True And Uti And Need To Change Vets

[Guest candt]

ok this is going to be long, but i will first just ask if there are any recs for vets on the north shore of boston.

 

and its been a LONG time since i posted on here, but ill start off with saying that True is almsot 13 and doing REALLY well. 3 littermates of hers are dead, but shes SUPER lively and happy and doing great.

 

so...this is the story...

 

over 2 months ago all of a sudden True started peeing every few hours...then every hour..then like every 15 minutes. there were even some drops of bright red blood in her urine. it was sunday and my usual vet was closed so instead of taking her to the ER i took her to a vet in the next town over that happened to be open on sundays. they ahve a fairly decent reputation.

 

they gave her 2 weeks of clavamox. within 24 hours the blood went away and she only needed to pee every few hours. by day 2 she was much better. over the 2 weeks she had occasional accidents but nothing too bad.

 

also, the sunday vet did find some bacteria and white blood cells in the urine.

 

then she went off the clavamox and she got worse again. not so bad there was blood, but def the uti came back.

 

so i took her to my vet who gave her 2 weeks of amoxicillian. this cleared it right up and she was accident free for the next 7 weeks.

 

however, my usual vet wanted to do a 400$ utlrasound. well, i have read enough on here, and hear from rileysmomma that her vet ordered an ultrasound for ehr iggy who has utis and nothing was found. plus, my greyhound pees the second she walks out hte door so i cant get her to the vet with a full bladder. i asked the ultrasound place if i could leave her there for a few hours with water so she could fill ehr bladder and they said no, that they dont have space for dogs to stay. so even if she did go in for an ultrasound, it would be on an empty bladder.

 

i dont mind spending hte money, but i would rather spend it on a longer course of antibiotics...

 

i mean, for the past 7 years i ahve had her, she does get between 1 and 3 utis a year, but antibiotics always clear it up.

 

so anyway, True is showing symptoms again of a uti. it was very early and i brought in a sample to my vet. well, there was no bacteria found and they are insisting on the utlrasound. i said that i wanted to jsut try the antibiotics another time, and would like to try it as the least invasive thing. i mean, even if the ultrasound found a tumor or something, how wise is it to cut open a 13 year old greyhound? again, its not hte cost, its jsut what might be best for her.

 

she was fine for 6 months before this last uti. she was fine after the antibiotics for 6 weeks, so why not just try them again? if they work....i totally prefer them to surgery. id pay for them every other months if they were needed and they gave True relief...

 

so currently i believe that True has a uti. there are SO MANY POSTS on greytalk where a dog has utis and antibiotics clear it up but no bacteria is found....but my vet wont give antibiotics if no bacteria is found...

 

i pointed out that they worked before, and my vet said that it was a coincidence! i said "its was a coincidence that it started to solve the problem in 24 hours, then she went off them and she got worse, then when she went on them again it worked again"?

 

ugh, sorry if i am rambling.

 

what do i do?

[Guest candt]

oh also this is NOT leakage...i catch her squatting and emptying her bladder

[Batmom]

IMHO what would be helpful is a culture and sensitivity. It sounds like what is happening is, the antibiotics are knocking back the bacteria but not truly getting rid of it. Culture and sensitivity would hopefully pinpoint which antibiotic she really needs. It is possible that she has stones, and ultrasound would find those. But, her bladder doesn't need to be full for that. For some things it is helpful to have a full bladder but for most it just isn't necessary.

 

Usually what we do in case of intractable* UTI is, get sample and send it off for culture and sensitivity. Start antibiotics because we don't want dog to be in pain till the C&S comes back! When C&S does come back, switch to the best antibiotic for the organism and continue that antibiotic for at least 3 weeks. Last day of antibiotics or day after, do another C&S to make sure there's nothing there. 7-10 days later, do another one to make sure there's nothing there. If there is ... pick another antibiotic from the C&S list and repeat (*sigh*) -- fortunately this isn't necessary very often.

 

*Intractable meaning dog has had repeat UTIs in a short space of time, or one UTI that never seems to quite clear up.

 

I feel your (and True's) pain. Scritchies to pretty True.

[TheFullHouse]

The ultrasound would at least show any problems with the kidneys I would think. It may not be a uti, it could be something else. With her being 13 she may be in the early stages of kidney disease. With her history it might be worth checking out.

[Guest candt]

Batmom, I took in a sample on Thursday and they found no bacteria....

 

Do bite the bullet and get the ultrasound even tho antibiotics have always helped before?

[Batmom]

They might not find bacteria on the test strip but might still find it in a culture. The strip finds most bacteria but -1- not all types, and -2- not really small amounts.

[tbhounds]

No need to have an ultrasound performed just yet--seems to me your vet is jumping a few steps. I would take your dog off antibotics and wait 3-4 days then have a urine cuture and mic done. After they draw the urine you can start the antibotics back up but, just keep in mind they may need to be changed after you receive the culture results. You can also have radiographs done before having to jump into the ultrasound too. The radiographs may or may not pick up a mass or stones but, they are a lot less expensive to do.

[greyhead]

Just because urine doesn't betray bacteria in the vet's office or in urinalysis doesn't mean there aren't any! (I found this out the hard way.) Get a C&S! If nothing shows up, then move to x-rays and/or ultrasound.

 

 

[Guest candt]

Well my vet is insisting on the ultrasound as the next step.

 

And it turns out it was a C and S that they did...I just found the bill and that's what it says. But no bacteria found. So does that mean it's not a uti?

 

But antibiotics always worked in the past even when no bacteria was present. So I'd just prefer trying that first...but my vet won't do that.

[Batmom]

When was the C&S done?

[MaryJane]

Well my vet is insisting on the ultrasound as the next step.

 

And it turns out it was a C and S that they did...I just found the bill and that's what it says. But no bacteria found. So does that mean it's not a uti?

 

But antibiotics always worked in the past even when no bacteria was present. So I'd just prefer trying that first...but my vet won't do that.

 

If there is no bacteria I agree with the vet that you should not be giving antibiotics. You might want to try another C&S in a week or so and see it cultures bacteria. Do you have any results from the rest of the urinalysis like the specific gravity, protein, blood, or glucose?

 

The next logical step is to do a ultrasound or x-ray and see if there is something going on with the kidneys/bladder/stones.

[Batmom]

I'd want some bloodwork to go with the ultrasound or x-ray.

[Guest candt]

Batmom the cs was done just 2 days after symptoms started. So maybe too early?

 

True only had one accident this weekend so maybe I should wait and see? if she does have a uti it's relatively mild at this point.

 

I also bought some craberry relief Powder. Should I try using that?

[Batmom]

If she was showing symptoms, the C&S should've showed something. Cranberry relief can't hurt. Has she had bloodwork recently? Whole bunch of things can cause excess peeing, with or without excess drinking -- upset tummy, high blood pressure, heart insufficiency, kidney insufficiency as well as bladder stones.

[BauersMom]

The ultrasound would at least show any problems with the kidneys I would think. It may not be a uti, it could be something else. With her being 13 she may be in the early stages of kidney disease. With her history it might be worth checking out.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking - kidney issues. I would go for bloodwork before an ultrasound.

[Guest FullMetalFrank]

I was just thinking of True the other day, wondering how you guys are doing! Sorry she is having trouble. I concur with the folks that recommend bloodwork be done before an ultrasound; just to make sure there's nothing else going on. Hope she feels better, UTI's are no fun

[Guest candt]

She actually had bloodwork done at the last time with the terrible uti 2 months ago and everything was fine....

[grey14me]

I used to take Bailey to Dr. Callahan and liked everyone there...he's in Rowley. This was a dozen years ago though. Hope True feels better soon!

 

My link

[Batmom]

In that case I would probably rerun just the kidney values (should be @ 1/3 the cost of a full panel) and go ahead with ultrasound.

 

P.S. Also get her blood pressure checked. Fast and easy.

Edited May 17, 2011 by Batmom

[Guest snakes]

I personally go to Hawthorne animal health care in salem, there are three vets there, you do have to be on top of your game (and assertive at times) and really keep asking questions and questioning tests, one of the vets is MUCH more an animal person than a people person. saying that, they do a lot of natural techniques and the front office and tech staff are wonderfull.

I know a lot of people like the VCA in wakefield, Beverly animal natural health (i heard a little pricey but very good), people at work and one friend like Northeast vet hospital in peabody for their other breeds, there is always North shore animal hospital that has dealt witha number of greyhounds due to wonderland being nearby for so many years as well.

[MaryJane]

You didn't mention which town you were in in MA ... you might want to try Angel in Boston although they will be expensive for regular visits. Tufts is out in the western part of the state and they are also good. I use Angel all the time now for emergencies although I like to use a local vet for the "regular stuff".

 

You might also want to check with the greyhound groups and see where they take their dogs.

[SPDoggie]

I think you already go there, but we love Beverly Natural Animal Health.

[Guest candt]

just an update:

 

i kinda fired my vet. we had a phone discussion that did not go well and i told her that although i was really looking forward to her being true's vet especially for any end of life issues that come up, that i thought it was time for me to go elsewhere...

 

and then, after that, i started true on "cranberry relief"

 

and she got better! and she hasnt had any accidents since a few days of being on it...

 

so what i will do in the future for a vet? i am not sure. she needs her rabies soon but has already had her yearly...

[tbhounds]

Glad she's feeling better! Just wanted to mention that the way cranberry works is that it inhibits the bacteria from adhearing to the bladder walk allowing the bacterial to be basically be "flushed" from the bladder when the she voids. So, my point-- maybe she did have some bacteria lurking about that the culture didn't pick up?

[Guest snakes]

just an update:

 

i kinda fired my vet. we had a phone discussion that did not go well and i told her that although i was really looking forward to her being true's vet especially for any end of life issues that come up, that i thought it was time for me to go elsewhere...

 

and then, after that, i started true on "cranberry relief"

 

and she got better! and she hasnt had any accidents since a few days of being on it...

 

so what i will do in the future for a vet? i am not sure. she needs her rabies soon but has already had her yearly...

 

I don't know if it is still true, but years ago when i was trying to decide on vets and needed a rabies vaccination i had called North Shore animal hospital and they were willing to do a rabies vaccination without a full checkup. Worth a call to them or other local vets, someone may be willing to do it. I also wonder if Petco or PetSmart may be the way to go just for the one vaccination?

http://www.nshoreanimalhospital.com/