This is a condition that only affects female doggos. This is where an inflammation (becomes reddened, swollen, hot and painful) causes in the dog’s vaginal area. If you have a female dog or a pup at home, you have to be alert for this condition. But fear not since this is considered a mild condition. Which means this can be treated and cured completely. Puppy Vaginitis is also called juvenile vaginitis. It usually happens before the pup reaches puberty.
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What is Vaginitis?
As mentioned above, this is where the vaginal area of your doggo or pup becomes swollen, red, and painful. But this can be treatable completely. This article will discuss everything related to puppy vaginitis and adult vaginitis such as what causes, how to diagnose it and how to treat this condition. But first, let’s talk about the types of vaginitis in the world.
Different types of Vaginitis
There are mainly two types of vaginitis as follows.
Puppy Vaginitis
This is also known as Juvenile Canine Vaginitis. This only happens to female doggos who haven’t reached puberty. This can occur due to urine infection (a congenital defect in the female pup’s privates like inverted vulva) or feces contamination.
If your pup is suffering from this, they may have swollen vaginal area. You might also be able to notice that your pup is licking herself more often than before. There also can be discharged from your pup’s vagina.
But don’t worry because these types of symptoms are not usually life-threatening. Although, it can turn into a bacterial infection. Therefore, carefully wipe your pup’s vulva or vaginal area using recommended baby wipes or recommended soap and water. You can ask your vet for the most suitable baby wipes or soaps for this. By doing this, your pup will be relieved of irritation and discomfort.
In most cases, puppy vaginitis goes away on its own when your pup gets matured. But rarely, it can worsen or the condition would be diligent (won’t go away). If that happens, your vet will prescribe some antibiotics to help your pup get better from puppy vaginitis.
A simple test like a urine test can determine if your puppy is suffering from puppy vaginitis. So, that’s the easiest way for you to check if your pup is suffering from puppy vaginitis if you are concerned. You may get the results of that test in a day.
You can learn more about puppy vaginitis from this video.
Adult-Onset Canine Vaginitis
Adult canine vaginitis can be caused due to many this, such as a disorder in the urinary tract or a urine or yeast infection. This condition is more common in female dogs that are spayed. Spayed means the dog has gone through ovariohysterectomy. That is a procedure that removes the doggo’s ovaries and uterus to sterilize the female dog.
If your dog is suffering from this, then she may not only lick and discharge frequently but also may have urinary problems such as peeing more or peeing accidentally indoors. Keep in mind that if your doggo already has a medical condition like a liver condition or diabetes, then these symptoms can be more serious.
Remember that unlike puppy vaginitis, you can’t wipe your adult dog’s vaginal area with baby wipes because it might worsen the problem.
What causes Vaginitis & Symptoms?
If your female doggo suffers from vaginitis, she will be very uncomfortable. It would be clear that there is something wrong with your doggo. She will be irritated with persistent licking and always peeing. But remember that there are many factors you need to consider to figure out if your doggo’s vaginitis is chronic or temporary.
It may not be easy to figure out an exact reason why your dog or pup has vaginitis. That’s the reason why you have to observe for more symptoms.
Observe the color of urine (if it’s clear or has a different color). Rarely it can contain blood.
Another common symptom is that your female doggo would scoot her bottom across the floor for no reason.
These are the most common causes of puppy or adult vaginitis.
- Irritation from urine or poop – Something from urine or poop is causing the irritation.
- Foreign body migration – Something from outside (not within the body) is causing vaginitis.
- Vaginal Neoplasia – This means there are abnormal cells in the inner lining of the vagina. These can cause vaginitis.
- Vaginal Abscess – A collection of bacteria and pus builds beneath the skin (basically a vast pimple but can be dangerous).
- Urinary incontinence – This means the loss of bladder control. This can cause vaginitis
- Bacterial Infection (canine Brucellosis) – A bacteria is responsible for your pup’s vaginitis.
- Uterine Stump Pyometra – This is where there’s residual tissue after an ovariohysterectomy.
- Canine Herpesvirus – This is a virus that causes fatal hemorrhagic diseases in puppies less than two to three weeks old. This can also cause puppy vaginitis.
- Ectopic Ureter – This means a ureter that does not connect properly to the bladder and drains somewhere outside the bladder. This can cause the ectopic ureter to drain into the reproductive organs or urethra. This can later cause vaginitis.
- Ovarian Remnant Syndrome – When your dog still goes into heat despite being already spayed.
- Anatomical anomaly – Something unusual from birth is causing vaginitis.
How to diagnose Puppy Vaginitis/ Vaginitis in Dogs?
Diagnosis and treatments will change depending on the dog’s age and the level of inflammation in the vagina.
Please talk to your vet before you do any homeopathic treatments or home remedies. Also, keep in mind that symptoms of vaginitis can cover other health concerns, so it’s always better to get a vet’s opinion regarding this matter.
Get a professional’s opinion before treating your own pet by yourself. It would be better if you had all the necessary information regarding your doggo’s medical history and details about the current condition and when it started. It will also help if you have already observed how your doggo behaves and how this irritates her.
With this information, the vet can do diagnostic tests. There are numerous tests for vaginitis such as physical tests, blood tests, urine and fecal tests, vaginal cultures and vaginoscopy, cytology studies, and antibiotic sensitivity tests.
Vaginoscopy or x-ray might be required if there is a concern that vaginitis is developed due to tumors or cysts.
If you are keen to learn more about the causes and diagnoses of vaginitis, you can see this video.
How to treat Vaginitis in Dogs?
As mentioned above, if you have a pup going through juvenile vaginitis (puppy vaginitis), she doesn’t have to go through surgery or get hospitalized because it’s just a phase. The symptoms and inflammation would go away on their own after the first heat or estrus.
But if the vet recommends a topical medication to help the pup with discomfort, she may have to wear a neck cone.
The neck cone will prevent your doggo from licking or scratching the infected area. It will also help the cream to work and will let the skin heal without any disturbance.
If you like to learn more about neck cones for your doggo, you can learn here.
Keep in mind that if you want your doggo to get spayed, it’s better to wait for the first estrous cycle to be over before going through the procedure.
The vet would prescribe antibiotics if the vaginitis is caused by bacteria. If needed, the vet may also require administering antiseptic to control the disease.
These are the standard treatments for adult vaginitis. But sometimes, the condition can be severe and could not be treatable anymore. If that’s the case, that would require surgery to completely remove their ovaries and uterus. Older female dogs can get benefits from getting spayed if they get vaginitis while they are still intact.
How to help your dog recover from Vaginitis?
As a caring dog owner, it’s your responsibility to help your pup or dog recover from vaginitis quickly. There are things you can do to help speed up the recovering process as follows.
- Make a stress-free and clean environment for your doggo. This will speed up the recovery process.
- If you have to give medication at home, make sure that you give them on time as the vet has instructed.
- Don’t stop the medication when you start to see the symptoms go away. Finish the medicine course as the vet has recommended.
- If the vet recommends you change the last soap or switch to a new product, it’s better to do that.
- Be patient with the recovery process. Sometimes it can take 2 or 3 weeks for your dog to recover from vaginitis completely.
If you have a puppy suffering from vaginitis, they might cry due to the irritation and pain. If that happens, you can help your pup with the crying. For more information refer this article on Puppy Crying.
