Question:
hello...
My old girl sage, a husky/chow/shephard cross who is 12, has had an ongoing infection of the vaginal folds on the outside of her urethra. It is a spot she can't reach to clean properly due to arthritis and short legs... and I do believe there is some leaking , exasburating the problem.

We did a 3 week cycle of cephalexin and it almost cleared up with cleaning and powder added...now the antibiotics are done and it just seems to stay the same, not really improving with all the care we have done.

The vet wants us to clean with hibitane 2-3 times a day...we are...but I can't help but wonder if a little longer with antibiotics to completely clear it up wouln't give us a better starting off place to keep it clean from.

I have another call into my vet and would your thoughts around this.

Her health other than this is excellent and but for arthritis that she recieves metacam for daily, her blood work, heart etc. are in great shape.

She is on a combo raw and innova evo/dry food and still plays with the other critters in the house. I can see this will be something we will always deal with, I don't want her to be uncomfortable. Anyone have any experience with this and how did it get better for you?

Thank you...sorry for the looong post, Kimmee

Answer:
We had a dog once that had the same thing. She was put on many different types of antibiotics. When she was 8yr. old her liver failed, possibly because of all the drugs. She was at the vet for 5 days and she was given a 50% chance of survival. She pulled through but 8 months later her spleen ruptured and she didn't make it that time.

Answer:
Three weeks is really long on antibiotics. While they might be helping the area, they might provoke an infection somewhere else in the body- like a skin infection, GI tract infection, urinary tract infection etc because as you kill off the bad bacteria, the good bacteria go with it, leaving the different surfaces of the body vulnerable to invasion by opportunistic bad bacteria.

Along with washing, maybe probiotics would help a bit? They might help restore the natural good bacteria and keep the bad from taking over when she can't clean herself...

Answer:
I am so sorry to read about your dog. It is the reason we are trying to be ultra conservative about antibiotics. It is enough that she metacam once a day...blood screens every six months to ensure no adverse reaction to that!

8 yrs. is too young.

Did you ever see an improvement in the original infection? What type of dog did you have?

Thank you for sharing, kimmee

Answer:
Just saw your post also Prin...
Doh ( hits head feeling like an idiot) probiotics are an excellent thought.

Any idea about how much , how often etc.? I'll ask vet also.

Answer:
Well, I gave Jemma 1/2 of a capsule of probiotics made for yeast issues (they have the basics for GI and skin health along with more different kinds for yeast in the yeasty ones) and already her stool was firmer than usual, so even that would help.

I posted the link to the ones I used here- post #9

(they have to be refrigerated to stay alive)

Answer:
My girl gets a little surface infection around the outer folds of her vulva too (FYI a urethra is the passage way from the bladder to the outside world. You can't see it, even if you were to part her vulva to have a look at the inside folds.)
We clean her with hibitane (although it has now been discontinued so we use Bactistat). We just try to keep on top of things. She's on antibiotics for a really bad urinary tract infection right now that we have to give with peanut butter. Of course some of the peanut butter stays on her tongue when she goes to lick herself. The easiest way for us to trim her nails is for my husband to hold her on her back with her belly up (he started this when she was a puppy and now it's the easiest way to do it). So I always take a peak at things when we trim her nails.
As others have mentioned, I wouldn't want to keep her on antibiotics for a long time. They can easily become resistant to them as well.

Answer:
Did you ever see an improvement in the original infection? What type of dog did you have?
She was a malamute/shephard cross. There was no improvement with the original infection. Some days it bothered her more than others. We lived in a small town and the vet was only there two days a week. Alot of times he'd send in a locum vet. So whenever we took her when it would really bother her we'd usually get a different vet that would always try something different. When her liver failed we refused to give her any more antibiotics. I wish we had refused alot sooner than we did. This was over twenty years ago when I trusted vets more and didn't question them.

Answer:
You might have luck applying some probiotics directly to the area as well. Something like FloraSmart (this brand supposedly isn't destroyed by the acid in the stomach either). Of course probably best to ask vet to make sure it won't cause any harm. You can get it at the Vitamin Shop.

[edit] To add i've had good results with Flora products the one I think prin was suggesting.

Answer:
Thank you everyone. I do wish to avoid antibiotics and have said as much to my vet who is very open to the probiotics.

We have set up a wading pool in the yard to wash and clean her more easilly...she loves playing in water...

and will be starting probiotics as soon as i can get my hands on them!Shopping with your name brands, thanks for links and info on the flora line!

Sage and I are way more intimate now than we ever thought possible!

Answer: