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

[Donna P.]

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?

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Hoping Baylie is feeling better soon, that must be tough. Keep us posted.

[Liana & Jindi]

Hi Donna, sorry to hear Baylie has a UTI. I have a 16 year old cat & when he was younger I had lots of trouble with him having UTI's. I have given him 1/4 of a teaspoon of Cranberry Powder in his night meal for years & he has never had any more trouble. As you say it can't hurt Bailie. Not saying that this will work for Baylie but I thought I would let you know my experience with Cranberry Powder.

[Teresa]

Where do you buy your powder? Is it a pet label or have you bought from a health food store? I have been looking and want to get Adelaide on it as a preventative measure.

[Donna P.]

Hi Teresa,

I bought mine from Amazon. It is Cranberry Relief from NaturVet. It got very favorable reviews. I was concerned about the taste. Some human products had remarks that the dogs wouldn't eat their food, but tasted this powder, and it hardly has any taste at all. Not bitter, if anything, slightly sweet. Here is the link.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YFC3Y/ref=oh_o05_s00_i01_details

 

[Teresa]

Thanks. I'll check it out. The other Product identified as being helpful is cider vinegar but yikes! I can't stand the taste so I can't imagine trying to it down Adelaide's throat! I have to think cranberry will be better.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

ACV is hokum.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Exactly, don't do this to your dog. It supposedly is good for everything, never a good sign.

[Donna P.]

Thanks everyone for your comments and concerns. I will let you know what the vet finds out Monday when she does the Ultrasound and gets a sterile sample. I'm starting to believe that it isn't a UTI, because she seems to feel so good and acts so much like a normal puppy. I'm very interested to get the results and hopefully have an answer to where the white cells in her urine are coming from.

[Donna P.]

Thanks everyone. You were all correct. Finally, after 7 weeks of repeated free catch urine samples and rotating antibiotics, my vet kept Baylie all day yesterday and ran an ultrasound of her bladder, kidneys, and uterus, and took a sterile sample directly from her bladder. All of her organs looked perfectly normal, and the urine tested perfectly clean. She took a vaginal smear and declared that she had a simple case of puppy vaginitis and that no further treatment was necessary, She said that it would resolve itself when she went into heat or was spayed.

We've put a lot of money into this "UTI" problem, but I can only be relieved to know that Baylie is perfectly fine. I appreciate all the words of encouragement. This is a great group that is so dedicated to the well being of their wonderful dogs.

[Bonnie and Kona]

How wonderful to learn that your little one is fine. What good news! The money part is a bummer but finding out she is fine takes some of the sting out of that, I hope. It sounds like this is a difficult problem for many. What a conundrum. BTW Baylie is just a beautiful puppy.

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Well that's great that you finally have the correct answers and that it is something much simpler than previously thought.  You are right about this being a great site as there are so many wonderful people with a huge amount of collective knowledge which is invaluable when you need advice or just need to share.

[F, Calla & Luca]

That is good news. Too bad your vet didn't think of this sooner since puppy vaginitis is very common.