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Pyometra in old, sick dog: Is surgery too risky? Any other options?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | 9 years and 1 month old | 15 lbs

My pet is suffering from pyometra but she is not in conditions to do the operation,doctor said there will be risk in doing operation? And she is not taking any medicine and food since last few days,what are the risk for doing operation, is there any other option.and what is the main reason behind this?shall we take the risk? Does the factors related age,sex,body weight can affects on her life(op).please help me out?.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Davis

Veterinarian

Published on August 17th, 2017

In my opinion if she is not improving with medication after a few days I would do the operation. There is not another option if you've already tried antibiotics. She could die if you don't do the surgery. Anesthesia monitoring and giving fluids during the operation will decrease the risk for Kitty. Many senior dogs have surgeries without complications. Once the operation is done Kitty should recover quickly. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Kitty.

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    Answered By Isabelle Roese, DVM, CVA

    Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

    Published on August 16th, 2017

    Good day. Recovery post op is often linked to how bad things were before surgery (bloodwork, hydration, severity of condition). That said, if the surgery went well and Kitty, your Pomeranian, received good antibiotics, hydration and adequate pain meds, she could recover fully. The pyometra surgery itself is a spay surgery, and spay surgeries are performed every day in veterinary practice around the countr. I wish Kitty the best recovery. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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