Just Got The Urine Culture Back

[Guest jupiterooos]

After two rounds of Clavamox that seemed to clear up Jupiter's pee problem, followed up by immediately worsening symptoms once he finished up the pills, we went in for a urine culture and ultrasound.

 

And...he's fine. No stones, no infection.

 

So I guess the tick panel is next? Any other ideas, maybe?

 

My poor guy

[Burpdog]

I'd do a tick panel.

 

Have you changed to filtered water?

 

How long did they culture it or is it still in process?

[Guest jupiterooos]

We have switched to filtered. The culture was for five days; the vet said that if there was anything there it would have shown up by now.

 

So it's a tick panel then....sigh....I do so hope they can find something, anything!

[Trudy]

I missed the pee problem... what does it entail?

 

 

When I was doing raw feeding for a while, I was doing a suplement that contained kelp powder. I kept asking the vet if it could be something I was feeding. She kept saying no. Kept having me test him and then came up with all sorts of crazy things it could be that I 'had' to test for. Somebody mentioned their dog had issues with kelp powder. I removed it from his diet and he was fine.

His issue was he'd just start peeing. In the middle of the night he'd be walking around the house just peeing. Never knew he was doing it. Did it during the day as well.

[feemandvm]

If he wasn't off of antibiotics for at least 10 days prior to the culture it could be a false negative. Just an FYI depending on what hte culture was done.

 

 

[Guest jupiterooos]

I missed the pee problem... what does it entail?

 

The short version, in bullet points (this has been going on a loooong time, a summary is necessary )

 

-He's always had trouble "holding it" for very long, and would pee inside if not whisked out promptly every four hours or so.

 

-It seemed to me that he peed a lot considering he never drinks water.

 

-Many vet visits leads them to conclude that it's just behavioral.

 

-About two months ago, he suddenly started peeing vast amounts, every hour or so, even though he wasn't drinking.

 

-E-vet decided it was a UTI and said his urine was very dilute. 2 weeks of Clavamox.

 

-He got better but it came back as soon as he finished the meds.

 

-Round 2 of Clavamox. Again, it came back.

 

-More vet visits, entailing ultrasound and urine culture (and yes, it was almost 2 weeks after finishing the meds) that showed nothing, aside from elevated bilirubin.

 

So now, here we are

 

Lately he's been needing to go out to pee in the middle of the night, which sucks because my husband's job is very high-stress right now and he needs his sleep, and I have been sick as a...well, you know.

 

[Guest carolyn]

Has your vet ruled out diabetes?

 

I'm glad it's not a stone. We had to do ER surgery on our cat to remove a bladder stone. A $1,000 later, she was fine.

 

I hope you get to the root of the problem soon.

[Guest jupiterooos]

I think they test for diabetes in the urine tests, don't they? He's had several go-rounds with those, I'm pretty sure it's been ruled out.

 

But really, I guess I should double-check.

[Batmom]

Has he had bloodwork recently? And how about a specific gravity test on a first-of-the-morning urine sample (this is quick and cheap)?

 

Can you keep track (roughly) of how much he drinks when?

[Guest jupiterooos]

I think the bloodwork is next. And what is a specific gravity test?

 

It's easy to keep track of how much water he drinks: he doesn't. He consumes all the water I put in breakfast and dinner (about two cups each), and I make sure he gets another cup or so during the day, usually with a bit of broth to make it more enticing. Sometimes he will drink water plain, but not too often.

[turbotaina]

I think the bloodwork is next. And what is a specific gravity test?

 

That tests the concentration of the urine. If it is very dilute, he pees a lot and he drinks a lot, he could have diabetes insipidus ("water diabetes"). It's treatable, but not curable, and the meds are a bit pricey.

[Batmom]

Specific gravity is also a measure of kidney function. You want the first sample of the morning, when dog hasn't had a drink for several hours (such as overnight; don't deliberately withhold water if you have a dog who is drinking a lot). If the kidneys *can* concentrate the urine properly, that'll help rule some things out.

[Guest MiniandMerry]

One of my group's now-adopted dogs had very similar symptoms - fine while on antibiotics, but symptoms returning shortly after the course of antibiotic was finished. He eventually was diagnosed with prostatitis, treated, and has been fine ever since.

[Guest jupiterooos]

Is prostatitis something that would turn up in a urine culture? Because so far those have been clear.

 

When we went to the E-vet his pee was very dilute, which is why they suspected infection and put him on the antibiotics. The second time his urine was also very dilute, but there was no clear sign of infection, but we opted for a second go-round of meds because they seemed to help the first time. In his urine culture, the pee was not unusually dilute, but there were high-ish levels of bilirubin.

[Guest MZH]

Cushing's Disease can be a cause of excessive urination w/o excessive water drinking.

 

[Guest greytexplorer]

This sounds like what my Mandy has been going thru, and I am watching this thread with anticipation.

Just like Jupiter, Mandy does great while on the meds, then within a few days of being off, here we GO again.

I'm tired of her peeing on my hardwood floor.