A total of 207 bitches with pyometra were studied. They showed such clinical signs as dullness (73.2%), anorexia or loss of appetite (78.5%), thirst (70.1%), discharge of pus from the vagina (80.0%), and vomiting (in some dogs). The body temperature was usually normal. The white blood cell count ranged from 2, 400 to 123, 800/mm
3, averaging 33, 400/mm
3. It ranged from 20, 000 to 40, 0000/mm
3 in 61.9% of the bitches.
Bacteria were detected from the uterus in 141 (87.6%) of 161 bitches. They were
E. coli (56.9%), Streptococcus (13.3%), Klebsiella (6.2%), Staphylococcus (5.6%), Proteus (2.6%) and Citrobactor (2.1%).
The plasma progesterone level in the circulating blood ranged from 3.00 to 95.00ng/m
l, averaging 18.95±17.04 ng/m
l. It was not always higher than that in normal adult bitches of the luteal phase.
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