Mario's Open Pyometra

Mario was a resident gerbil we'd taken in from a friend who also rescued but primarily focused on Syrian hamsters. We were expecting male gerbils, so we named our gerbils, Mario and Luigi, in advance. It was only once we'd sexed them that we discovered we had two females. We couldn't get out of the habit of calling them by their male-names, so, we decided to keep them - they didn't mind.

Mario's friend, Luigi, tragically passed away after a lengthy battle with congestive heart failure, and previous pneumonia. Mario then went on to form a clan with another female gerbil, Rita.

One day, Mario started with an audible clicking noise when respiring, she also had an increased respiratory rate and respiratory effort. Initially, we had concerns she had a respiratory infection. She was introduced to a course of broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone anti-microbial agent: Baytril/Enrofloxacin. The following day, Mario's genitalia seemed swollen/abnormal and messy, we went to tidy her up and to get a clearer idea as to what had happened, when an excessive amount of discharge poured out of her vaginal opening. We contacted the veterinary clinic, Mario required an urgent ovariohysterectomy, we believed we were dealing with an open pyometra. 

A pyometra refers to uterine infection and is considered an urgent matter in medicine. "Pyo" means pus, whereas "Metra" means uterus. A pyometra can occur in two forms: open and closed.

1. An open pyometra is where the cervix is open, thus allowing secretions to flow from the body. The vaginal discharge may be described as a mucopurulent (containing mucus and pus) and/or serosanguineous (containing blood) and is often foul-smelling. 
2. A closed pyometra is often more subtle and can be considered more life-threatening. A closed pyometra occurs the cervix is closed and secretions are retained within the uterus. As a result, toxins enter the blood-stream which can consequently lead to septic shock or sudden death. 

Mario's surgery was successful but we remained cautiously optimistic for her recovery. Mario continued with her course of Baytril, and we added 1mg:1kg BID Metacam/Meloxicam (NSAID) to help ease post-surgical pain and inflammation. 

Mario sleeping off Buprenorphine.

Despite the surgical and medicinal intervention, Mario sadly passed away one week after her surgery. Although the outcome wasn't what we'd hoped for, we still feel it's necessary to tell her story. Mortality rates are very real, but Mario means much more to us than a statistic.

Mario passed away on 14th July 2019.

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