Sunday Night UTI Advice

[Tricia2]

There was a wet spot on the carpet this morning, I assumed it was Lili (the GSD) who has a bladder the size of a thimble and was a kennel dog who was never housetrained until she came to me at age two. She has an occasional house soiling accident. I cleaned it and went to work.

I came home at noon for potty-trips; another wet accident, again I assumed it was Lili acting out about not coming to work with me. When I got home at 5, we took our usual woods walk. Lu squatted every 5 minutes, now it dawned on me who has urgency and frequency....AND a UTI.

Ever have one? They are very uncomfortable, it burns to empty your bladder and there is constant urge to pee. Poor Lu!

But, it's a not REAL emergency, is it? ...well, enough try to collect a specimen in the dark from under a black dog and then to trek off the 40 miles to the E-Vet and plunk down $100 to walk through the door. I've gave her cranberry tablets (480 mg.)

Am I being a bad Dog Mom by holding out for a Monday morning appointment?

 

[Erika]

If ya use a ladel under her when she pees its easier to catch.


Hugs and prayers for Lu!!!!!!

 

[Tricia2]

Forgot about that trick Erika! Thanks, I can't think straight when my 'kid' is uncomfortable.

 

[Angela]

Cranberry will help, and try to get her to drink lots.

 

[Jeannie]

Do you have any SMZ-TMP (sulfamethoxazole with trimethoprim) tablets? Also known as Bactrim. This is generally the antibiotic used for UITs.

 

[Tricia2]

No, Jeannie, all I have on hand is cephalexin and doxycylline. I'm reluctant to start giving her something until I can catch a specimen. She does seem more comfortable after the cranberry and she's always a good water drinker. I gave her some salty popcorn to make her thirsty. Last trip out was over an hour ago...so I'll be waiting at the vets w/pee as soon as she opens.

 

[ardeagold]

Cephalexin works well too. Give her 1000 mgs. (I guess you have 500 mg capsules?)

Make sure you tell the Vet you gave the Cephalexin. It will interfere with the urine sample and what they see.

He may want to switch drugs, but the Cephalexin always worked here (and that's what the Vet prescribed except for one who's allergic to it)

Here's a link about cephalexin and UTI's in dogs. But there are plenty more if you want to google it!

http://www.uti-in-dogs.com/uti-in-dogs-treatment.php

 

[Ginny]

Another name for the sulfa drug Jeannie mentioned is Septra. They also treat UTI's with amoxicillin, Keflex, and clavamox (pricey). Be really careful if the vet tries to prescribe nitrofurantoin (human = macrobid) - I know of a Newf who had severe neurological complications from it. It's not usually their first choice drug.

I collect urine by slipping one of those shallow plastic pans frozen prepared foods come it. It works like a charm.

Hope she and you have a restful night.

 

[Tricia2]

Ok, gave her 1000 mg of Keflex (cephalexin), Donna. Thanks for the heads up about the macrobid, Ginny. I'm allergic to sulfa drugs, I don't even like to handle them without gloves because I had severe reaction to Bactrim once. I like the plastic container idea, she's a low squatter which has probably got something to do with her having a UTI in the first place. I do a sani-clip but she's got boofy pantaloons.

I'm phobic about resistant E. Coli strains. Since I work weekends at a nursing home and we've seen a number of residents with multi-drug resistant organisms, I hope I didn't carry something nasty home.

 

[Newfs Forever]

Tricia,

My dogs (all of them and for years) have been given Cranberry tablets, 500 mg. 2x daily.

That really seems to keep the those pesky UTI's at bay.

JMHO!

 

[Lori]

I also give cranberry tabs daily. Sydney used to get a lot of UTI's. She usually gets prescribed Cephalexin too.

Hope your girl feels better soon!

 

[Pipelineozzy]

Get urine tonight..refrigerate and take both a sample pre antibiotic and one in the morning....
dose for cephalexin (which usually works fine for UTI) is 22 to 30 mg/kg...so if you have her weight calculate it. (sorry, don't know it in pounds..but a kg is 2.2 lbs.) You need a fairly long course for a UTI. My females would all need more than 1000 mgs.
I would go with cephalexin over the sulpha drug, but the sulphas are not used much here in Canada anymore. It's usually cephalexin or clavamox.

Oh, and the ceph. is BID...so morning and night.

 

[ardeagold]

Good idea Cindy...about getting two samples.

One of my girls would need 1000 mg, but the others would need 1500. The boys, even more. I think our Vet has put them on 1000 3x a day versus 1500 2x as well. I know I still have bottles here......for different dogs, and different dosages. Fortunately our Vet allows me a certain number of refills for them, so I can always have some on hand for that middle of the night call, and he asks me "what have you got on hand???" ha

 

[Tricia2]

Lu vomited after this morning's dose of Keflex...so we're off to the vet with pee in hand. I was able to get a pre- and post antibiotic specimen using Ginny's take-out container techinique. She wanted nothing to do with a ladle, except to sniff it to see if it contained something yummy.

She seems pretty mopey, has a slight temp (103.2). Unfortunately today was my Vet's son's graduation from pre-school and she can't see us until 3 pm. I took her to the grooming shop and clipped her...things were pretty stinky back there. I suspect she may have some post-spay incontinence that may have lead to this episode. She did have recorded UTI's in her puppy vet reports, but none since she's been with me (2.5 yrs).

 

[ardeagold]

Aw, poor girl. Please keep us posted about her results. I hope she's feeling back to normal very soon.

 

[Erika]

hugs Lu!!!!!

 

[Lori]

Hope all went well at the vet this afternoon and Lu gets some relief.

 

[RiverTheNewf]

Well, how is Big Sis Lu today? Is she doing ok? Did the vet appointment go ok?

 

[Tricia2]

I love my vet but she's got nothing on the wisdom of NewfNet. Lu's got E.Coli in her urine and she was able to keep her pm Keflex down without vomiting. That's a good thing because Keflex is cheap and the alternative would be to go to Clavamox (more expensive)as reported by Cindy W., Pipeline's resident vet science guru. She's also going to be getting probiotics because antibiotics will be a 14 day course and I'm expecting to wipe out normal gut flora and see some diarrhea.

I shaved her and clipped her down the back of her 'pants.' Bummer (small pun) since she was just getting back to full furnishing symmetry after last fall's CCL Portugese Water Dog style clip.

Now she's dragging her butt on the tile floor, oops, should have used a #5 or #7 blade on her girlie parts. A #10 is a bit close for her. Got a script for panalog, too, to cool things off on the undercarriage.

The vet says she's got very a small vulva that's a bit hooded and lack of normal adult female development most likely due to juvenile spay (6 mo.) We suspect she may have some post-spay incontinence, as well. So that will be addressed after the infection is cleared up.

She's back to being herself after 3 doses of antibiotics. I dozed off watching a John Leguzamo movie, she climbed on the bed, fallalloped her big self on top of me and whacked me in the chest with the Newfie Paw of Death to take her out. That's my girl....never subtle.

 

[Lori]

Happy to hear she's back to being her silly self!