Puppy Vaginitis

[Dominey]

Hi all,

I have done a search and it seems like this might be common and not too much to worry about, but this am my pup had yellowish pus in her vagina. I cleaned it up with baby wipes and disinfectant, and again at lunchtime, but there would be another drop appear within a few minutes. It looks very slightly greenish on the white paper towel, but just yellowish white when it is a drop...
I guess my question is how urgently do I need to get her to a vet? She is booked in on Friday for her four month check plus wormer, and I have the vet coming out to my horse on Wednesday, so I could show her to them and discuss with them then as well...
Could it be serious enough to call the vet out tonight, or to take her in tomorrow?

Thanks,

[cryjay]

I would take her to the vet right away, as there sounds like there is a lot of discharge coming from her.

Crystal

[Anne]

Greenish tells me it is an infection. I would take her to the vet asap.

[BostonRott]

Puppy vaginitis is very common, completely benign and not much to worry about. Some pups do need a round of antibiotics (i.e. they're febrile) but for hte most part, it's self resolving at the first heat. Some vets will recommend allowing her to mature to her first heat in order to "fix" the problem.

The best way to handle it is:

a) keep the fur in that area trimmed (as my friend's daughter calls it, the top of her hershey's kiss )
b) Buy some mild baby wipes and wipe her after every time she pees
c) Lots of fluids
d) Add one tsp of apple cider vinegar to each meal

All the above was recommended by my repro vet when we went through this with the girls.

In addition, I added a garlic tab to their meals once a day, and gave golden seal/ecchinacea to help boost the immune system.

Good luck, don't stress, it's not a big deal. The body just needs to adjust to the hormones as it ages, and unless the condition worsens, there's usually not reason to keep the pup on antibiotics.

[Dominey]

Thanks for the replies. Update is that it cleared up a fair bit with trimming and regular cleaning with baby wipes. Vet gave her a five day course of antibiotics which further improved things. It hasn't completely cleared up, so we are continuing with the regular wiping. There is hardly any pus now.
I will let the vet know tomorrow that there is still a small amount of pus, but I am reluctant to put her on more antibiotics, especially if its not serious, and will likely resolve when she has her first season in the next few months.

[carolynnl4]

Just out of curiousity, how did you know it was pus?
Athena, was spayed at 4 months, and is now 17 months. She has had a discharge ever since the day I got her. It's gotten a lot better, but sometimes it comes out at inopportune moments. (We wipe it if we have something handy, or else she takes care of it herself.)
She went on a round of antibiotics, and it didn't go away. She's had practically all the lab tests you do, and found nothing that could explain it. She has also had 2 stomach surgeries, and while they were in there, they checked out her vaginal area, and found nothing. The vet ended up saying that she was in great health and it didn't seem to bother her, so just let it be.
I will also try Gretchen's suggestion, but I did just want you to know that there are weird cases where there's "stuff" that never goes away.

[BostonRott]

Don't worry about minor amounts of pus, that's just part of the process. My vet (who is a repro specialist) told me that I was just better off to let her body deal with it, and that unless things got really bad, no more antibiotics.

Trim, wipe and add 1 tsp of organic apple cider vinegar (unprocessed is best) to each meal. This will help acidify things, apparently it helps the whole process. I also gave ecchinacea/golden seal as an immune boost.