Frequent urinary tract infections

[Debbie and Belle]

Belle will be 9 months old Saturday and she just went to the Vet for her third UTI. I was concerned and asked why she has had so many. He is sending this out for a culture to be sure, and if it's positive he mentioned going to a specialist to look for a possible cause. He said there could be many causes, some more serious than others. Has anyone else had any problems with multiple UTIs as a puppy? Does it make a difference that 2were before she was spayed and 1after? I'm very worried about her.

[JANET YOUNG]

Sophie came to us at 12 weeks. She has had 3 UTIs that came within the first 4 mos and we were potty training. It certainly slowed down her training and she had 3 rounds of antibiotics. They did all the testing and coudn't find anything. Since she was shipped to us from Alabama on a plane with 2 stops - she did sit in her crate all that time and the breeder thinks that could have done it. Now I just give her cranberry tabs or started with something called Cranidin which you can buy or buy Cranberry tabs at Costco. She stopped having UTIs after she was spayed

[Jennifer Szulinski]

Yes, yes, yes,  I really feel for what you are going through.  Bella had continuous urinary tract infections for 2 months  starting the day we picked her up at 8 weeks.  She was treated with 3 different antibiotics and her urine was clean tested twice.  Both tests showed a bacteria that the antibiotic she was on should have treated.  The last antibiotic was delivered via shot because the thinking was she wasn't absorbing the pills.  The only cause the vet could see was that she has a tilted vulva which can trap bacteria and cause infections.  About the same time she was treated with the 3rd antiobiotic I also started giving her Solid Gold Berry Balance twice a day with her food.  She is almost a year old and has not had a UTI since then.  We are still giving her the Berry Balance every day.  We know it works for her because we have tried to cut back to once a day over the last 6 months, and each time we cut it back, she starts to urinate more frequently and have more accidents.  One thing we did  is waiting until after her first heat to get spay.  Based on research it seems that it can help with the tucked vulva.  Not sure if it will have an affect or not, but she completed her first heat cycle last month and goes in to be spay on Tuesday.  Hope our experience helps you.  I highly recommend giving the Berry Balance a try. 

[Debbie and Belle]

Thank you so much for your replies! I feel a little better knowing that the cranberry or berry products helped and that it's possible that there won't be something serious wrong. I love Belle so much and I don't want anything serious to be wrong. I don't really know if the spaying helped, she was spayed at almost 6 months old and this is the first UTI since then. The other 2 were between 2 months and six months old.

[Julie Rose]

Our puppy Bailey just had her first one. I can't see that the meds are working because she still has to go out all the time but what is weird is that when she is in her crate for three hours she never has an accident. Seems worse at night. She just starts pacing around 8 pm...have no idea why

[Debbie and Belle]

My local pet store had the solid gold berry blast and I purchased it. Julie, Belle seems to have to go outside much more frequently at night too! I don't understand either why it would be worse at night. Maybe she drinks more at night so needs to go out much more.

[Mandy & Benny]

I had the same issue with my pup Benny for roughly the first 6-7 months of his life.  I've had him treated for 4 UTIs but hasn't had once since around November.  With him, the vet said he had crystals in his urine that were causing the infections.  She suggested feeding him a grain-free food to see if that helped at all.  Once I found one that agreed with him and I added some cranberry capsules, he hasn't had any issues.  I don't know if Belle's issue is related to being spayed or anything that I've mentioned, but possibly a food change may be an additional alternative that you may try.