Surgical treatment of septic peritonitis without abdominal drainage in 28 dogs.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the surgical outcomes of 28 dogs with generalized septic peritonitis treated without postoperative abdominal drainage. The overall mortality rate was 46%, with most cases of peritonitis being caused by leakage of the gastrointestinal tract (75%). Etiology of peritonitis, abdominal cytopathology, total white blood cell count, packed cell volume, total protein, and results of serum biochemistries were not statistically different between survivors and nonsurvivors.