Bad Urinalysis results!

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Samantha had 2 UtIs, 1 in November and again in February. When I took her to the vet for her back issue on Monday I had another urinalysis done. The vet feels there may be a link between her kidney infection and the back problem she is having. She still does that Thumper imitation when touching any part of her back lower than her front shoulders. She has no problem running, walking up steps or jumping on the bed and sofa. She is taking rimadyl for that. 

The lab results are:

pH - high

Protein - high

Blood - high

wbc -  high

rbc -  high

bacteria, crystals, glucose, keyton,  bilirubin are all negative

She is on 2 weeks of clavomax and cranberry pills, then another urinalysis. He believes is is now a kidney infection. Needless to say I am beside myself and feeling guilty. I should have brought her back last month when we got home from Florida. Since guilt won't help I am concentrating on what to do to help her.

They are eating Wellness Simple Turkey and Potato. Should she be eating a kibble lower in protein?

Is there something else I can do help her? thanks for any input!!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Adrianne, please don't feel like you are not a good doodle mom.  You are.  I am sure that Samantha seemed well and if so, why would you even think to take her to the vet. And even if you had taken her, the test results might have been just fine.    I am impressed that you connected her 'thumping' with something wrong.  It shows how in tune with her you are.  We are sending doodle hugs and sunshine kisses from California.

[F, Calla & Luca]

There is no reason to give her less protein. A kidney infection is not renal failure. I hope things clear up for Samantha soon.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree completely. Do not reduce her protein level. Even in cases of renal failure, reduced protein diets have not been shown to help and may even make things worse. The food she is eating has only 26% protein, which is not high at all. I would absolutely not change her food. Give her yogurt or probiotics while she is on the Clavamox; make sure you do not give the probiotics or yogurt within 2 hours of the meds.

I hope she gets better soon.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

thanks Karen!! I will make sure she gets yogurt. Because she has to take her meds with food, Samantha will be thrilled to get something else to eat between meals - WOL!!!! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adrienne, I would think your vet would know this, but blood in the urine and other urinary/kidney problems are known side-effects of rimadyl. I'm actually surprised your vet is giving it to her for a muscle strain that isn't causing pain or mobility issues, just because of the leg thumping. Rimadyl is a pretty heavy duty drug that can have lots of adverse side-effects. 

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Karen - she had the urinalysis done the same day we got the rimadyl so that was not in her system.  She put her on it because she showed discomfort and less flexibility on her left hind leg where her right leg was fine. They aren't sure it is muscle strain because she was broadsided by Charli in a 4 doodle game of chase. She didn't want to do xrays or any other testing until after a week on rimadyl. She was hoping that would help her but honestly the reflex (her Thumper imitation) seems to be worse, not better. Monday I will be making an appt for her to get more testing on her back. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Xrays most likely wouldn't show a muscle strain anyway. I'm not sure what kind of testing they could do that would show a muscle strain, which is a pulled or even partially torn muscle. (Although if Samantha had a torn muscle in her back, you would have seen a lot more signs of it than thumping, so I'm sure it';s not that.)  I just personally wouldn't give a dog rimadyl without a really, really good reason. 

I hope that the back is just sore and gets better on its own. 

[Adrianne Matzkin]

That's what the vet said. There are do many small bones she says would only show something big which she wasn't sure it was. Not sure what they can do but we have to figure something out. She isn't getting any better.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Ask your vet about cold laser therapy. JD has a ruptured lumbar disc and he has had excellent results with it. It's relatively inexpensive (I pay $30 per treatment) and completely painless and non-invasive. We've been having it done at the specialty vet clinic, but my regular vet's office recently started offering it there, too. I am sure there must be places in your area that offer it. 

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Will definitely talk to him about that. How was JDs ruptured disc diagnosed? What were his symptoms? If I allowed it Samantha would be running and jumping for a ball. She doesn't seem to hurt - just that weird reaction when being touched. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

JD's disc was diagnosed by MRI. Prior to that he had X-rays, but those only showed something there...could have been osteoarthritis, could have been spondylosis, they couldn't tell. His symptoms were sporadic problems when he was running (losing his balance, stumbling, slipping, falling) and then it progressed to obvious pain when he tried to jump up into the car, onto beds, etc. But that didn't show up for months;  X-rays for a completely unrelated problem in November 2011 showed what the vet thought was osteoarthritis, and in June 2012 he was still running and jumping for the ball just like he always did. He would occasionally slip or lose his balance, and then that became more frequent until it got to the point where he had trouble jumping up and would cry out when he did. The MRI in August showed the disc and the nerve compression. It could have started a year earlier.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

I will ask the vet to do an MRI asap. May be we can catch whatever it might be early enough where she can enjoy playing ball again. I am afraid of her jumping and landing wrong.
I did find a place that does the cold laser therapy. Thanks for that info!