There are two different things going on there, with the bladder and the pupillary dilation. I learned, with my cat's recent bout with a bladder infection, that it can take 4 - 6 weeks of medication to knock it out!

May I ask why the vet thinks there are brain lesions? That is very troubling!

It is very difficult when our pets are sick. Very costly. I hope Dusty recovers soon.

First, I take it Dusty is a dog? Is she a puppy? What age? young females are very prone to bladder infections and may require multiple rounds of treatment for recovery. It's very difficult to comment without knowing more.

As for the pupils, I'm sorry, I have no experience with this.

Do keep an eye on the infection and have it cultured to make sure the antibiotics are working. It took two medications to control my dogs infection and when it came back a few months later it took a third antibiotic to try and knock it out.
The Vet Internist said they're seeing more and more bladder infectons that aren't sensitive to antibiotics.

Uncontrolled bladder infections can lead to kidney infection and worse.
My dog ended up dying of kidney failure................

Hi Barbara,

Just curious if the vet told you how long the medication would take to fix the problem. I learned the hard way to ask this. Vets should be able to tell you.

I have not had to deal with this type of infection (yet) with three large dogs, so I don't know that much about it. That said, there are two things that got my attention.

First the medication. You stated that the dog was on one medication then switched to another. If this were my situation, I would quiz the vet thoroughly, after researching the subject, to find out why the problem wasn't fixed with the original medication. This gives me the impression that the vet has not put his/her finger on the problem. Not good with an older dog.

The other thing is the lesions on the brain. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you working on the other end of the dog?? How and why did the vet mention this to you? All older dogs have issues with their eyes.

I mentioned in another post that people who have sick pets are really at a disadvantage. All we want is to have them well again. Your situation with an older dog is not something to be experimented with. Either the vet knows what the problem is and how to fix it, or he/she doesnt. I think you need to take the upper hand in this and let the vet know that you are not happy. Educate yourself about the problem and find out what in the world is going on.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

SG

barbara_2245 what symptoms is your dog/puppy having?? I had a BIG HUGE vet bill trying to find out what was wrong with my adult boxer. Star was having symptoms of a bladder infection (I know this because I get them ALL the time), like: having to go potty all the time, when she did go it was very little, she was very irritated all the time, (as mommy I could tell),and the big one that made me scared was she was leaking (peeing) wherever she was. I started watching her very carefully to see if she was doing this on purpose or not meaning too. Well what I saw amazed me...she was leaking when she was sleeping. She was dead asleep and I watched pee come out of her. Well of course we RAN to the vet and they ran more tests on her. (my vet bill ended up to be $1300) Everything was coming back normal and that was a relief but I was so fustrated not knowing what was going on with my baby. Well eventually the vet told me that StarLite is 1 and a million dogs that have this bladder problem. She just can't hold it sometimes. I have to give her medicine everyday for the rest of her life. She is 4 now and it works. I fluctuate her medicine to what she needs everyday (if she leaks a little, I give her 1/2 pill more) and we don't have to wash her bedding and ours everyday!!!! :-) :-) lol Just something to think about. I hope this helps somebody!!

Thanks, Elycia

My oldest lab, female 12 yrs, started with her first bladder infection at 3-4 mos as soon as I brought her home as a rescue. The former owner would crate her for too long a period of time and bacteria managed to build up heavily. She was on at least 2 or 3 courses of the antibiotics and I do believe they stepped up to a more potent antibiotic when the first and second didn't work. She has had subsequent UTI's during her life and they are immediately evident. When I first got her I noticed she was at the door constantly. I knew immediately what it was, took a urine to the vet and they read it and gave her medicine.

Old gal has has a leaky bladder from something that can happen during a spaying. She takes a daily med for that and has since she was very young.

It is expensive to have the pets. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats and as much as I love them all, when I have to write the checks, I figure out how I am going to juggle things around for the next two weeks.

Best of luck to you and Dusty. Also, I would solve one problem before you get started on the other. Less stress on everyone and also less stress on your pocketbook.

My one year old female Shepard/Hound is a leaker. The vet told me it was "spaying incontinence". Daily meds twice a day have fixed it, although, she needs it forever,,,,,,

On that note. I called my vet and asked if I could get pills that are double the strength I need so I can cut them in half, she said yes. This should save me some money!

SG

That's a great idea, I think I may ask the vet next time I need meds which is every month....

Thanks for the tip.

Also labmomma and SG, I get StarLite's medicine through Doctor Foster's and Smith. I get the book sent to me but you can just get online and order also. It was a little more then HALF OFF!!! Well I went into my vet (whom knows me by name) and told them I needed a written script because I was going to this online place which is alot cheeper. They told me they would do that (which by law they have too) but they told me that they would honer that price if I just wanted to continue getting the meds through them!! I said of course I would like to get it from you guys I just need to help out my budget as much as I can. So I do that every month. Plus when I get them frontline which we ALL know how spendy that stuff is...they will honer the cheeper price on that also!! I just have to bring them in the slip that proves the cheeper price. Every dollar counts when you have 2 dogs and 4 cats!! lol :-) Hope this helps!!

Thanks, Elycia

Most vets use "empiric" antibiotics on the first UTI. Basically that means it is an educated guess. MOST UITs are E.coli and MOST are pretty sensitive to anything you throw at them. Being that a urine culture and sensitivity test is upwards of $80, MOST people elect to just try a course of antibiotics based on best guess and results of the urinalyis sediment exam and if it doesn't completely clear the infection, then either try a different antibiotic or go with the C&S.

Some types of bacteria (Proteus, Staph) that cause UTIs are urease-splitters, which causes the rise in urine pH. In dogs it is common for UTIs caused by these bacteria to lead to more alkaline urine. Clear the infection, and the urine pH returns to normal. There is usually no need to use special diets or foods to lower urine pH if the cause of the increased pH is a UTI. I guess back in the day it was thought that high urine pH led to UTIs, but now we know that it is just the opposite.

In some unlucky dogs, the alkaline urine can then lead to the formation of struvite crystals or even stones. Most female dogs have no trouble passing urine with even a lot of struvute crystals, but stones are a different story. Male dogs may have trouble passing urine even with just crystals. If the stone stays in the bladder, the bladder becomes irritated, inflamed, and predisposes to UTIs in any animal! It's a vicious cycle. Sometimes a vet will be faced with a dog with all 3 problems at the same time- UTI, struvite crystals and/or stones, and high urine pH. In that case, the vet may elect to treat all 3 problems at once via antibiotics for the UTI and special food and/or medication to lower urine pH and to dissolve the stones/crystals.

There are many reasons that an animal may have recurrent or refractory UTIs. Hyperadrenocorticism, diabetes mellitus, congenital abnormalities (hooded vulva, ectopic ureters), renal disease, and steroid use are just the beginning.

If you really want to get this under control, my suggestion would be to stop antibiotics for 5 days, have a urine culture and sensitivity test done. This will determine exactly what bacteria is causing the infection and more importantly, what antibiotic kills it. 5 days after completing the course of antibiotics (usually 4 weeks unless there are signs of upper urinary tract infection), have the urine culture and sensitivity repeated to make absolutely sure that nothing is growing in the urine. Then you know the antibiotics have completely cleared the infection. This is important because if Dusty gets another UTI, you'll know that it is a new one, not the same one that was never completely cleared.

Trust me I know that is very expensive. I just had to deal with recurrent UTIs in my lab, Max. Turns out, he had an upper urinary tract infection too- his left kidney was basically rotten. That was why he kept having UTIs. Normal dogs have other signs of kidney infection (fever, anorexia, increased frequency or quantity of urination), but Max is different and didn't show anything besides a raging UTI and urine the color of root beer. Yeah, it was gross. We had to diagnose the kidney infection with repeated ultrasounds. Eventually it showed up enough to see, and he had to have that kidney removed.

All kinds of things happen to animals. You never know. The surgeon said she had never seen a dog with such a rotten kidney not be sick, and she's been a surgeon for quite a while.

You could just try to keep switching antibiotics, relying on best guesses and hope for the best, but if you really want to know what's going on and how to fix it, better bite the bullet and go with the C&S. It will save you money and the animal pain and suffering in the long run.

Good luck. I hope Dusty's problem is nowhere near as serious as Max's was. At least he's all better now!