UTIs, Spaying, Vulvas (what a topic, huh?!?)

My great pyr. has been plagued with vaginitis since I have had her... Her symptoms go as far as severe vulvar swelling, rash, extreme pain in chest, rib cage and spinal areas, along with the "shoe string" discharge, and severe lethargy.  I take her into the vet, along with a urine sample and fecal sample, and he will usually give her a shot of penicillan and send me home with antibiotics.  Within 12 hours, Eowyn starts to show signs of feeling better, and within 2 days, she is back to her old tricks.  I hate the fact that she has to be on the antibiotics, and have also tried to just "let the problem" clear up on its own.... but, when I have done that, she has gone to pointnot even being able to move, because she is so uncomfortable.  Please give me some insight as to why :time: will not work for her as a cure.  Will this go away with age/spaying?? Your reply will be greatly appreciated.

Rosie has had pretty chronic UTIs in her lifetime (she's turning 4 in March). I guess it started when she was a puppy, and her old owners got sick of the constant vet trips/costs. But she's such a special Newf that UTI or not, we couldn't resist her.

We've had her since September and she's had only one UTI episode (the 2nd week she was with us). The vet gave her a steroid shot for the pain and some antibiotics at the time. It's hard to bear knowing that she's in pain, so now we're on major preventative mode. Rosie is now on a special [expensive] urinary diet (Royal Canin Urinary SO13 dry dog food) and we give her daily doses of a urine acidifier, cranberry tablets, and vitamin C. I think what's really helped her is that we've been letting her out more often during the day (I come home during my lunch break). The urinary diet urges her to drink more water, which is good, because then she can flush out the urine from her body more often to avoid bacteria from growing in there.

    This is a painful topic for me and my pal Sarah, a 12 yr old Golden.  When she was 10 weeks old I took her to the vet wondering why she was "dribbling" all over the floors, even after she'd been out for a pee.

I was told she had an inverted vulva and that surgery was the only way to go, but it was not 100% assured that it would fix the problem.  Since my babe was only 10 weeks old I didn't want to put her through surgery if it wasn't going to help.  Plus I really didn't completely understand what "inverted vulva" meant...

Well....12 yrs later and NUMEROUS UTI's later....I wish I had gotten a second opinion at that time.  On a recent trip to our new vet for yet another UTI and another $200 in meds, the vet happened to mention the inverted vulva and how common this is now.  He mentioned as well surgery is an option but if we had of just let her go through one heat it may have fixed the problem.  If not we could have gotten it done when we had her spayed. 

It's been a very frustrating 12 years and I wished I had have had access to information such as this website back then to research and know other options.

My poor gal is getting alot worse I guess with age and is constantly wet "down there" from leakage.  I try and get her to completely empty her bladder when we're out but sometimes she's back to licking and licking as soon as she's back in the door.

I really can't consider surgery for her at this age..... 

My only advise is to considering doing what you can early to fix the problem, it only gets worse with time and it's so uncomfortable to the dogs with the constant wetness, burning, and even the smell involved from the fur getting wet.

This brings up questions n my mind. My Gracie (9 month dane) has had a bit of "stringy stuff" on and off since we got her.Seems to come and go. I notice it every few weeks. It is clear/whitish and no smell. she licks a bit when she has it...but doesn't seem to bothered by it. I guess I will have the vet take a look at her and see if she could have an inverted vulva (can you see it by looking at it?)