Vet Recommended A Vulvectomy For Rita

[Guest Lillypad]

Interesting topic, who knew. I have a female and she has had bladder infection (just one Knock on Wood). This will be something I will watch for in the future. If it helps any, my girl has been under general anesthesia at least three times that I know of, and had no complications what so ever. The very best wishes for a speedy resolution for your girl.

[quarrystepper]

Also glad for this re-topping of an older thread! Kali, our newest, has a very pronounced vulva. It appears as a taut v-shaped fold of skin over the top and an upward-facing, protruding gathering of two folds that point upward from the center to the top.

 

We're still teaching our vet more about greyhound anatomy as we find more online resources to share, so the general response when we had our first post gotcha check-up was "nothing to worry about." Well, except the brownish goopy discharge seemed to be an issue, so we used some MalAcetic HC wipes on a semi-regular basis and it seemed to clear up. Although there doesn't seem to be any infection and she's never had a diagnosed UTI ever since, she DOES lick it constantly and it appears to be inflamed more often than not.

 

Since none of the 2008 photos from earlier in this thread remain active, perhaps I'll take a couple photos in hopes that others who have had this experience can confirm her situation. But as long as it's not infected, I wonder if she needs a surgical solution -- despite the constant licking.

[quarrystepper]

Here's a photo of Kali from just a minute ago. She's laying down on her side, so turn your head 90 degrees to the left... and check out that bald butt while you're scoping this out!

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o2te5y6u61zc9y4/2013-11-06%2021.57.53.jpg

 

Again, I would appreciate any thoughts on whether this is the "normal" hypertrophic condition that afflicts female hounds or if this looks worse than others' experience.

 

ETA this is just after a light cleansing with a MalAcetic wipe, which didn't produce any discharge. So anything that looks "unclean" is just part of her tissue at this point!

Edited November 7, 2013 by quarrystepper

[krissy]

Kili had a vulvoplasty when she was in for her cystoscopy and exploratory surgery when she was 7 months old. She'd been having recurrent UTIs since she came home at 8 weeks old and I suspected her vulvar conformation had something to do with it. As it turned out she also had a persistent hymen which was causing urine to pool in her vagina and was probably the main cause, but I did still have her vulva fixed since she was already under the anesthetic. I didn't take any pictures. I've seen dogs with far worse vulvar conformation than Kili had... difference was they weren't having any problems from it and Kili was. If there are medical problems associated with it, getting the vulvoplasty will probably help with that.