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]