5-6 year old boxer showing strange signs

[regandmols]

my 5 year old female boxer, molly, has been showing signs of lameness lately.. she really doesnt want to play with my other boxer at all, which is strange, and sometimes when she's laying on her bed, i hear her foot tap against the hardwood.. it is kind of a twitcching motion.. but her tail wags often and she doesnt seem.. too out of the norm, but i definitly think something is up.. she also just finished her period if that means anything... and i caught my other boxer trying to mount her a couple times when she was in heat so i cant say its impossible she got pregnant, but at the same time i would think id be able to tell.... i guess if anyone has any suggestions as to what it is because i kind of think she might just be a little sick and itll pass... thanks guys

 

[Independence]

You should take her to the vet and have her examined to see if she is pregnant and at the same time you could discuss your concerns with her lameness.

 

[Jan]

I would definitely take her to the vet. If she just had a heat, she could have pyrometra. It would be a good idea to have her checked out.

 

[Sansal]

Yes, please take her to the vet. May I ask why you have a female that is not spayed and a male that is not fixed in one household?

 

[regandmols]

ok, i will be making an appointment asap, as far as why i have two in one house, because i had plans on eventual breeding, just not at the moment and i kept them seperated for 99% of the time she was in heat, so i thought it didnt happen, only caught him trying to mount once and i didnt think he was successful but maybe he was im not sure..

 

[TossBranAbi]

Do your dogs have the proper health tests? Do you show them? Do you have any idea what is involved in breeding?

You will find that breeding dogs is not tolerated around here unless you are a reputable breeder. The number of dogs who are killed every year in shelters is astounding and the number is only increased by people who are back yard breeders.

Back Yard Breeder - BYB

 

[regandmols]

i went to the vet about 12 hours ago, seems she has pyrometra... since my vet happened to close early yesterday and will be closed today, i went to an emergency one and they gave me antibiotics.. said she would be okay until monday when i will take her to our home vet.. thank you for the help, i willbe getting her spayed when this is all over with

 

[sriley]

i willbe getting her spayed when this is all over with

Good decision. Thank you for being a responsible pet owner. You should seriously consider having your male neutered, too. His chances of developing testicular cancer (particularly if one or both of his testicles have not dropped) significantly increases if he's left intact.

 

[Widges]

i went to the vet about 12 hours ago, seems she has pyrometra... since my vet happened to close early yesterday and will be closed today, i went to an emergency one and they gave me antibiotics.. said she would be okay until monday when i will take her to our home vet.. thank you for the help, i willbe getting her spayed when this is all over with

Please monitor her closely, we have had a number of these cases in our emergency vets recently - we operate immediately. Seems you may have just caught it early enough, fingers crossed. I'm quite surprised the vet did not want to keep her in to monitor her themselves.

Treatment

The most important aspect of treatment of pyometra is quick action. Female dogs are often septic and in shock (see septic shock)[6]. Intravenous fluids and antibiotics should be given immediately. The treatment of choice is an emergency spay[5], to remove the infected organ, but as this prevents a female dog from breeding it is worth noting that some advances have been made in treating pyometra with longterm antibiotics and an agent to cause contraction of the uterus and expulsion of the pus.

 

[srennie]

Yikes! I can't believe they didn't want to spay her immediatley. Please watch her closley and if you have a thermometer you might want to monitor her temperature. I hopes she is ok! You should probably pull her food at 10pm tonight so she'll be prepared for surgery tomorrow. My guess is that your regular vet will want to get her uterus out ASAP.

As for breeding....so many people think about how neat it would be to see their dog give birth and think that they dogs 'want' to be a mother or should not be deprived of the experience...and some think it is an easy way to make some $. What people don't seem to understand is that breeding dogs is actually quite expensive if you do it properly and that isn't including any complications with mother or pups. And unlike humans, dogs don't have a 'longing' to become a mother. And yes, it would be neat to see her give birth but you have to think about the long term and what is going to happen to those pups. I heard a statistic the other day that 2 in 5 pups will end up in a shelter, unadopted. So, if she had 5 babies, 2 would end up homeless, eventually, and being killed.

When people approach me about breeding our boxer because she is just beautiful (we adopted her at the rescue) it gives me an opportuinty to step up on my soapbox and explain that she was thrown away. There are more than enough beautiful boxers in this world to go around...we don't need to be making any more until all of those sitting in rescues and shelters have a home to call their own.