Senior Wellness ~ Nellie’s Health Series Part 2: Vaginitis

Today’s Monday Mischief post is the second in the six part series on Nellie’s Health Series. This post should of come after the urinalysis post since this is how I found out Nellie has vaginitis but I thought this made for a mischief post so bear with me on the order.

Monday: Senior Wellness ~ Nellie’s Health Series Part 2: Vaginitis (when your male dog sticks his face where it doesn’t belong may mean there is a problem).

What you mean this is a problem? I don’t think it’s a problem at all!

Yes, yes you recognized the culprit, it’s the Gman to the rescue to tell you there might be a problem with Nellie. Gambler is constantly sticking his face where it doesn’t belong.

A frequent scene at out house.

After we got the results of the bloodwork the doctor wanted a urinalysis done on Nellie’s urine (more on that this Thursday). I got a urine sample, ran the urinalysis and the results were “are the white cells coming from the bladder or from the vaginal tract”, we needed to rule out a “bladder infection” vs a “vaginitis”.

I’m telling ya “Dr. G” says there is a problem Houston!

In order to find out where the white cells were originating from (bladder vs vagina) we needed to collect a sterile urine sample that came right from the bladder (more on that Wednesday). The sterile urine sample had no white blood cells in it so it ruled out a bladder infection in which I didn’t think she had a bladder infection because she wasn’t showing any signs of an infection which are: frequent urination, blood in urine, accidents in the house.

The supplies needed to check for a vaginitis.

To find out if the white blood cells were coming from the vaginal tract we needed to a vaginal cytology. In order to do this you take a sterile long q-tip wet it with water and then insert it into the vagina and roll to pick up the cells. You then put that sample on a microscope slide, stain it then read it.

View from the microscope.

The big round purple cells are epithelial cells which are normal in the vagina, all skin contains epithelial cells. All the other small purple structures are bacteria which ranged from cocci to rods. Some bacteria is normal as it isn’t a sterile environment but this slide contains too numerous of bacteria which means there is a problem. There were a few white cells but not like what was seen in the urine sample. The urine sample I ran was the first morning catch (which is the one the doctor wants to interpret the results correctly) so the white blood cells had time to collect in the vaginal tract and then be flushed out with the first urine sample. My boss wanted another urine sample from later in the day and there were a few white blood cells in that one so if not flushed out there is more white blood cells. Now why are these white cells present? It can be a normal vaginitis or it could mean there is a mass in the vaginal canal that is causing it. Nellie’s diagnosis is a vaginitis but after research on other cases like hers we decided not to treat the vaginitis because again she isn’t showing any symptoms of a problem so we are going to leave it alone until a problem arises. Why, well because if we start treating with antibiotics to get rid of the white cells and bacteria it may disrupt the balance and then she will show signs in the future and have to be continually treated. I am going to start her on a probiotic to see if we can’t get the bacteria balance back to normal.

Can Gambler stay out of my backend now?

ahhhhh NO!

I will check Nellie in a few weeks and if we get the same results we will look further as to why the white cells are present but for now we will leave her alone, well at least I will leave her alone. Gambler has other ideas.

Stop back tomorrow for:
Tuesday: Senior Wellness ~ Nellie’s Health Series Part 3: Bloodwork, why routine bloodwork is a good idea.

monday mischief

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17 Replies to “Senior Wellness ~ Nellie’s Health Series Part 2: Vaginitis”

  1. easyweimaraner

    Dr. G man knows it best, huh? It’s sadly true that the antibiotics what should help will cause more mischief in such cases (think that’s the same problems humans sometimes have). I cross my paws that the vaginitis disappears soon and that Nellie’s best parts are no longer the POI for some nosy noses :o)

  2. Emmadog

    Boys…need I say more! Thankfully, I don’t have brother dogs here, so no one is sticking their nose in “bad” spots. Hope her issue just goes away.

  3. Hawk aka BrownDog

    Hi Y’all!

    My Human says if you were a mare, Nellie, you could just kick nosy Dr G with those rear hooves. That’d teach him! Guess, sittin’ on your butt is the next best thing!

    Paws crossed your Mom gets your bacteria all lined up like they should be soon!

    Y’all come on by,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  4. Miss Harper Lee

    I was very interested in your reason for not turning immediately to the antibiotics. I think that makes tons of sense, and I wonder why more doctors of humans don’t think this way. Hope Nellie is feeling better soon, and that Gambler keeps his nose to himself. 😉

  5. Jodi

    Holy crap, I laughed out loud at the first picture. Sampson has taken to sniffing Delilah’s back end after she comes in from outside. He only started doing this a couple of years ago, I think it was because Delilah’s always licking his junk so he figures, if you can’t beat em….:-) She did have a urinalysis not too long ago and all was in working order.

  6. Pingback: Senior Wellness~Nellie’s Health Series Part 5: Urinalysis | Sand Spring Chesapeakes

  7. tylersat99

    This is information I did not know (vaginitis) I have always noticed Bladder infections since they are easy for me to pick up. And of course I know when they are in season, but not having a male dog until now no one has notified me of vaginitis or its treatment in dogs.