[gspcrazy]

We have a 15 wk old GSP who appears to have a vaginal infection. It's not UTI. Her urine sample tested negative but a couple of days later we noticed discharge coming out. Took her back to the vet who said it must be a vaginal infection which wouldn't necessarily show up in urine. Vet persribed a two week regimen on antibiotic pills. We're down to the last day or so of the antibiotics and today she had a pretty large discharge of puss again. It's the first time we've seen that since we started the pills. When we were at the vet she made some comments about this being potentially hard to clear up. So much so that she recommends holding off until the dog is at least six/seven months old before spaying her to avoid complications.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of infection? If so how serious is it/can it be?

 

[sassafras]

It's fairly common in young female puppies, and most just outgrow it without much intervention IME. As long as she's not having urine accidents or other symptoms, you can probably just help keep her clean with baby wipes and wait. If she hasn't grown out of it by the time you plan to spay her, a first heat will almost always clear it up for good.

ETA: This article is a bit old but the information in it is still good.

 

[gspcrazy]

Thanks, also found some additional reading on the topic. We didn't want to let her go through heat due to hormonal changes but looks like we may need to do so.

 

[gspcrazy]

Any reason why you don't want to just spey her and fix the problem?

From what I gather now from the vet and additional research, spaying won't fix it and may make it a chronic problem.

 

[gambles]

Hi,

I almost lost my dog to a vaginal/uterine infection. I don't know how much different the complication is with both involved. My groomer did lost his dog. I really wanted to have a granddog eventually, but she had to have a total hysterectomy. The finally symptom was mainly inactivity, but she was also clearly in distress as she was panting without raising her head. For me, it was very close.

I dearly hope you situation isn't as serious, but you asked how serious it could get. If the time comes, is there a specialist in you area? They cost a fortune, but we seem to have them for every part of the dog around here!

Best of luck,
Suzanne

 

[gspcrazy]

Thanks for the info. Hopefully it is just a puppy thing and doesn't get any worse. Now that we are aware we are watching her like a hawk for any additional symptoms.

 

[samshine]

One of my girls had this problem as a puppy. Because of frequent urination, we had her tested for a bladder infection. Test showed no bacteria but an increased white blood cell count. The vet gave us antibiotics but I decided to try other remedies for a couple days and see what happened. The main thing is to keep them dry and clean. The moisture leads to irritation which causes an urge to pee. So we simply kept some wipes by the back door and gave her a quick swipe after every trip outside. Another very helpful thing we did was to trim all the hair off the vulva. Those little hairs trap moisture and are a conduit for bacteria. Use one of those small personal trimmers you can get at a drug store/Walmart for $10-15. Scissors are kind of risky ;-)

Then as a precaution, I put her on cranberry capsules. Puppy vaginitis can sometimes lead to bladder infections, so I opened one or two capsules and mixed with some canned food, twice a day. Cranberry is very good at preventing bladder infections.

Well, within a day or two of this regimen she stopped having any symptoms. We kept it up for a couple months and then stopped to see if she would be okay. Didn't have any problems after that. But if your puppy has an "inverted vulva" it is a good idea to let them have a heat cycle before spaying.

Good luck!

 

[gspcrazy]

Thanks for the info. We'll add cranberries in some form to her diet. We've already taken to wiping her bottom. One really does have to wonder who is at the top of the evolutionary ladder...

 

[samshine]

The pills are much more concentrated and really the way to go. Dogs won't like the taste so a pill or tablet can difficult to give. If you open the capsule and mix the powder in with a couple tablespoons of canned dog food they should eat it right up.

 

[Greater Swiss]

Caeda had a vaginal infection when she was younger and hadn't been spayed. It wasn't super serious but it wasn't exactly minor either, she was in some obvious discomfort. The vet told us it is very common for young female dogs and often goes away and rarely comes back after spay.
He was right, she hasn't had a problem since.
He did give us a home remedy though (which we didn't try, it improved enough within the week). A weak tea ******. Not sure if it works, but it was suggested (he even drew us a diagram of how to do it lol).
Hope your girl is doing ok!!

 

[gspcrazy]

Thanks for the additional info. The pup's overall health seems to be fine. Other than a little bit of discharge from time to time, the only apparent effect is that she squats multiple times rather than just one long one when she pees. Oh, she has also had a couple of incidents when she squirted seemingly involutarily while doing other stuff. Acted suprised when it happened and wheeled around to smell it. But overall health appears OK.

 

[Greater Swiss]

Thanks for the additional info. The pup's overall health seems to be fine. Other than a little bit of discharge from time to time, the only apparent effect is that she squats multiple times rather than just one long one when she pees. Oh, she has also had a couple of incidents when she squirted seemingly involutarily while doing other stuff. Acted suprised when it happened and wheeled around to smell it. But overall health appears OK.

Caeda does the "multi squat" occasionally, especially if I keep telling her "get busy" which is her cue for both bathroom functions, if she doesn't need to do #2, she'll squat and fake-pee or give a teensy dribble. She also did the excita-pee a couple times up until she was about 5 months (and she did it once coming out the door at 9 months, she'd been alone for 8 hours AND there was another dog outside....no shock).
My guess is if you mentioned that stuff to the vet they'll either say don't worry or they'll want to run a ton of tests (might be worth it might not.....).
Oh, one other thing I'll reiterate, we never had any pills or supplements for Caeda, just baby wipes and time. She had a yeast infection so antibiotics weren't called for.