Light brown spotting issue - any help would be great!

Hi everyone

We have a lovely 6 year old red Staffy girl who, for over a year now, has been leaving lots of light brown spots/smears on our bedding. No other symptoms - fit, lively and full of beans.

It started in August 2012, so we took her to the vet. She was spayed at 6 months so we were sure it wasn't a season. When we wiped around the outside of her vagina the wipe looked light brown. The vet thought it was vaginitis, took a swab and put her on a course of antibiotics. The swab came back negative for a bacterial infection. The antibiotics seemed to work and the spotting stopped.

This year, around June 2013, she started again. Lots of light brown smears and spots on bedding. We took her back to the vets and had more antibiotics. This time nothing changed. The vet seemed to think that it was just normal for her. We left it, but brought it up with another vet when she was having her yearly injections. He put her on some hormone tablets. He thought it may be due urine drying around the vulva and then her licking etc... Or possibly due to minor incontinence (she sometimes lets out a few dribbles when really excited to see someone) - apparently this can happen in spayed dogs. They didn't seem to change anything apart from making her subdued. We took her off them and she perked right up. It is now November and she is still spotting/smearing. We're sure it's not anal as we are familiar with the anal gland smell - this is largely odourless. Other than this there are no issues with urination, health, energy levels, eating etc... The spots are light brown (never red) and range in size from very, very small to smears the size of a 50p.

Does anyone have any idea what this is? Has anyone experienced the same with their staffy? I can't find anything online that matches my description.

Thanks for your help

I am afraid have never had girlies so not much help. Someone will be along shortly with more experience.
If the vets have checked everything though I wouldn't worry too much but it obviously is a concern.  

I do sympathise with your problem Rob.

Hmmm - I can't say I've had exactly the same problem, but my first Dobermann bitch became slightly incontinent regarding urine after being spayed at between 2 and 3 years old. My vet at the time put her on hormone tablets, which helped the incontinence but after 2 or 3 months (I can't remember now exactly) she started showing signs of vaginal discharge which was slightly blood-stained (blood can go light brown).

To be honest, in your situation, I would try to get a sample of the light-brown discharge/urine (easier said than done I know), maybe in a piece of cling-film and wrap it up tight to preserve the moistness, and ask the vet to test it for occult blood, and whether it is vaginal or urinary tract.

I'm sorry I can't help any more than this - do let us know how you progress. Good luck  

Hi Rob, welcome to the forum.

Lynda wrote:
To be honest, in your situation, I would try to get a sample of the light-brown discharge/urine (easier said than done I know), maybe in a piece of cling-film and wrap it up tight to preserve the moistness, and ask the vet to test it for occult blood, and whether it is vaginal or urinary tract.

This is what I'd be inclined to do. You ideally need to know whether it's blood, discharge or urine.