Ovarian Remnant Syndrome - ORS

 My spayed dog is in heat, what?

We rescued our sweet Chloe in April 2022.

She came home to us the night of her being spayed.

Her spay was provided adoption service through the rescue shelter.

Chloe seemed to recover well from her spaying.

Her post-op appointment indicated she was healing appropriately.  

Chloe continued to thrive and was an active dog in no time.

Until 3 months later when she started bleeding as though she was in heat.

She became mostly lethargic and simply not feeling well.

We took her to our vet.

Her sonogram and bloodwork showed no UTI, kidney or bladder stones.

Her cytology and baseline hormone results showed a condition called

Ovarian Remnant Syndrome (ORS).

ORS occurs when tissue of an ovary is not removed during a spay procedure.  Endometriosis, pelvic adhesions as well as anatomical abnormalities can make it difficult to determine the ovary tissue area and may contribute undetected ovarian tissue not being fully removed.  It can also occur when a sliver of ovarian tissue is dropped unknowingly upon its removal and remains within the uterus area.  Risk of ORS may also occur when unskilled or inexperienced surgeons preform an ovariectomy.  

While your female animal is sterile from their original spay, the ovarian remnant

is attached or can reattach to a blood source eventually producing hormones.

Thus allowing them to have symptoms of being 'in heat'.

Our Chloe had to undergo exploratory surgery this week.

Basically the surgery is the same as the original spay surgery, except

the incision is larger to allow exploration to locate the ovarian remnant.

For Chloe, her right ovarian pedicle still contained ovarian tissue,

causing her Ovarian Remnant Syndrome.

It was removed and she should fully recover in about 2 weeks.

It is important to have the corrective surgery to help prevent the

on-going cycles of being in (sterile) heat as well

as risk of on-going pain, adhesions and certain cancers.

Chloe has been such a brave girl with her discomfort,

pain, enduring a major surgery and now her recovery 💗

I was unware such a condition could occur.  

ORS with similar symptoms can also occur in female humans.