How often do female cats get pyometra?
I can’t give you numbers, but I can tell you that pyrometra isn’t commen. I have 2 female cats. One is 3 and the other will be turning two in a month. The younger female cat got pyrometra at 10 months of age. One day she was crying, and our older cat seemed to not want anything to do with her. We figured hormones, becuase they are females. Then the next day woke up to find a couple drops of blood on the rug, and then on the kitchen floor. I then realized that out younger cat was cleaning herself alot so I checked out her vaginal area. She was clearly bleeding. So I called up the vet and they told me that she could be having a period. I didn’t think that was the cause becuase she had gone into heat a few times previously with no bleeding. I must have called like 3 vets so I got online and checked things out. Cats are very good at masking sickness though. She wanted to be active, but I wanted to keep her still so that she didn’t bleed everywhere. She bled for 5 days before we were finall
The more heat cycles they have, the more likely they are to get it. It’s one of those things that my vet likes to call “under-diagnosed” rather than uncommon. Spaying a cat means they will never get pyometria. People who don’t bother spaying their cats probably aren’t going to recognize the symptoms of it, and won’t bother taking her to the vet to be treated. End result, the cat wanders off and dies, owner wonders why. This doesn’t mean it’s uncommon – just unnoticed or ignored. Most breeders I know (and these are reputable people!) have had at least one case of it in their breeding queens, who’re immediately spayed. We’ve also seen a pretty good number of adult females in rescue, who were unspayed when we got them and had it. So I’d venture to say it’s more common than some of the posters are guessing. Spaying – especially an early spay – prevents so many health issues in addition to pregnancy!
