I don't know Dawn. When I got Spirit as a foster and took him to his first vet visit, they told me he had a RAGING UTI. Got 6 weeks worth of antibiotics and did a follow up within 4 weeks visit which showed he was clean. So my vet had me stop the antibiotics. And I didn't do any more follow ups. Then about 3 years later he started peeing blood. Antibiotics didn't get it the first go around and I did follow ups this time which showed smaller amounts of bacteria, but not gone. So we ended up doing 3 different rounds of 3 different drugs.
I think the bacteria had gone to his kidneys, but it took awhile for it to be clinically evident to me. No symptoms in other words. After that last go 'round, I started taking in samples frequently, at first every month, then if he was good, every six weeks. We had just built up to every 8 weeks when his scrotum swelled up. I didn't do a urine sample then because he was on antibiotics for that problem. After that round, I waited another 8 weeks, thinking he was probably OK. No symptoms. Then the sh*t hit the fan. I was going to sample him when he got sick and had to be put down.
No one, neither the vets nor myself could either explain or come up with a reason for his frequent problems. My best guess is that he never got rid of all the bacteria in his kidneys, and that's possibly why he got so sick this last time. I think his kidneys had just had too much to keep going, although no one could explain why he was so sick all of a sudden. I opted to put him down because he was really, really old, had numerous other problems, was in pain, and I reasoned that more antibiotics were not going to cure him and would possibly make things worse. I just couldn't imagine running him to the vet every whipstitch when getting in the car was so upsetting to him. Didn't seem fair or humane to do to a sick dog. And what if he had some sort of spell in the middle of the night? It took 3 men and myself to carry him to the car the last time.
Well, I got that off my chest, didn't I? I still feel guilty, even though I think I was right.
Anyway, if your dog gets a UTI, I definitely recommend to do several follow ups just to make sure it's really and truly gone. Blood tests if necessary.
