help! endless bladder infections

[sbreseke]

My five year old girl newfie has had three bladder infections back to back. As soon as she is off the antibiotics she gets sick again. She just stopped taking antibiotics last week and she has one again. She was x-rayed for bladder stones and didn't have any. I don't want her to keep taking antibiotics forever. Has anyone encountered this before?

 

[Angela]

I did have one female who kept getting bladder infections. The vet prescribed antibiotics for a week or so, but it recurred. Eventually she was given antibiotics for 6 weeks and never had another infection. You don't say how long each course of antibiotics was, but maybe talk to your vet about continuing longer.

 

[BluwaterNewfs]

Is the vet reculturing after the round of anitbotics or when the symptoms reappear? If they are only culturing when the symptoms reappear, you may not be curing the infection. Also has the vet check the PH of the urine? If the urine PH is off it will also cause UTI type symptoms althought the culture will come back negative for bacteria.

 

[sbreseke]

Yes they did reculture each time. The urine tested fine after the antibiotics each time but within a week she was bad again both times. Her PH has been high each time too and she's had crystals.

 

[BluwaterNewfs]

Her PH has been high each time too and she's had crystals.

If the PH is high antibotics will not cure that.
She may need to be on an acidifier. Also if she has crystals, has she been tested for cystinuria? You need to find out why her PH is high and what is causing the crystals and treat for that.

[ 09-11-2007, 11:08 PM: Message edited by: BluwaterNewfs ]

 

[levy84]

Hi,

Chance has had a lot of problems with urinary infections and struvite crystals. We had to do a longer round of antibiotics and he gets cranberry pills/capsules twice a day (2 in the morning and 1 at night). They seemed to really have helped. I've bought them at Walmart and Sam's Club.

Good luck,

 

[sbreseke]

I'm taking her back to the vet. Thanks for all the advice. Are the cranberry capsules for humans?

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

You can give human cranberry pills, or any other human vitamins as well. I hope she is feeling better soon.

 

[NewfMom]

yes they are for humans. I get mine at the pharmacy. They're in with the vitamins.

 

[janices]

I saw in another note you were feeding Canidae. You may want to switch and try a no grains food.

 

[ardeagold]

Definitely do the test for Cystinuria. Do you know if her parents were cleared?

It's a DNA test you can get online. Cheek swab and send in.

Some Vets know nothing about it...and especially how it impacts the Newf breed.

I hope things work out with the info given above!

Keep us posted.

PS...Since she's 5 yrs old and this is a fairly recent thing, I'd doubt it's something as serious as cystinuria. I'd think that would show up much earlier. I don't want to scare you to death, but it's something worth mentioning...and checking!

[ 09-08-2007, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: Ardeagold ]

 

[sarnewfie]

many timesthe antibiotics are not long enough time to kick the infection inthe hinder orthe dose may be a bit whimpy
would tell tehm to give you a longer dose period
for many yearswe have recommended you buy cranberry capsules to give to the girls.
even theboys.
two capsules a day, i buy the super concentrate capsules.
they work as a preventative but wont cure the infection.
if this vet wont listen to you, switch vets!!!

 

[sbreseke]

I got the cranberry capsules and I'll tell the vet what I learned from here. I don't know anything about her parents, I rescued her last march. She didn't have any infections until summer. Thanks!

 

[mudji]

My vet mentioned to me that urinary leakage, as in "gotta go, gotta go" commercial, can lead to recurring UTIs. Besides the stinky pants issue, and this issue, we have her on Proin to control her leakage. Might want to ask your vet about it.

hannah

 

[chiwolvesfan]

My Great Dane/husky mix suffered from constant UTIs -- until I started her on UT Strength from VetriScience. She weighs 117 lbs, and gets 1 tablet a day. Granted it says it is not for continued use, but the minute I take her off of it, she starts phantom peeing and becoming very destructive (she chewed up part of our Pergo floor!). The advantage of these pills is that they are doggie friendly flavored, however, I may just try plain old cranberry pills when this bottle is done.

Here's a link http://www.vetriscience.com/ut-strength-dogs.php plus a list of the active ingredients

Uva Ursi-200 mg
Chanca Piedra (Phyllanthus niruri)Powder-150 mg
Cranberry Juice Extract-100 mg
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) Root Powder-100 mg
L-Methionine-100 mg
Corn Silk Powder-60 mg
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)-60 mg
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Whole Plant Powder-50 mg
Olive Leaf (15% Oleuropein) Extract-50 mg
Lactobacillus Acidophilus-35 million CFU

 

[merrymutts]

So....how is Exelby doing ??? We've just been swamped with things here so I have been wondering ? I'd LOVE to see some new pictures of him !

 

[sbreseke]

She's started on Prion for leakage, and she has had blood drawn, and her urine will be cultured. She also got shaved so we can watch this area and see if she's got structural problems. I'll keep you all posted! thanks for the help.