UTI's in Dogs

[dani0303]

My 4yo Beagle/Aussie mix presented with classic UTI symptoms about a month ago. She was urinating frequently, straining to urinate, and having accidents in the house which is not like her. I took her to the vet and her culture came back negative but she did have crystals in her urine and a wonky pH. They gave her a course of Augmentin and sent us on our way. She seemed to be fine within a few days but I finished out her course of antibiotics about 2 weeks ago.

Today my BF comes home from work and she had another accident (on our brand new mattress of course). He also noticed that she had vomited some bile. I came home early from work so I could take her back to the vet and noticed that her urine was cloudy and smelled highly concentrated. The vet ran a UA and culture again and this time there is a bacterial infection. They’re sending the cultures to CSU to see if she needs to be on a specialized anti-biotic as opposed to a broad-spec.

My question comes in with diet. He wants to put her on an rX diet, which happens to be Science Diet Canine C/D. I am NOT a fan of science diet and like to feed my dog a high protein, grain free food. Are there any benefits to feeding the C/D as opposed to her current food (Natural Balance LID Duck+Potato). He did suggest a wet food since she is somewhat dehydrated. I have no problem with that but I’d definitely like the rX diet to be a last resort.

Any experience with this? Ideas? Words of wisdom??

Luckily little miss beagle is feeling just fine and is her normal self

[LauraKY]

I would try the RX diet for a while. My new/old cocker has a history of calcium oxalate stones. She’ll be on RX diet for the rest of her life. I feed Hill’s UD. She’s actually fine on it.

My last cocker was on the same thing for years after urinary crystals and UTIs. But I switched her to a limited ingredient diet for the last couple of years (not high protein though) and she did fine on that as well.

More water is good, the urinary diets encourage more drinking. I just dump a bunch of water in with the dry food (so it floats) and she eats and drinks it all. The dry is much less expensive than the canned.

[dani0303]

It’s definitely not the price that worries me. The food she’s been on is NOT cheap. What worries me is ground corn meal being the first ingredient. I have her on it until this flare up dies down. Luckily there were no stones found on her ultrasound

[CrowneDragon]

I would ask your vet if they would be comfortable trying a brand of your choice, in canned, and perhaps a d-mannose and/or cranberry supplement, to help prevent future infections. If that isn’t successful, I’d try the Rx diet.
Believe you me, I was not a fan of Hills for the lonnnnngest time. The ingredients read like the leftover scraps from a soup kitchen, BUT after failing on every high quality commercial and homemade diet imaginable I put my dog with liver disease on their l/d (he’s now on k/d…another story) and it gave me a new dog. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t still be here without it (I don’t want to think about that!). So, IMHO, those diets do have a place.
I struggle with recurrent UTIs in my other dog, and we are trying some preventative supplements. Part of the problemo with her, I think, is that since my other dog drinks really excessively, I don’t leave water out free choice. Even though I offer her water several times a day, and add it to her kibble, I don’t think she drinks enough, so I’ve quadrupled the amount I add to her kibble to basically force it into her. So far knock wood so good.

[PonyPenny]

My Corgi is on Urinary SO by Royal Canin. She was plagued by stones and after surgery to remove two large ones in her bladder and kidney, she is on this food for life. Like you I wanted her on a grain free diet, however this food works and I don’t question it.

[pinkpony321]

is your pup eating normally? Bile to me indicates pancreatitis or something of the sort.

[csaper58]

Don’t have any diet knowlege, but my Aussie cross had UTI issues until the vet suggested a ‘sanitary trim’ around her ‘girl parts’. No more trouble as long as her personal grooming is done on a regular schedule.

[dani0303]

Hmm it seems like 1/2 the replies have gone poof. Oh well.

PP321- She is eating normally. Her stools are also normal. Her stomach has always been a little off and she does occasionally throw up bile. It seems to be stress related? The vet seemed unconcerned with that. He thinks it’s a side effect of being sick/feeling crappy. He also saw nothing in her bloodwork that indicates pancreas.

Does anyone have any experience with Wysong Raw diet? From what I’ve been reading, people have had good results with it for dogs with UTI issues. Here’s a link to their page:
http://www.wysong.net/products/archetype-raw-dog-cat-food.php

[BuddyRoo]

I could’ve sworn I replied to this thread…maybe it got lost during the upgrade?

Anyway, I can understand that you don’t want to feed Hills RX, but those foods have been designed and tested for the kinds of things they’re trying to help/prevent. Even if you’re averse to feeding Hills long term, I think that I’d try it in the short term, get the situation resolved and THEN try new foods later.

A lot of the other foods really don’t have studies to back them up when it comes to medical intervention. I don’t feed Hills foods anymore myself…but, during times when my dogs have needed an Rx food, I’ve fed what the Drs recommended.

[dani0303]

Buddy Roo- I did buy a few weeks worth of Hill’s that she’s currently eating. I don’t have a problem feeding it short term but I worry about other health side effects it could cause long term.

[BuddyRoo]

[QUOTE=dani0303;7134915]
Buddy Roo- I did buy a few weeks worth of Hill’s that she’s currently eating. I don’t have a problem feeding it short term but I worry about other health side effects it could cause long term.[/QUOTE]

I know my opinion will be largely debated…but I think the corn thing is a lot of hype. I fed my dog Hills SD LB for 9 years–until he had a major surgery that removed a large part of his bowel–actually, two surgeries–and now he’s on something different.

But anyway. I also worked for Hills for a short time and have spent the better part of 20years involved in veterinary medicine.

I too would rather feed other things…BUT I don’t think that when you’re dealing with a known issue that it’s wise to swap around foods that are NOT medically tested like the Rx foods are. Whether that’s the RC, Hills, Iams or Purina foods. (and FWIW, those were listed in the order that we prefer them at our current clinic)

I feed Fromm food to my dogs now because I was trying to go another way that kept being recalled. Got over it. Switched again. But the only reason I switched to begin with was that we wanted to do a study on poss. allergies. (there are none)

The way that the corn is processed in these foods is such that it’s broken down for the protein, the amino acids.

Again, I realize that most people are averse to the corn idea these days, but technically when you look at the protein properties, corn is just a cheaper way to get that accomplished.

Unpopular vote though. I get it.

But with a dog with major recurrent UTI? That’s not normal. It’s kind of rare in fact. I think in my “disappeared” post, I asked what kind of crystals they saw. Because the crystal type matters in how you treat.

[dani0303]

I believe they were struvites but I’m waiting for the official results to come back from CSU. I would’t call it a chronic or recurrent problem. This is the first and only UTI she’s had in her 4 years. It’s just been hell to get rid of and the vets are wondering if there’s a specific bacteria that is resistant to the antibiotics that she’s on.

Here is her pitiful “Mommy I’m sick!!” face. She’s so wonderful
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/945737_10201248692448115_2146186910_n.jpg

[RobinL]

I adopted a Corgi in Jan and she came with a UTI. Dr put her on Baytril, which did nothing for her, then 2 weeks of Clavamox. A couple months later, she had another one (she’s built for them and was swimming in the pond). I stopped on my way home from walking her at the park, where she was squatting every few feet and told them I thought she had another one. Dr prescribed Baytril, without reading all of her charts. Told them that didn’t work the first time. So we got 10 days of Clavamox. Recheck showed there was still bacteria, but less, so 14 days of Clavamox. Next time (hopefully not) she is authorized for 14 days of Clavamox… No crystals, no stones, just bacteria.

If they are worried about resistance, they can send off for a culture and sensitivity, where the lab will try to grow the bacteria and see what kills it. We’ve done that but after 2 rounds of antibiotics, no growth although the vets office did see a bit of bacteria after all of that.

[BuddyRoo]

If she does have struvite crystals though, the diet is going to be a big part of treatment and prevention in my non-vet experience.