I have a 7 month old Border Collie Bitch who has had a smelly white coloured discharge from her Vagina recently.  She has not had a season yet and I took her to the vets today who mentioned the dreaded Pyometra word which had me very worried.  However she is eating well, still very interested in life, bouncing around as per her normal self and happy to go out for big walks and things, so he has given her antibiotics as he says it could be vaginitis and we are to go back on Monday once she has had all the antibiotics.

Obviously I do not want to sit on this if it could be really serious but obviously I have to take the vets advice. I have looked on the website for symptons of Pyometra and alot say about being lethargic with a loss of appetite which Meave really does not have.

Any advice anyone has would be really really appreciated and also any thoughts about having her spayed before her having her first season.

I would be very cautious of automatically believing your vet without looking into it further.

I took a bitch to the vet recently for an unrelated reason.  The vet "discovered" this white discharge (non-smelly) during the examination.  Reacted much the same as your vet, mentioned the dreaded pyometra, started asking us when we would be spaying her (er - she's the one we might have a litter from in a few year's time!) and told us to bring her back in if it continued. 

I didn't tell him that actually she's had this discharge a couple of times at certain points in her cycle in the past, and it just seems to be a normal part of things for her. 

Like your bitch she was full of life and didn't seem to have a problem.

We kept an eye on it, the discharge stopped like it always does after a few days, and that was that.  But the vet had me very worried there.  I also think vets generally want to spay/neuter everything in sight and you have to take this into account...

>I didn't tell him that actually she's had this discharge a couple of times at certain points in her cycle in the past

Why not?  Wouldn't a full history have been useful to the vet?

Because it's actually also happened to several other bitches, both mine and other people's and I'd have expected the vet to know that white discharge can be normal and not to overreact like this.

In addition, he was talking at me so fast about pyo I hardly had the chance to get a word in edgewise... I'd have expected, if there was something he needs to know, being the "expert" he would ask me...

Yes, white dishcarge can be normal but it is obviously so much easier for a vet to determine if that is case in a particular instance when given a full history.
You are paying for that consultation time.  Why not speed up the whole business by telling him, what you understand as an experienced owner, to be of relevence?

Isabel, rather than have an argument with my vet, who was insisting it was pyometra, I would rather just keep my mouth shut if it doesn't have any implications for my dog's treatment.  It didn't - I went home and she got better.  Of course, I could have had an argument with my vet, gone home, and seen it get better too...

I would rather save the arguments for times when I really do have a battle to fight and where my belief will have an impact on my dog's treatment.

Given the information there may well have been no arguement :)

You don't know my vet...

Honestly, this conversation is entirely irrelevant to the original question the poster asked about and is yet another example of you burning for an argument.  Just as I can't be bothered to have them with my vet, I also can't be bothered in this case either.

Perhaps I did make too much of it :) but perhaps too much was made of the vet mentioning the P word when he clearly was thinking more along the lines of vaginitis and treating it as such.  Much as the rest of us really :) 

I believe the words "It" and "Leave" are appropriate here, although not necessarily in that order.

I think pre-season it is more likely to be a normal discharge or vaginitis at most but I think your vet is correct in saying pyometra is always something we should be alert to.

Hi it sounds like vaginits to me or some other water infection, my girl had a smelly blood stained discharge which was green, my first thoughts were pyometra but it weren't it was vaginitis, a course of antibiotics sorted it out.  Good luck susan

Thanks for all your advice, hopefully it is just Vaginitis as I still have a very bouncy playfull puppy who appears to be healthy in all other ways.

She sounds like she has a minor infection

My Belgian Shepherd had a discharge at around 6/7 months (I can't remember how long it lasted but it was for at least a week, more I think) and my vet told me that some young bitches do have a discharge before their first season - this surprised me as other bitches we've had have not had this. However it does seem to be something some vets are aware of and it does indeed appear to be normal with some young bitches, depending very much upon the individual :)

I believe the discharge from my bitch was not white though, more like a kind of "staining" but it was a few years ago now so I can't remember the finer details.

Pyo is always something vets and owners need to be alerted to, as even young animals can have this awful illness.

Fingers crossed - will you come back and let us know out of interest how you get on? :)

Lindsay
x