Millie’s Road to Recovery!

Hello, my name is Callie and I am an animal lover. Millie was brought to a shelter on September 11th, 2022. Her owners surrendered her because they had too many animals and could no longer care for her. She was elected to be transported to Wisconsin on September 21st but she developed a pyometra (infected uterus) the day before her scheduled transport. She was brought to a veterinarian for an emergency spay on September 20th, 2022. She recovered well but the following day she was still lethargic, so she was brought back to the veterinarian who then referred her to a specialist due to the severity of her medical condition and necessary care. There she was suspected of having a hemoabdomen (blood in the abdomen) from her spay procedure. She was stabilized and given a blood transfusion. A nurse contacted me letting me know that she needed a foster home. I quickly volunteered. I picked her up from the hospital on Friday, September 23rd. I was told her bleeding had stopped and she was stable. She was slow to move and really shy. I did not know what her personality was like so it was difficult to judge how she was actually feeling. We spent the night at my parents house. The next day we made the drive to my home in New Orleans. She met my little dog Pippa and my cat P. She was an angel! I had planned to bring her in to MedVet on Monday to recheck her PCV to make sure she was maintaining. Her condition rapidly declined Sunday night. She became tachycardic (increased heart rate) and tachypneic (increased respiratory rate) and her mucous membranes were pale. She would not eat and she would not get up. I carried her to the car and brought her in to MedVet. Her PCV on arrival was 12%. She needed blood as soon as possible. She was bloused a double unit of blood and then given another double unit at a continuous rate infusion. The surgeons were contacted and came up with the plan to go to surgery as soon as she was stabilized. We needed to see where she was bleeding from and stop it. We also need to see if there was another source of infection. Her WBC was close to 90,000!! I spent the night with her, monitoring her closely. You could tell she felt horrible. When she placed her sweet head on my lap I knew I was right where I needed to be. She went to surgery the next morning. They found that her spleen was covered in abscesses. This was due to the infection from the pyometra. She had a splenectomy. The source of the bleeding was from the uterine stump. Once the blood clot was removed it started bleeding. This was revised and the bleeding stopped. She recovered slowly after surgery. She had continuous heart rate and rhythm monitoring. Her heart was not happy with the bacteria. She was on Lidocaine to control the arrythmias, Fentanyl for pain, and amikacin (antibiotic) for the infection. Millie started eating small amounts the following day. She was finally sent home on September 28th. She will need to continue amikacin while at home. This sweet girl has been through so much in such a short period of time!! She is on the road to recovery! She is wagging her sweet tail and feeling so much better! She is even trying to climb out of her cage. Due to her extensive medical condition and treatment Millie has a significant medical bill. Please help the shelter pay this so they can use those funds on other pets in need.