Urinary Tract Infection...again! :(

[Suzanne]

I am soooo worried about Lucy! About a month ago, she developed a urinary tract infection. Our vet took a urine sample and prescribed an antibiotic. She said if the infection came back she would have to take an x-ray. The urine test results seemed to be ok...no crystals in the urine. Early this morning after Lucy did #1 and #2, I noticed that she was straining again and spotting a bit on the floor. This is exactly how it happened the last time...and also in the early morning. I am going to take her to the vet's office now, but I was wondering if any one else has had this happen to their cav, and whether it is common among the girls? I am hoping this won't be anything terribly serious. She is such a good girl and so very smart. I will check back here later, when I return from having Lucy's checked.

[debjen]

Hope she is okay. Only have boys I don't know if it is common or not.

[Cathy T]

I've had this problem with Shelby and it was a UTI. Antibiotics and a few days later she was better. Let us know what your vet says.

[Karlin]

Just guessing here, but she may have had an infection that was resistent to that antiobiotic (this happens increasingly with all antibiotics now) or it didn't have quite enough time to kill off the bug causing the infection. I'm sure you gave the whole course of the antibiotic, but as a general point, that is really important as sometimes people will discontinue the drug when the dog (or person!) doesn't seem sick anymore. But that leaves a tiny number of bacteria which reproduce again, with increased resistence to the antibiotic.

Perhaps your vet will try a different antibiotic or a longer series of pills.

Some dogs are probably a bit more prone to UTIs just as some people are.

[Suzanne]

Thanks for the posts everyone! An x-ray was taken, and there are no stones or any other obstructions (which is good). I will bring in a urine sample tomorrow morning. She also provided me with an antibiotic (the same one used previously...which surprised me, since I also know that they can become resistent if an antibiotic is used too often. And, yes...I did give Lucy all of the pills the last time 'round...I know that's important when it comes to antibiotics. The doctor would really prefer to take what is called a "sterile" urine sample, but was willing to let me bring one in tomorrow. A "sterile" one is done by inserting a needle through the dog's abdomen...and I am hesitant to do that to Lucy. Well...the doctor said if the infection comes back again after this round of antibiotics, I must let her draw urine and she will not give her any more antibiotics again without further testing. Lucy was unfazed by all of this ...she loved the trip in the car, got to munch on some carrots when it was over and is playing with her ball while I'm typing this. I hope I made the right decision not letting the doc do the needle procedure at this time. I'm just so hesitant to put her through that if it's not absolutely necessary...but, if I'm wrong I will feel very guilty.

Thanks again for your replies and support. All I could think to do while waiting for the vet's office to open today was to sit down and place a post here. This forum always has the best info and the nicest, kindest people anywhere to be found! ...and Lucy says thanks, too!

[Nancy]

Some puppies have a "tipped" opening that makes them more prone to infections, you may want to keep an eye on it and make sure the folds don't hold the moisture and also I hate to mention this, but I once had an Afghan hound who had a resistant infection for weeks until we put her on a human antibiotic.

[Karlin]

Hey, if ony the rest of us could get excited about carrots as a reward for a doctor visit, I'm sure we'd all be in better health!!

I think you made the right decision personally. I wouldn't want to be doing more complex procedures when simply a second round of antibiotics might nail the infection.

Thanks Nancy for the reply too; you know a lot more about girls than I do!

[judy]

good luck suzanne--poor lucy, i would probably do what you did, hesitate about having such a procedure done. but it would be a hard decision, not knowing what the right thing to do it. what antibiotic did they put her on? when zack had colitis, the symptoms went away of Flagyl right away, but then came back after the Flagyl, and it bothered me that the prescription was to put him back on the Flagyl again, same dose, same length of treatment. Same thing happened again. I worried about anti-biotic resistant organisms multiplying, among other things. They put him back on it a third time, then while he was on it, i switched vets, and she took him off it and put him on another one, sulfasalazine, but he continued to get worse, so then she put him on the flagyl again while continuing the sulfasalazine, and the diarrhea symptom cleared up right away, again, but the vomiting didn't improve at all. i ended up eventually taking him off everything, went to different vet. the first vet had been ready to d exploratory surgery.

I only had one UTI in the past 30 years or so, it was about 3 years ago, it involved the kidney (that's something to worry about with UTIs). During trying to get that to heal, i found out about and used something called
U-Tract, which i got at the homeopathic pharmacy, it's not homeopathic. It's like the sugar in cranberries but way stronger, it's called D-Mannose, cranberry didn't seem to help but this U-Tract stuff did seem to help. It's a white powder that's mildly sweet that i mixed in water and drank according to the directions. At one time, i had some kind of fact sheet on it that talked about some research that has been done with it, i tried to find something on it on the web just now, but all i could find were a bunch of sites that were selling it. You can take it preventatively, like if there's a certain activity that triggers it, you can take it before. i think that at worst it would be harmless, if not truly helpful, but it was fairly expensive.

i hope Lucy gets better right away! good luck

[Cathy Moon]

My girl pup India has had a few UTIs.

She has had sterile samples drawn 2 or 3 times. I cringed at the thought, but trusted our vet. They took her out of the room to do it, and when she came back she was happy and giving us kisses, so I don't worry about that any more. I always take treats with me to the vets, so my pups will have happy memories of being there.

The vet told me India's urine pH is too alkaline, so I have to give her vitamin C daily. The vet was monitoring her urine even when not having a UTI to get the right pH. I have had to reduce her vitamin C dosage from what the vet originally told me (2 chewables per day.) I can only give her 1/2 of a chewable pill per day or she seems to get a tummy ache. Since she has been on vitamin C, she has fewer UTIs. When she does get a bladder infection, her pH goes out of whack and she gets crystals, which the vet says can form a stone.

Also the vet says to feed her a diet that has more protein and less grain, so we have her on Innova Evo, which has no grain. The grain free diet and the 1/2 vitamin C are working for the pH problem - last time I took her in her pH was normal.

Does anyone know what causes these UTIs in the first place, and how to prevent them?