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English Bulldog Dystocia
Written by: Megan Beckler • 2022 Scholar
History
Bailey is a 3 year old, female intact English Bulldog who presented on 7/1/22 to IVS for concerns of dystocia. Bailey was bred to an English Bulldog and started having her first puppy 7 hours prior to presentation. Her first and second puppy were born one hour apart, however, Bailey had not produced a puppy since. Bailey had been actively pushing, appearing restless, and displaying labored breathing. Her owner was unaware of how many puppies she had.
Physical Exam
Upon physical examination, Bailey had an open cervix with no puppies stuck in the birth canal. Bailey displayed stertorous breathing and was given a pain score of 1 out of 4.
Diagnostics
Ultrasound: Dr. Bartlett performed an AFAST (Abdominal Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma) which revealed that there were at least two puppies with heartbeats still in Bailey’s uterus. Fetal bradycardia was appreciated upon imaging.
Bloodwork: Baseline bloodwork was performed prior to anesthetizing Bailey for a cesarean section procedure. Bailey's complete blood count and serum chemistry did not reveal any significant abnormalities in organ function or cell parameters.
Treatment
Due to the extended amount of time between the birth of Bailey's last puppy and when she presented for dystocia, Dr. Bartlett determined that Bailey needed a cesarean section to safely remove her other puppies as her prognosis was guarded.
In surgery, three puppies were found in her uterus. There was one puppy in each uterine horn, as well as one puppy in the uterine body. Two of these puppies were alive.
Once the puppies were safely removed from the uterus, they were then passed to technicians where resuscitation was performed.
Bailey recovered well and was placed with her puppies to nurse a couple hours following surgery. She was prescribed two oral medications for pain management and placed on strict exercise restriction. Bailey was advised to be rechecked by a veterinarian in 10-14 days to ensure her incision had properly healed.
