Looking for advice from anyone who has had some sucess with preventing a dog who is prone to UTIs from continuing to get them. Our dog drinks well and goes out to pee at least 5 times a day, which I actually think is more than a lot of dogs get to go out. I don’t they are happening from her holding it too long. Yet she has had three in the last year and a half. I suspect part of the problem is that she squats really low when she goes.
You can have a groomer do a sanitary trim on her if she is a hairy breed, this helps. Also if she licks her self alot that can contribute to UTI. But, as much as she is drinking and peeing, I would suspect very mild incontinence,(just losing a drop or two) This would keep her urinary track irritated and lead to chronic UTI. I would try a minimal dose of Proin a medicine that treats incontinence and is very inexpensive. It must be prescribed by a vet.
If Proin doesn’t help her a small dose of Estradiol twice a week may eliminate the problem.
Does she have crystals in her urine that are causing these UTI’s? A lot of these things can be diet related. Or it can be related to other disease processes. What kind of workup have you done thus far?
I don’t think that squatting low is going to be sufficient to create this problem. Probably something else like a compromised immune system or crystal production that can be easily handled with a diet change.
my vet has my dog on a low( 21%) protein diet, he takes Proin nightly, and takes potassium citrate daily in his dinner. he has been under control for a while now.
Her lady part conformation may also have something to do with it as well.
I found that this helped my dog when he was experiencing some urinary issues (now he is fine) :
If your dog refuses this in the water you can mix it with water and put it on the food. I would suggest adding some water to kibble if that is what you feed anyway.
Thank you all for the suggestions. Since my dog has been on antibiotics a few times in the last year, vet suggested I try yoghurt for a few days and keep her drinking plenty of water. Luckily I am home for the next few days so I can take her out even more frequently and just try to keep flushing her system. I went out and got some plain yoghurt and I also picked up a probiotic supplement from Petco. I added a little coconut oil to her food as well. I know it sooths her tummy when she has a tummy ache so I figured I would see if it helps her urinary tract.
She is on an all dry food diet, so maybe I need to start adding a little wet food. She was having some stomach issues over the summer and for a little while I started cooking her food. She did really well with it, I just had trouble maintaining what it took to constantly cook for her. But I may try that again. I think I need to be better about cooking larger batches once a week. I was trying to do smaller batches every few days to keep it as fresh as possible.
What food are you feeding her? Did she have crystals in her urine?
My Corgi would consistently have a UTI every time I had the vet check; which was about every other month. The antibiotics would clear it up, and it would come back. I had blood tests, sonograms of bladder anatomy, changed foods, sent cultures off etc… I thought it was something that was just her. This lasted for several years.
Then I ran out of rawhide for month or so (I don’t remember) and happened to notice she wasn’t developing the symptoms of a UTI. I went and bought a rawhide, because surely it was just a coincidence. It wasn’t. The theory is that something about rawhide changes her PH balance enough that she develops a UTI. She hasn’t had rawhide for a couple of years now, and she hasn’t had a UTI either.
Rawhide being the cause is completely random, and could possibly be unique to my dog. My point is, you can always try adding/eliminating foods from your dog’s diet.
Good Luck!
Has she actually had UA’s done? Were there crystals or just bacteria?
when i cook for my dogs i use a huge crockpot. (8.5qt) and i make enough for a week at a time. Maybe that would help.
What have the cultures come back as, EColi? You cant properly treat a UTI unless you do a culture, as you do not know what the bacteria is senstitive to antibiotic wise.
How old is your dog, is there any chance she could have a polyp or mass in her bladder? While its not common, these things can cause recurrent UTI’s.
Our Bully is older and was drinking too much…like way too much…so the vet took some samples. She was rubbing her girlie parts, too, even though she had had her anal glands expressed. She is exhibiting some renal failure. She is on the Prion pink pills and put on Royal Canin low protein food - 12% which is half what she was on.
She seems much perkier/ A/b’s seem to have cleared her up.
Once you know if there were crystals in the urine and what kind if so, try a limited ingredient diet.
