pup with discharge from her 'privates'

my great dane just turned 6 months, she has had a discharge after peeing since we got her at 14 weeks she has been on antibotics for vaginitis, but the pus is still there ?

what do you think? thanks



Hi
First of all I want to be sure that your vet has tested her urine, and discharge, to be sure that there IS an infection to be treated. In female pups there can be a fair amount of normal discharge, especially when she gets close to having her first 'season' or heat cycle. And at 6 months of age your pup is right around that age. Usually after the first cycle, the discharge diminishes significantly and subsequent cycles don't cause the same problem.


If there is definitely infection there, then sometimes these sorts of infections can be pretty stubborn, and if the present antibiotics aren't working then you may want to ask your vet to try a different type.

Occasionally a pup has something called a 'recessed or inverted vulva' (aka 'tilted or tipped vulva'). They're usually born with it, and the physical structure of the vulva allows urine to pool, or 'sit' in crevices of the tissue in that regions creating an ideal environment for bacteria to breed and thrive. Recurrent UTI's are then likely.

This condition often corrects itself after the first heat cycle (as the vulva will normally 'tip', swell and then correct itself during that process). Pups with this problem should be allowed to have one heat-cycle to see if it will self-correct before spaying, or seeking surgical options to correct the 'defect'.

I'd recommend that you have your vet take a look at her to see if she could have this problem, and if her heat cycle doesn't fix it, then he can most likely correct it surgically fairly easily.

Hope this helps. Best of luck.