This is not really a breeding question but it seemed like the best place to ask it.

One of our bitches is now on day 17 of her season, and stopped bleeding about 3-4 days ago.

I had to take her to the vet today for another unrelated reason, and the vet found some white discharge coming from her vulva, which he showed to me.  It didn't smell and it was white and creamy - not clear or green.  There wasn't very much of it and I have to say that I wouldn't have been alarmed, if I had seen that at home, because I think I've seen similar in the others, in the past - but now I am questioning my own memory because...

He seemed very concerned about it and he asked me why I thought she was in season (!) and I said - er, because she's been bleeding for 2 weeks prior to this!!  (Not to mention that she is also swollen up, although that is now starting to go down.)

He then said that it could be pyometra!!!!  I was obviously really shocked at even the mention of the dreaded P word, because this is the bitch we might one day breed from, if she continues to do well!!  She is also under 2 yrs old!

Now - this vet surgery recommends all customers to spay or neuter at 6 months old, so I'm wondering how many entire bitches they actually see...?  In addition, if bitches cycle on average every 6 months, how many bitches in season would they see?  And this is the last week of the cycle, so how many would they see in that last week?

Should I be worried by this white, non-smelly discharge during the last week of a season?  Is it or could it be a sign of pyo?  What are the views of people who breed or others who keep bitches?

I doubt your Vet see's many bitches in season at all!!  At the stage she's at I personally would say that everything is normal & she has probably been very ready to mate as losing the colour is a sure sign.  Your girl isn't too young for a pyo but it certainly doesn't sound like one :)

I suspect your Vet is trying to scare you into getting her speyed, especially as they sound very anti-breeding but maybe they need reminding that now would be the absolute worst time to spey because of her season!!  A few years back (before I knew any better :rolleyes: ) my old girl had a phantom, the Vet told me she had to be speyed after a 5 day course of Galastop so this we did ~ he almost killed my girl   My poor girl had to stay in & have a blood transfusion & what should have been a simple spey (his words!) kept her in the Vets for 3 days

I'm sure your girl is fine, all sounds very normal to me :)   If it were my Vets I'd probably not see that one again!!

Did he take a sample to test?  If it was really concerned I would have expected this at the very least.

I've always taken a white discharge to be normal. As long as there's no smell & the bitch seems normal I wouldn't be at all alarmed. As Cheryl says, if he was that concerned, surely he would have taken a sample???

Generally if it was a pyo the bitch would certainly be showing signs of being unwell..... my old lady of 14 had one recently ..... it was a smelly discharge and she was not her ususal self .. off her food and very lathargic .... it literally happened overnight and she was at the vets and operated on that day .... he did the normal test and phoned me to let me know that she did in fact have a pyo .... she had the op and she recovered well ...... and she is still going strong ..... i would have thought if your vet suspected that he would have insisted on carrying out blood tests to either rule it out or confirm his suspitions ...... maybe you should think again about the quality of care shown by this vet

Thanks guys, that has set my mind at rest (well, more at rest - I will still keep an eye on her!).

The vet did mention that if the discharge continued and was there by the end of the week, the next stage would be to do tests.  (But we haven't seen any discharge since or before - it was just a one-off creamy discharge which has very occasionally happened before.)  (Anwen, like you I've always previously thought this very occasional white creamy discharge was normal!)

She was given an AB shot and 5 days of oral ABs starting tomorrow for colitus, which was the reason we went to the vet's in the first place.  She has been off colour and lethargic, but we assume that is because she's had colitus for a week (which we were trying to manage without ABs - chicken and rice and kaolin liquid - but we weren't succeeding so went to vet for ABs).  He said that the ABs should also sort out whatever this "other" infection is, unless it's a pyo.  Anyway, the ABs should sort out the colitus even if the pyo thing is totally wrong!

Just to add my input.

My Vet always says Pyometra is often a hormonal problem but that you see it about 6-8 weeks after a season.

If you put Pyometra in the search engine it also brings up the same sort of information.  I really think that this is nothing to do with a Pyo, but certainly sounds like it could be a Vaginitis.

Sure there is nothing to worry about.