Recurrent Utis

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

Has anyone here dealt with recurrent UTIs in their grey?

 

Jayne has had about two a year since I got her. My vet even let me call in for antibiotics this afternoon when my DH called me to let me know that she had wet her crate today and it had that odor to it that indicates an infection.

 

I'm not certain, but they seem most prevalent when she's been eating only kibble for a long stretch. Usually I feed her kibble plus some venison, but I haven't since before Thanksgiving. I ran out of last year's. I did get more this year, but haven't started feeding it yet, because I wanted to feeze it for at least a month before I started.

 

I'm thinking of adding cranberry to her diet. Should I give her capsules daily, wet her food with cranberry juice?

 

Any ideas or opinions would be welcome. Hopefully, it's as simple as making sure she always has fresh meat in her diet, I'm working toward more of a raw diet anyway.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Jayne

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

have you talked to you vet about a kidney flush? also when we add cranberry we add the powdered version that way the sugar content is cut way down.

[Hawthorn]

You can also use D-Mannose powder - works in a similar way to Cranberry but without the acidic qualities. Does Jayne get plenty of water in her kibble?

[GeorgeofNE]

You couldn't possibly give her enough cranberry juice to make a difference. There are plenty of cranberry supplements meant for dogs -- George took them for ages.

 

Just search "cranberry supplements, canine" on Amazon.com or your favorite site.

[Batmom]

Symptoms?

 

Reason I ask is, I have now had more than one dog with urinary problems on commercial food. Zema was the most dramatic. She had had a couple UTIs but also had some leakage, excess drinking, frequent need to potty when she did NOT have a UTI. On a homecooked, low salt, primarily beef diet, no problems. She did have high blood pressure, which was medicated. The commercial low salt diets did not help her.

 

Joseph (who does have kidney disease) has also had problems with frequent urination on commercial food. He now eats a homecooked, low-moderate protein, low salt diet. I tried him on a commercial lower salt/protein diet; while it helped somewhat with excess drinking and urination, he acted like he didn't feel well -- lackluster and slow. On his homeprepped, he's a wild Indian (as greyhounds go ) and can get through the night without having to go out for a pee.

 

 

 

ETA: I'm not sure that salt (sodium) is the problem, or the entire problem, that my dogs have had with commercial food. I tried to figure out the culprit in Zema's case and gave up . I could add a reasonable amount of salt to her food and she would do fine, but put her back on commercial food and within a week or so she'd be leaking, drinking bowls of water, having to go out every half hour.

Edited January 3, 2013 by Batmom

[a_daerr]

Hill's makes a prescription food for Urinary Tract Health. I had success with it for one of my late cats who always had urinary issues.

 

I got recurrent bladder problems myself for about a year and ended up having to see a specialist. He explained that one bad UTI can do a lot of damage. Certain foods aggravate the lining of the bladder, causing inflammation that exhibits the same symptoms as a UTI. Then, because the ability to fight infection is depleted, you are more susceptible to infection. It's a vicious cycle! I imagine the same thing can happen in dogs.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

Batmom, she doesn't have any other symptoms like you describe. She gets water on her kibble, and always has access to water but doesn't drink excessively. I wouldn't say she urinates excessively either, and has never had a leakage issue. She generally pees about four times a day.

 

It's good to see that your dogs have cleared up on a home made diet. I'm hoping that works for Jayne too. I got my cats on home-made food last May. Now it's the dog's turn!

 

Good to know that the powered cranberry supplements are what I should get, I thought as much. It probably wouldn't be too easy to get a dog to drink something as tart as cranberry juice anyway!

 

Thanks, everyone!

[Guest SealDogMermaid]

We started giving our 6 y/o, Seal, "Berry Balance" by Solid Gold after her UTI and she has been UTI free ever since (1 year later). Its hard to tell if her UTIs would be recurring since the one we treated her for happened soon after we adopted her, but after being treated for it and going on a nasty Hill's rx diet for a month or so her urine result came back as slightly alkaline. The vet suggested we just keep her on the rx food but there was no way i was going to do that if i could help it (it truly is awful stuff!). We switched her to TOTW kibble and add 1 tsp of the berry balance every evening and she has been fine since. Its not incredibly expensive as far as supplements go. We probably go through about one jar a month (maybe longer). http://www.wag.com/cat/p/solid-gold-supplements-berry-balance-35-oz-118174

oh and ps: wag.com is super quick with their shipping if you ever need something in a hurry :-)

[Guest 2dogs4cats]

Vitamin C works for cats, maybe it does for dogs too?

[Guest sirsmom]

Vitamin C works for cats, maybe it does for dogs too?

 

 

Yes and look to see if there is ascorbic acid or vit. c on the dog food list of ingredients. Purina One does not supplement vit.c except the large breed and a few other manufacturers don't either.

[TwiggysMom]

When Twiggy was getting some recurring UTIs due to chemo, her vet recommended Uro-Maxx. (I found it at KV Pet).

 

She never got another UTI once she started on the supplement. (She's no longer on chemo, so I stopped the supplement now).

[cleptogrey]

Vitamin C works for cats, maybe it does for dogs too?

 

i've heard the vit c works for dogs, my adoption rep who is a vet had mentioned that. not sure of the dosage, but c is water soluable and it's generally to tolerance. in humans it's a lot of c we can tolerate.