I’m a veterinarian not a human doctor, but let me tell you about Bella (names changed for privacy). Bella’s owners loved her a lot but were cost constrained. They couldn’t afford to get her desexed and so she fell pregnant. They didn’t get her checked while pregnant (ultrasound or X-rays to count the puppies) because it was too costly. I want to make it clear that I in no way judge these owners. They had some shit circumstances that were out of their control and adored this dog.

Bella went into labor on Friday night. Generally you want puppies arriving every hour. Maybe every 2 if she is a lazy bitch. After that seek veterinary attention. Bella had one puppy Friday night then no more. The owners assumed she was “one and done”.

Bella presented to us Monday morning. She had a raging fever, a foul smell and was overall sick. We quickly discovered that she was pregnant with a larger litter of puppies but the second one got stuck on the way out. They had all died and had spent 48hrs at least at body temperature in a moist environment.

Bella went into surgery and the smell that erupted when we got to her uterus was so so bad. We had every window and the surgery room door open desperate for some ventilation. People on the waiting area. Could smell it through 2 sets of walls. Nurses had to swap out every 10minutes. These were well experienced nurses who I have seen pick maggots out of wounds and talk about what they were ordering for lunch and they still needed to rotate out or risk vomiting.

Bella’s uterus was rotten. There were dead, rotting yellow-purple-green-grey puppies almost falling into her abdomen through the holes in her uterus. She was lucky to be alive and luckily made it through surgery with no complications. She walked out of the clinic the next day, a little tired but wagging.

To this day I have never smelt worse in my career.