Recessed Vulva (this is a new one) and an ear infection

[Stacy]

Willow went to the vet yesterday with an ear infection, and Karen you should be pleased to hear I do finally have a vet who cultures ear infection goo. We treated it with a medication I hadn't heard of before called Claro. It's still a combination of antibiotic, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory. But the nice thing about this drug is it's a one time treatment that is supposed to work continuously for 30 days, so I don't have to squirt anything in there. She has an appointment for a recheck in 2 weeks. The vet said as an isolated event it's not a big deal, but if it becomes a chronic problem it's often associated with food allergies and we should do a food trial. I have mixed emotions about that. Right now I'm hoping it isn't a recurrent problem so we don't even have to go there. 

The other thing I brought up to him is that Willow always seems to pee on herself. The hair surrounding her vulva is always dirty. And she had that UTI a while ago. He looked at her and said she has a recessed vulva, and if it's a problem they can do a vulvoplasty to resect the skin folds there so the vulva protrudes more. Or if it seems to be more minor we can just keep the fur clipped from around that area - something I knew needed to be done but clippers, delicate skin, wiggly puppy and I have not been able to accomplish that on our own.

This issue is something I haven't experienced before but I had been reading about it and I couldn't figure it out. The trick is, she looks normal when you look at her lying on her back with her belly up. But if you look at her from behind when she's standing you can see that her vulva is surrounded by skin folds and does look different than the other girls. I had heard that they usually grow out of it, but that's not really what I'm reading in the veterinary articles. But I'm still hoping that if she grows a little more she might grow into her skin folds. He also mentioned that slightly delayed spaying may help with this. We are doing slightly delayed spaying already so I hope one of these things will help. 

The concern is that it can make them more prone to UTIs and skin irritation in that area. And obviously the peeing on her fur issue that we're already having. I would love to hear if someone else has experienced this. I do have a friend at work whose doodle had a vulvoplasty with good success. I don't think it's something that would need to be done with spaying. But I always feel better having more information on a subject.

[Stacy]

Yes, no puppies for us. I had heard that going through one heat may resolve the issue, but my friend whose dog had a recessed vulva tried it without success, and my vet feels that the increased risk of cancer isn't worth letting her go through even one heat cycle. I am walking a fine line between trying to let her grow as much as possible before spaying and getting it done before she goes into heat. Since you can't really predict that first heat I just have my fingers crossed that I guessed well.