To Cara and Mitzy:
 
>hello everyone!  i'm a new subscriber to the FML, proud "mother" of 5:
>Mitzy, Samantha, Slider, Sylvan, and Cubby.  for the past couple of
>months Mizty has been really getting me worried.  she's been skinny for
>quite awhile now, weighing in at just under a pound.  she seems active
>and eats and drinks, so i've almost convinved myself that that's just the
>way she is.  however, about amonth and a half ago, i was clipping her
>nails when i noticed that her vulva was swollen as if she were in heat --
>which is quite odd, since she's spayed.  i took her to the local vet who
>did some tests and gave her some antibiotics, saying it could be a
>urinary tract infection or that it was regrowth of ovarian tissue.  now,
>i understand that regrowth of ovarian tissue or remnants of ovarian
>tissue is actually quite rare.  Mitzy's problem seemed to go away, and i
>felt relived -- for about 2 weeks.  now, the problem comes and goes every
>couple of weeks.  i've taken her back to the vet again, and this time
>(same guy) he said he thought it was just hemerrhoids.
 
    Cara - I would suggest that you get ahold of the medical FAQ and look
under adrenal disease.  The swollen vulva, even intermittently is a sure
diagnostic sign.  Your vet could benefit from this and a copy of a Dec 1993
article by Neil Lipman in the Journal of the AVMA (which he should have)
which gives an excellent description of adrenal-associated endocrinopathy.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP                                   Dept. of
Veterinary Pathology
AccuPath
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]  OR                                 Washington, D.C.
20306-6000
[log in to unmask]
(202) 782-2600
[Posted in FML issue 1262]