is in dogs. I am frustrated with the
lack of real good studies comparing occurrence of conditions based on
something as simple as whether an animal is spayed or neutered or not. I
have to cite something done on Swedish dogs. In vet medicine even asking a
simple question like "how common is X condition" -- even that is often hard
to answer and some of the studies are 50 years old or done on only one
breed, etc.

The swedish cause-of-death study unfortunately didn't address what means the
owners used to attempt to control their dogs, it is a good thing to
question. Owners apparently didn't do too good a job did they? The dogs were
all ones with pet insurance. I figure that owners that will take the step of
getting medical insurance for their pets probably care enough to also keep
them at least semi-restrained or moreso than random farm dogs. But - I've
never been to Sweden, I don't know what the norm is for a pet dog there,
what the convention is.

It would be nice, wouldn't it, to see a study specifically addressing
roaming and aggression? I think most people, vets or not, think neutering
decreases those behaviors (or more to the point prevents them from starting
as most people do agree that dog habits are hard to break) and that medical
benefits tend to outweigh the downsides. Obviously not all people believe
that. If I see any new data coming out I will forward it on.

Thanks,

Kristin