A Sad Mismating  

D. E. Larsen, DVM

Howard was leaning on the front counter, trying to dig his address out of his wallet and maintain control of Roxy at the same time. Roxy was a young German Shepard. She was pulling hard on the leash, leaning toward the cat carrier in the far corner of the reception area.

Nan was quick to defuse the pending chaos in the waiting room by taking Roxy back to the exam room. At the same time, Howard finished with the paperwork for Sandy. Howard was a new client, and he lived out on Bond Road, out of Brownsville.

“Hi, Howard, I’m Doctor Larsen,” I said as I extended my hand. “What can we do for Roxy today?”

“I am told that there is an injection that will keep a dog from getting pregnant if she is bred by the wrong dog,” Howard said.

“Well, I guess I would say yes and no to that question,” I said. “There is an injection, but it is not safe, and it is something that I don’t use or only rarely use it. At one point, we used DES, a synthetic estrogen. But that drug has been removed from the market. So right now, we only have estradiol. That will eliminate the possibility of a pregnancy, but it is not a safe drug to use in the dog.”

“This is my situation, Doc,” Howard said. “I bought this purebred little German Shepherd with the intent of breeding her with my dog, who has just achieved his champion status. Then what do I find yesterday morning when I get up, the neighbor’s black lab hooked up with Roxy in my backyard.”

“I would assume that she is early in her heat period,” I said. “Not all matings result in a pregnancy, especially if they occur outside of the prime period of ovulation.”

“Doc, I just don’t want to take a chance,” Howard says. “What am I going to do with a litter of mutts?”

“The safest thing for Roxy, if for her to deliver that litter of mutts,” I said. “German Shepherd and Lab crosses are pretty good pups, and you shouldn’t have much of a problem giving them away or selling them for a small fee. I think we do better selling puppies for a small amount rather than giving them away. That way, the new owners are invested in the pup, and that lessens the chance of it winding up in the humane society or being dumped along the road somewhere.”

“I just don’t want to deal with it, Doc,” Howard said. “I want to get her that shot.”

“When I sat this is not a safe drug for the dog, I am not talking about obscure side effect that occurs once in every thousand doses,” I said. “The dog’s uterus is sensitive to estrogen stimulation. After years of stimulation, a fair number of intact females will develop pyometra. This is an abnormal accumulation of pus in the uterus. Pyometra is a life-threatening condition and requires an emergency ovariohysterectomy. With this injection, that condition can be a complication following her heat cycle. I can’t give you a percentage, but I would guess it occurs in over ten percent of the dogs getting this injection. If it doesn’t occur following this heat cycle, it greatly increases the odds of it occurring at a later cycle.”

“Doc, I drove all the way up here because I hear nothing but good things about you,” Howard said. “But if you won’t give Roxy this injection, I will just go elsewhere to get it.”

“Did you hear, and understand, what I just said?” I asked.

“Yes, I heard you. And I understand there is a chance Roxy could lose her uterus, and possibly her life if I fail to watch her close,” Howard said. “But here is my situation, Doc. I don’t want to have to deal with a bunch of mutt pups.”

“Okay, against my better judgment, I will give her an injection,” I said.

***

It was several weeks later, and Howard was back with Roxy. She was dripping pus from her vulva and had been vomiting for several days.

“You know what this looks like?” I asked Howard after looking at Roxy.

“Yes, and I guess I can’t say you didn’t warn me,” Howard said. “So, what do we need to do now?”

“Now we need to take her to surgery and get that infected uterus out of there,” I said.

“Is there no other option?” Howard asked.

“Actually, I did treat a pyometra in an older dog once,” I said. “It is difficult, and we run the risk of losing the dog.”

“How did it turn out for the old dog?” Howard asked.

“We cleared the infection, and the dog got pregnant on the next cycle,” I said. “But things never worked very well, and she never went into labor. The owner brought her in several days past her due date. All the puppies were dead, and the uterus was infected again. 

We spayed her at that time. I learn from my mistakes, and I won’t treat a pyometra without surgery again. And I won’t give that misstating injection again, despite pressure from the owner.”

“Okay, Doc, let’s get it done,” Howard said. “She is too good of a dog to risk losing her. And I am not interested in finding another veterinarian right now. When will she be ready to go home?”

“We will do the surgery at the end of the day,” I said. “I like to get a good level of antibiotics circulating before surgery, and I generally like to get a bottle of fluids into her also. I will give you a call when I’m done. I would expect to send her home in the morning most of the time. There is always a little hedge when working on an infected uterus. There is a chance of some contamination of the incision.”

Roxy was a great dog and a good patient. I was always worried about German Shepherds because there are always a few knotheads in the breed.

The surgery went well. Roxy’s pyometra was an open cervix infection, and there was only a moderate amount of pus present in the uterus. Her surgery was not much different from a standard spay. I did oversew the uterine stump, something not done on a routine spay. I also changed the surgery pack, drapes, and gloves before closing the abdominal incision. Just as insurance, in case there was some contamination from the infected uterus.

Roxy recovered well and healed well. She went home and led a long life as the matron aunt to Howard’s future puppies.

 Howard remained a faithful client, despite the distance from the clinic. He said many times that he appreciated my honesty and straightforward mannerism.

“I always know you will tell it like it is, Doc,” Howard once said.

And, like I mentioned before, I never used a mismating injection again.

Photo by Lindsay Wilson from Pexels.

From the Archives, one year ago

Isabelle, Saved by a Bite, click on the link:

https://docsmemoirs.com/2020/12/07/isabelle-saved-by-a-bite/

A New Crop

D. E. Larsen, DVM

Waiting for Wayne to come down from the house, I leaned on the top rail of the corral and wondered what it was with this heifer that Wayne wanted to be checked. Wayne was a young man and the new owner of this ranch. I had spoken with him on the phone, but this would be the first time I would meet him. 

Looking out over the pasture, I think Jim, the previous owner, would be disappointed. I am sure Wayne was up against a lot of financial pressure. Ranching in the Willamette Valley was never a high-volume operation. Unless you were a purebred breed, you just about had to have another job to make things work. From the looks of things, Wayne was probably just coming to grips with that reality.

“Wayne, it’s good to finally meet you,” I said as I extended my hand. “How are things going?”

“Doc, I am glad you could make it out here today,” Wayne said as he shook my hand. Wayne was dressed in worn Levi’s and a tee-shirt, and his dark farmer’s tan said he had been working a lot outside this summer.

“What’s up with the heifer?” I asked. “I just got the message you had a cow for me to look at, but nothing about what was going on.”

“I’ve bred the whole bunch of heifers with artificial insemination, but this gal has not cycled,” Wayne said. “The sale is tomorrow, and I just wanted you to check her out before I sent her down the road.”

“How did you do your heat detection?” I asked.

“I brought a teaser bull with me from our old ranch,” Wayne said. “He does a pretty good job, but he is getting a little old. This is probably the last year I use him. Do you do any vasectomies around here?”

“I have done a few. There is not a high demand here,” I said. “I did some in school. Several other procedures can be used on a teaser, but a vasectomy is probably fine on a closed herd situation.”

“Well, let’s look at this heifer,” Wayne said. The bull situation can wait till this winter.”

Wayne ran the heifer into the chute and lubed an OB sleeve for a rectal exam. I grabbed her tail with my right hand and inserted my left hand into her rectum. I wasn’t into my elbow when I bumped into the nose of a calf.

“Wayne, where did you learn to do AI?” I asked.

“I took a course from the community college at our old place,” Wayne said. “It was a pretty good course. I use good bulls on my heifers and get some good replacement stock and some good market steers. I breed them before I turn the bulls into the cows. That way, I get all the heifer calving out of the way before cows start calving.”

“That’s good, for several reasons,” I said. “Heifers will have most of your calving problems, so you can concentrate your efforts on them. And, you will have the advantage of giving them more time before breeding after they calve. Maybe someday you should stop by the office, and we can talk about doing some estrus synchronization on your herd.”

“I have been reading about that, but I am not sure I want to jump right into it now.”

“In that course, did they say anything about the reasons for a cow or heifer not cycling?” I asked.

“Well, they had quite a list of things,” Wayne said. “I guess I never paid much attention to that part of things.”

“What did they say was the most common reason for a heifer not to be cycling?” I asked.

“Are you trying to tell me that she is pregnant?” Wayne asked.

“Ah! You didn’t sleep through the class,” I said. “She is pregnant, probably about five months based on the head size of the fetus. I can get a lot closer on aging a pregnancy when we check before ninety days. At this point, it is sort of plus or minus fifteen days.”

“How is that possible?” Wayne asked. “They were not exposed to any bull. I pull those out of the herd after ninety days.”

“How do you castrate your steers?” I asked.

“I band them, usually pretty early,” Wayne said.

“You probably missed a nut,” I said. “That is a common error. Most of those testicles will be up against the body wall, and they will not be fertile. But in all things dealing with reproduction, there are no absolutes. I like to cut those calves, and it is easy when they are a few days old. I will show you sometime if you are interested.”

“So what do I do with this heifer?” Wayne asked.

“Easiest thing, and the safest thing, is to send her to the sale,” I said. “She is not going to fit your calving schedule, but that will be easily adjusted next year. She is a nice heifer with plenty of growth and may deliver this calf okay. But you will be unhappy with me if we are out here doing a C-section in the middle of the night.”

“Yeah, you are probably right. There is nothing special about her,” Wayne said. “I will go ahead and send her to the sale. I can use the cash around here right now.”

“How are things going for you?” I asked.

“We are doing okay. There is just not anything extra right now,” Wayne said. “I get pretty frustrated. We pay such a high price for land around this valley, and then everyone grows grass hay that sells for forty dollars a ton.”

“I have brought that topic up a time or two. Making hay around here is almost a religion,” I said.

“Well, I have to figure out a better crop to plan, something more valuable than grass hay,” Wayne said.

“You might want to talk with some of the grass seed farmers out in the valley,” I said. “If you need an introduction, I know a few of those guys.”

“Not at this time,” Wayne said. “I just have to do some thinking first.”

“Okay, just keep in touch. I’m here to help,” I said. “I’m not much of a crops guy, but I can point you to the right person if you need any help.”

***

The following spring, I noticed that Wayne had about twenty acres of corn planted. He was irrigating it out of his pond on the little creek that ran through his place. I wondered what he planned to do with the corn at harvest. There was an old silo on the place, but I am sure it had not been used in years. This might be interesting to watch, I thought.

***

It was not long after that observation that there was an article in the paper. It seems that Wayne had planted more than corn in that field. On one of the sheriff flyovers, they had spotted a large marijuana patch growing in the middle of Wayne’s cornfield. It seemed that Wayne’s ranching days were coming to an abrupt end.

Photo by Crispin Jones on Unsplash.