Chronic UTI in 4 month old puppy. I am so worried.

[Donna P.]

Sorry for the double posting. I just learned about this group. I posted my question to the general forum earlier, but this is probably the more appropriate place. Thanks for any help.

Baylie the goldendoodle was diagosed with a UTI when she was 3 months old. For the last 6 weeks she has been on revolving antibiotics. For 20 days she was on Clavamox. 10 days on Baytril, and just finished 10 days on SMZ-TMP. Nothing has knocked it back. My vet has been hestitant to send out a sample to the lab to culture because she says that most of the time they get back a negative result even when she, the vet, is able to see bacteria on the slide. It costs $150 for the test, regardless. So she usually gives a broad spectrum antibiotic which usually clears up the problem.

The dog needs to be off any antibiotics for two weeks before she can send a sample to the lab, so in the meantime, she is going to perform an ultrasound and take a urine sample directly from the bladder to make sure that is where the infection is coming from. If that shows nothing then she will send a sample to the lab.

3 days ago, I started her on a cranberry extract for dogs and cats. Don't know if that will help, but can't hurt. Has anyone else experienced such a resistant infection, and what was the outcome? I am so worried that she might find something that isn't fixable. Anyone got advice?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Here are the results of a search I did in the group discussions for UTI: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/healthandmedicalissues/forum/topi...

[Teresa]

Hi Donna.  I've been on Doodle Kisses for a long time but not often active.  I do monitor health issues because I like to read what is happening and try to gain some knowledge.  I have a 4 year old doodle and an almost 3 year old standard poodle.  My poodle has experienced UTI 3 times and 1 time recurred very quickly.  Here is what I will share with you on what we did.  1st time we gave a free flow urine sample and sent to lab and put her on clavamox for 14 days.  I can't remember if we did another urine sample after that.  The following year she had another one, we did the same thing but the infection returned very quickly after the 14 days.  We put her on clavamox for 6 weeks and then we did a urine sample right from the bladder and cultured it.  She came back clear. I went through a process of testing her urine after 3 months, the after 6 months and then after 9 months.  I wanted to see if there was something that was building up and causing the infection.  These all came back clean.   The other thing that I noticed with my poodle girl is that I really have to keep her va jay jay clean and clipped.  If I don't, the fur can be very wet and this could be a cause of the bacteria getting back into her.  I also looked into Cranberry and there is a lot of very positive information about using it for dogs - some sold specificially for dogs.  I would prefer to find it in a health food store or one of the Vitamin brands because I would trust that more.  I don't think your vet left Baylie on the meds long enough.  I don't know why they are hesitant to do a culture - that is the only way they are going to figure out if the infection is in the bladder and exactly what it is.  They can then match the antibiotic to the bacteria found.  lastly, my Vet doesn't like giving antibiotics on going but we knew we needed to really zap this and I think we did.  Along with me noticing that I wasn't grooming her little area well - far too much fur.  And now all has been well for 1 year.  I hope this helps.

[F, Calla & Luca]

The only bladder infection Calla had cleared up quickly with antibiotics. I agree with carefully cleaning up excess hair around the vulva. I also think any cranberry pills, human or otherwise can be helpful supposedly by keeping bacteria fro attaching to the bladder wall. Make sure you girl gets plenty of fluids and opportunities to empty her bladder too. Do not restrict fluids at night etc.

[Donna P.]

Thanks for the suggestions. Baylie has been to the groomer twice for a sanitary trim. So she is clean down there. She gets water at night, and goes out as needed. She is sleeping free in the bedroom at night, and will let us know if she needs to go out, but for the last 2 weeks she has been going all night 8-9 hours with no problem. As far I as can tell, she is suffering no symptions of a UTI. No pain on urination, no frequent need to pee. Good appetite, happy and playful. But the vet keeps seeing white blood cells in the urine. We should know more on Monday after the ultrasound and sterile sample. $$$$$$$

[Teresa]

Donna - the urine sample that shows the white blood cells - was that free flow or direct from bladder?

[Donna P.]

All (5 so far) have been free flow. Monday they are taking a sterile sample from the bladder.

[F, Calla & Luca]

She could have white cells from a vaginal discharge too, not uncommon in young pups.