Urinary Tract Infections.

[Jean, Rylee and Cooper]

Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone has any input on this.  Rylee will be 4 in September and since we got her at 8 weeks she gets UTI's.  She has had on all summer.  She has been on 3 doses of antibiotics and the Vet has done an xray of her bladder.  They think they see a stone in her bladder and have started Rylee on a special prescription diet.  She is eating S/D canine dissolution canned dog food for 8 weeks.  They are hoping to dissolve whatever it is they saw in the xray.  She will have another xray after the 8 weeks.  She has been on the food for about 10 days.

This morning when I got up and went to pet her I noticed she had peed in her bed.  So I am assuming another infection!  

Has anyone else had a similar problem and what have you done?

Thanks for any input.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Hi Jean,

My question for your vet would be what exactly this food can do medically for Rylee. It contains no medication or therapeutic ingredients at all, and what is in there is pretty horrible:

Ingredients

Water, Corn Starch, Egg Product, Chicken Fat, Pork Liver, Sucrose, Powdered Cellulose, Iodized Salt, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Sulfate, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Folic acid), Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Taurine, Calcium Carbonate, Beta-Carotene.

If the vet in relying on this stuff to cure or dissolve a bladder stone, I'm afraid poor Rylee is going to be suffering for a long time. In fact, Hill's company itself does not say that it will cure anything. 

Prescription Diet® s/d® Canine is formulated with the following benefits:

• Low levels of magnesium, phosphorus and protein to help limit the building blocks of crystals and bladder stones.

And in fact, research has now shown that low protein diets are not helpful for bladder or kidney issues and may even be harmful. It's the type of protein, not the amount, that may contribute to the formation of stones.

A little research on my part turned up the information that there are also several different types of bladder stones that can form, and the diet and treatment for each varies. http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/13_4/features/Detecting-Uri...

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/bladder-urethral-stones-dogs-various-typ...

Oxalate stones are not affected by diet. http://www.2ndchance.info/oxalatedog.htm

Given all this, and Rylee's long term history of bladder problems, I personally would be consulting with a veterinary internal medicine specialist for more testing so that you can find the correct treatment for her exact condition. Obviously, just feeding this Hill's Rx garbage is not helping her. Here's a link to the ACVIM website specialist locator: http://www.acvim.org/PetOwners/FindaSpecialist.aspx

I hope you can get some answers and Rylee can feel better soon. 

[Jean, Rylee and Cooper]

Wow!  Thanks for all the info.  It's a lot to absorb.  I appreciate the help. I will have to mention this to the vet.

[Jean, Rylee and Cooper]

Hi Karen, I checked the specialist link and it said none to be found.  Thank you for all your help.  I will have to see what I can do.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Call the ACVIM, there has to be one near you. Are there any veterinary schools in your area? 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here's a veterinary specialty center in your area: http://www.vcaspecialtyvets.com/boston-road/departments-doctors/dep...

[Jean, Rylee and Cooper]

OMG Karen this is 15 minutes away from me.  I was actually going to call them to ask before I saw this.  We are away for a week, the dogs are with us, but I will have to look into this.  

You are good!!  Thanks so much!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You may have used the wrong specialty when you did the serach on the ACVIM webiste; you want to choose SAIM, which is small animal internal medicine, and then just enter your state. I got a whole lot of results in MA, some of them must be within driving distance. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

I agree with Karen. Giving Rylee cranberry capsules won't hurt and may help. I wonder if they do ultrasonic stone treatments on dogs. A specialist is needed.

[Barb @ Gemstone Labradoodles]

I have had a lot of success with D-Mannnose. This is a sugar that the bacteria clings to and then gets passed. If the infection is serious, I have done a course of antibiotics with d-Mannose and continue the sugar after the antibiotics are done. I use it as a preventative and for minor or suspected infections. I also use cranberry tabs. This treatment works for people and dogs. Biovea makes the people one and Karbo Essentials has one for dogs that also has other fortifying nutrients in it. This does not replace finding the underlying cause, which still needs to be found, but it does support and speed healing and help prevent.

[Veronica Z.]

My pup, M.J., had an infection that wouldn't go away when she was just a few months old and we were told that if there is a stone then the antibiotics aren't going to really work because the infection will essentially hide in the stone and not allow the antibiotics to fully eradicate the bacteria. M.J. needed her stone removed surgically, not that I am recommending that, but once it was removed the antibiotics worked like a charm.

I definitely agree with Karen about the food, it is totally awful. Also, she's 100% right about finding a specialist. M.J. seems to have had just the one infection but if your Rylee is getting them on a regular basis then it is time to find out why and try to get to the root of the problem instead of just treating each infection as it comes. I'm kind of surprised vets don't automatically think to do that or at the very least do testing in order to try and get to the root of the problem themselves.

Hope Rylee is feeling better soon & keep us posted!