My dog has a hooded vulva and recurring UTIs. What can I do?

From your picture, it looks like Val has what we commonly call a recessed vulva. That means that her vulva is tucked up and has a fold a skin around it. The problem with this is that the fold of skin can trap moisture and result in a yeast and/or bacterial overgrowth of that skin which is very itchy. So, I would recommend asking your vet about a topical treatment for the skin folds. We will often use medicated wipes that contain both an antibiotic and anti-fungal medication to help treat and prevent skin fold problems. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Make sure your vet does a culture on the urine to be sure your pup is on the right antibiotic. Then, make sure to recheck the urine at the end of the antibiotics to make sure the infection is resolved. If you haven't yet, get an xray to make sure there are no bladder stones present. Make sure your dog doesn't have a recessed vulva or a vaginal stricture that traps the urine and leads to infection. If these things don't work, there are also supplements like probiotics, herbal products, and even foods that can help. A good holistic vet could help with this.

Many times there is an underlying cause of recurrent UTI-like symptoms. Daisy likely needs additional diagnostics, like: Urine sediment exam: to look for crystals in the urine Abdominal x-rays: to look for bladder stones that cause inflammation and can create an environment for UTI Abdominal ultrasound: to look for possible tumors Urine culture: to look for resistant bacteria, this will also help your vet determine the best antibiotic to use. Other medications to consider are anti-inflammatories, prescription urinary diets, and bladder support supplements; you can discuss this with your veterinarian.

The most common thing is the antibiotics may not have been given long enough and she needed maybe another week, so when you stopped the antibiotic there was still bacteria left over in her urine. Clavamox is a great antibiotic to start out with but she may need a different medication that is more broad spectrum. The other thing that could be going on (especially since she is so young) she could have a congenital issue like an ectopic ureter. With this, she will continually dribble or drip urine. An ectopic ureter is when the ureter (brings urine from the kidneys to the bladder) is attached at the wrong location on the bladder. I recommend a urinalysis (if one wasn't done last time). You can bring one when you go to the veterinarian tomorrow. You can also have a urine culture performed. This will state what bacteria is in the urine and what antibiotic is best used to treat it. If you do these tests and treat the urinary tract infection and she is still having issues the next diagnostic would be an ultrasound looking for anything congenital like ectopic ureters. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I'm sorry to hear your pet is having an issue. By vaginal infection, I am unsure if you mean she is having vaginitis, a urinary tract infection or even a uterine infection (also called a pyometra). If she is having repeat UTIs it is a good idea to have her urine cultured and also to do some imaging diagnostics like X-rays and even an ultrasound. If she is not spayed and the infection is coming from her uterus it is very important to have her spayed as this will resolve the issue. If your veterinarian is unsure as to where the infection is coming from then the next step is urine culture and an ultrasound. In some cases a resistant bacteria is present and the culture will help rule that out. An ultrasound will help determine if there are any complicating factors like bladder inflammation, bladder stones or even cancer. More information provided by you may help us make additional suggestions. I hope this helps clear some things up for you!

If the antibiotics didn't make much difference, I'd be suspicious of puppy vaginitis, which is a relatively common inflammatory condition that can lead to accidents and sometimes make them more susceptible to urinary infections. It generally resolves with age. I would also check for a stricture (this may require sedation as they don't love vaginal palpation...). For now, since your vet hasn't been able to check a urinalysis, that would be the first priority. See if you can get a sample- sneak a small container under her when she squats. If you have to hold onto the sample a few hours before dropping it at your vet, stick it in the fridge, but the fresher the better. If you're having no luck, your vet can collect a sterile sample via cystocentesis. Hope this helps.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concerns! My next concern is are we dealing with some predisposing factor leading to these UTIs or is there a resistant bacteria in the urine that is not responding to the current rounds of medications? I would recommend ultrasounding the bladder and obtaining a sterile urine sample for culture and go from there. Have the crystals resolved yet? If there are still crystals in the urine, then these need to be resolved as the presence of crystals will lead to recurrent UTIs and symptoms. I hope this helps!