Puppy's weewee skin causing infections...

[..DrEaMz1200..]

My female APBT is almost 7 months old now, and I just had to take her to the vet because she had something which closely resembled a yeast infection...but it was actually a vaginal infection because she isn't spayed yet...and her skin behind her vulva hangs down a tiny bit over the opening of her vagina, and the vet said that the skin, being folded down like that all the time traps bacteria and dirt in there and that's how the infections start. So to cure this, he told us that having her spayed would help prevent A LOT of future female problems...and also he wanted to do a vaginoplasty(plastic surgery on the dog's wee wee) and lift the skin that covers her vulva so its not covered anymore. In the mean time, I've been using the pills and cream he gave us to clear up the infection. But he said that it will just keep occuring until her skin is fixed. Has anyone ever heard of this happening before? Or is this guy just trying to get some money out of us?? It does hang down and her vulva is kind of in the fold...but is there any chance she'll grow out of that or gain weight to stretch the skin out? I can see getting her spayed eventually...but really...is plastic surgery on a puppy's genitals really necessary?? And get this...the vaginoplasty costs $480 and to spay her it will be another $200, but if we ge them done at the same time he'll do them both for $500....does this sound right??! If this has happened to anyone else, please reply!! Is this a common problem? Thanks in advance to anyone that helps!! :)

[14rock]

Your situation is not uncommon-in fact I have a bitch here with the same problem. We were informed to just keep it clean all the time and see if she grew out of it. She didnt and when she was spayed he fixed it also. As for prices...vets can ask whatever they want but that is a bit obscene. The entire procedure cost me much less than that. Ask diffrent vets, and ask what they charge. Prices can vary regionally, with the breed, size, etc etc.

[..DrEaMz1200..]

Thanks...I'm glad I'm not the only person that's had this happen. I think I'll wait a little while and see if she gains weight and grows out of it or something...and if not, I'll have it taken care of at the same time as the spaying. She's a pretty lean looking dog, maybe when she gains weight and gets a little more muscular the skin will stretch and correct itself. I kind of thought the price was high for that...it doesn't seem like its that difficult of a procedure to be asking that much...I'll get another opinion when it comes time to get the procedure done if need be. Thanks for your help! :)