Has the vet done a culture to make sure she's using the correct med? My vet internest recently told me that urinary infections are becoming almost impossible to cure since many of the bacteria has mutated and become resistant to the meds.

My dog had recurring infections and she eventually ended up with kidney infection..........then KD..........then kidney failure.
I can only say to try very hard to find the right med and get the infection knocked out!

You also need to know if your dog is developing crystals in her urine that are irritating her urinary tract and causing these infections. If she is developing crystals, you need to know what type of crystals so that you know how you need to adjust her urine pH in order to avoid them.

It sounds like you need more information from your vet and perhaps more testinng on your girl.

Laurie

2 weeks is not a long time on antibiotics to clear up a recurrent or resistent UTI. As laurie mentioned, there may be something predisposing your dog to UTIs and until that something is cleared up, you'll not be able to control them. Typical predisposing factors are upper urinary tract infection (need a LOT more time on abx to clear up), crystals, stones, or in females certain conformational issues such as a hooded vulva.

Or it could be that if a C&S hasn't been done, your dog has been on the wrong drugs, or at the wrong dose, or not long enough time. I'd get a C&S done ~5 days after this round of abx is done to make sure that the infection has indeed cleared. If not, then you would know what bacteria was involved and what drugs would work against it.

My Max had pylonephritis which acted like a recurrent UTI. He had one infection that we treated and it seemed to go away. Then a few weeks later he started peeing what looked like root beer again- very dark brown bloody urine. So we did a C&S and put him on abx. C&S showed E.coli but it was resistent to the drugs we used (figures) so we had to switch. Stayed on 2nd abx for 6 weeks. Did a follow-up C&S and he was clear. A few weeks later, same thing peeing root beer looking stuff. Did another C&S- different bug, this time Staph aureus. Put him on appropriate abx for 8 weeks, but also did an ultrasound of his urinary tract which showed hydronephrosis (big ureters). Followed up with yet another C&S ~5 days after those abx done, and did another ultrasound; C&S clear, hydronephrosis better but not gone. He did OK for about 2 months, then started peeing blood yet again. Went throught he same stuff, this time E coli again, but ultrasound showed something in left kidney. Cleared infection and rechecked US and still had mass in kidney. Thinking horrible thoughts, decided to have the kidney biopsied- just got blood, so no help. Max started peeing blood yet again, so off to the vet school for a surgical biopsy. Once the surgeon saw his kidney, she removed it- it was necrotic. Did a biopsy and thankfully nothing too scary, just a rotten infected kidney. It's been almost a year now, and I'm happy to report that Max is doing great, no more infections.

It can be quite the ordeal to find a cause for recurring/resistent UTIs, but Max is so much better now it was well worth it. Good luck with your dog- I hope you can find a cause and cure much quicker and cheaper than Max!

Hi All,

Thanks for all of your advice!

I am due for a vet trip tomorrow. I will ask her about issues brought up.

I will keep you posted!

Thanks again,

SG

Hi, we had similar problems with one of our dogs. he was adopted and I am not sure if he had problems before. He had one UTI and then we had two weeks of antibiotics then he had another about 2 months after and it cleared up with 2 weeks of antibiotics. The vet checked for bladder stones, as I guess that can cause UTI's. He was ok though. About a month later he had a third one and the vet gave us two courses of two different antibiotics, thinking that the first antibiotic wasn't clearing all the bacteria. We have been UTI free for a couple months now. (crossing fingers!) So I think the vet was correct thinking that the first antibiotic wasn't working very well.

Our dogs are always inside so we usually catch the infection within 24 hours. First day, he vomits once or twice. Then he starts to need to go out more and more. By the early morning he is not wanting to go in and stays outside squating and trying to pee. He may vomit more. Then we usually see blood in his urine. It happens VERY fast. Usually he starts getting sick in the evening (of course the vet is closed :(
and by the morning he has blood in his urine.
We have successfully held off the infection from getting too bad by making him DRINK so he has to pee alot and that helps to clear out the bacteria. I put gravy in his water once and he loved that! He loves to swim so sometimes we put him in the bathtub and let him play. He plays and he swallows water and then has to go bathroom alot. This usually makes him more comfortable over the night while we wait for the vet to open.
The vet always gives him an antibiotic shot and another shot of steroid to make him thirsty, then we start the pills that day. You can see a HUGE improvement within an hour after he gets the shots. Usually by the evening he is holding his urine again and by the next day his is almost normal. We give him boiled chicken for that entire day, as it is easier for him to digest and we don't want him to vomit.

the vet said some dogs just get the infections and it isn't something you can prevent. Also that stones can cause infections. I was thinking that we needed to let him outside more so he doesn't hold his urine too long, but the vet said that he was sure that wasn't the problem. So, I vote for different antibiotics or maybe two courses of antibiotics. It seems to have done the trick for our boy. I am hoping he is cured of them. they are aweful and i feel so bad when he gets ill.

-renee

Hi All,

Just an update on round 3,,,,

Saw vet yesterday, I quizzed her on issues you all brought up, plus some others that I discovered.

She feels that things are going well, at this point. Correct meds are being used for the situation. The point was made that the goal is to clear up the infection and not have it return. If it returns after this round of medication, then a C&S will be done.

She did not think trying to adjust the ph would be helpful.

Since there is an issue with her vulva (not quite right after the spaying) I am going to start grooming her at least twice a day in that area to hopefully prevent bacteria from forming.

Thanks again for all of your help! You have educated me on an issue completely new for me to deal with.

SG

Best of luck!
I am not sure if you have rugs, but we do. The BEST thing we ever did was to save and buy a great steam cleaner. It worked like a charm every time our boy had an UTI. The first time he was sick we came downstairs and there were accidents everywhere and he had vomited. We just took out the cleaner and fixed it all up. It was great.
Then we just had to concentrate on making our poor boy feel better :(
worst part is that many dogs know that they aren't supposed to have accidents in the house so when they do they feel aweful. He runs and hides and then we have to reassure him that it is ok! We adopted him so I don't know if he would get yelled at for having accidents. We never yell at our boys we just take them outside so they can do what they need to do.

-renee

Hi Renee,

I have very large area rugs all over my u/s rooms, wall to wall d/s. and steps. Unfortunately, it has all had it's share of accidents. I always make it a point to attack the problem a.s.a.p. so I don't have permanent stains. The rugs are starting to smell a little though. They have not been professionally cleaned since I got them four years ago, so they are due. (shoes are not allowed inside and I wipe of dogs feet when it's muddy). I'm going to wait until my baby Kai is over her issue.

She reminds me of an adolescent child who wets the bed the way she behaves after doing something on the floor. Very shy and concerned.

I never yell at any of my three dogs for having an accident, but they all know that they are to do their thing outside. They really feel bad when they can't control something.

SG

Hi, just wanted to bump this back up.
Our boy (Read up about four posts) just got another bladder infection last night.
sighh, I guess the two courses of antibiotics didn't work as well as we hoped.
I am wondering if his urine isn't acidic enough. Thoughts on this? He doesn't seem as sick as usual (no blood in urine yet) but he is vomiting and squating alot. we have called the vet but he does surgerys this morning and he will call back.
I have read that cranberry pills can be good for this however I have also read that cranberry can be toxic to dogs. Does anyone know if this is true or not? Some people do give cranberry to prevent the urine from burning the grass. They sell stuff in the petstore. I am not sure how that helps the grass though.

anyways, I am afraid that our boy will eventually get complications from this all one day. Maybe I am just overally worried. I know some people are more prone to these infections, so some dogs must be also.

Our boy is only 4.5 yrs old. I want him to live a long and healthy life.
My husband and I were thinking about switching his diet. Do you think this could help? Are there foods for dogs that have reacurring infections like this? I know that there are foods for dogs that get urinary crystals.
-renee

Once the infection is cleared, I think it's well worth looking at her diet.
The vomiting would have me concerned............definitely time for the culture.

Vomiting is always the first sign of an bladder infection in him. I think it is because he gets a slight fever.
Usally after a day of antiobiotic we give him chicken and he holds it down. After that he gets normal food.
He eats science diet little bites adult food.
He won't eat "big" food. He only likes the small peices. He is a corgi, so he is smaller.
He is adopted so I am not sure if this was a problem before. I wish I knew. He has only eaten this food since we adopted him.

I asked my vet about adjusting my dogs urine with cranberry or something else. She said it was not worth the effort.

As far as the food you are giving him. I have always fed my dogs a high quality food with no fillers (especially wheat or corn). It really does make a difference in how they look and especially what comes out the other end. It does cost more than the food you get in the grocery store or Petco.

Good luck!

SG

You mentioned: Since there is an issue with her vulva (not quite right after the spaying)

The problem is not the infection, the problem is the anatomical malfunction ( vulva not quite right ), that´s the cause the consequence is the urinary infection. The solution to that recurrent infection is correcting the anatomical malfunction while treating the infection with antibiotics, otherwise it´s going to be the same circus all over again time after time.

This is like pioderma of the folds, as long as the fold exists the pioderma will exist no matter how clean and how many antibiotics you give, solve the anatomical problem the other one goes away in the short term.

Sorry, I think I confused you. I am not the original poster. I posted a couple up about how my dog had reoccuring infections also and how he seemed "cured"
I just wanted to piggy back on this thread because I had said my dog was better, but in fact he wasn't.
sigh. We have antibiotics now and in 2.5 weeks meet with our vet to talk about what to do next. Obviously we may have to look for stones (although we did do that before)
We just gave him a boiled chicken dinner, yet he is still wanting to stay outside and squating alot. poor guy. Luckily we caught it so early this time that he didn't even get blood in his urine yet. That usually happens within 24 hours. This time we noticed somethign was up last evening and he didn't really get ill untill this morning. So, He had antibiotics within 8 hours. Hopefully he recovers quicker because of that. I will post my own thread after we meet with the vet and discuss our options.
-renee