#pyometra

We took her to emergency surgery, and she did great.

I want to shake her so badly and go "HAVE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON???"

Ooh, that'll be interesting! I'd love to read it!

You're correct that Shamu is the only reported case of pyometra in a killer whale, wild or captive. The CRC Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine makes no mention of pyometra in cetaceans, although it does occur in both wild and captive pinnipeds and has been reported in sea otters and sirenians. Pyometra is typically the result of bacteria migrating up the vaginal tract into the uterus, which at certain times is more susceptible to infection due to normal hormonal fluctuations. Theoretically, anything with a uterus can get pyometra, though some species are more commonly affected than others.

I would hedge to bet that pyometra is rare in cetaceans because of their truly unusual reproductive anatomy. Females have a lot of redundant tissue in their vaginal tract, creating "false cervixes" and overall making it a lot more difficult for anything to reach the uterus.

See all those extra recesses around the cervix?

I did find this case report on a necropsy of a wild short-beaked common dolphin. Pyometra was one of many nasty issues afflicting the poor girl, so it can indeed occur in nature. Since this individual was suffering from co-infections of bacteria and cetacean morbillivirus, she was clearly immunocompromised. It's highly likely Shamu was as well.

Overall, pyometra of cetaceans (including orcas) appears to be quite rare in both the wild and managed care. Shamu was the very first orca intentionally captured for public display, nearly 60 years ago, and only survived six years in captivity before her death at approximately age 10. Virtually nothing was known about killer whale husbandry at the time, so it's not at all unreasonable to assume that poor husbandry, nutrition, and stress negatively impacted her immune function to the point she succumbed to pyometra.

Bluestar/yellowfang bond over autistic/adhd solidarity

how do you handle the silverstream “death in childbirth” thing? So far, we’ve been waffling back and forth between “this should happen a lot more” or “silverstream should have a reproductive disability- we’ve decided on endometriosis, something we both have personal experience with. Anyway, I’d love your input on how this could be handled, as well as what general medical care for reproductive issues would look like!!

Thanks!

People are starved for good Neurodivergence/Disability representation and I humbly provide

Blue and Yellow

I won't be doing very much with Bluestar/Yellowfang's possible bond because I find that TPB is already super packed, and Bonefall TPB in particular is extremely politically focused as the basis for what Thistle Law, Traditionalism, and Fire Alone look like in practice. There just isn't room in the story that I'm telling for Blue and Yellow to also get focus as a unit.

I do find them super compelling in the fandom, though. I think the way that, combined, they lost a full litter of kits (Blue lost 1 and Yellow lost 2) is an unexplored concept. Not to mention their complicated feelings towards StarClan, with Yellowfang accepting that she 'deserves' punishment where Bluestar scorns the stars completely.

(CW past this point: I'm talking about Silverstream's death in childbirth, cat reproduction, infection, and also I start ranting about how much human reproduction sucks)

update on milly! we took her to a vet today and we were told that the total cost of her surgery will be $2,000+ so we have taken out a loan because we do not have $2,000 at the moment, and milly needs to have her surgery done ASAP or else her uterus will rupture and that will kill her. so all donations and shares would be very much appreciated! it would help us immensely to pay off the debt we owe. my family and I are victims of poverty so we have always struggled a lot financially and this debt isn’t any help

‘Small animal’ in the context of veterinary medicine means basically anything smaller than a human, and almost always means dogs and cats in particular.

While an equivalent of gut stasis can happen in small carnivores like dogs and cats (ileus) it’s not really the same diabolical life threatening condition as you would see in a small hindgut fermenter like a rabbit or a chincilla. And I should mention thT as an Australian I’m only familiar with Chinchillas in passing, they’re not kept as pets down here.