urinary tract infections for over a year

lucy · Nov 7, 2016

My female frenchie is 14 months old and has uti after uti. The vet gives antibiotics and they go away and within a week or two of finishing the antibiotic they come right back. She had a hooded vulva and we did surgery to correct and still gets uti. We sent urine in for bacteria growth but nothing grew and just finished six weeks of antibiotics and i am sure she has another uti. Has anyone had this many uti issues? I never had any uti problems with any other dogs that i have had.

davidh · Nov 8, 2016

We haven't had one with that many, but Hazel has has a few. We always check the urine after to make sure it is gone. Sounds like you are doing the same. We also give her a daily pill of Nutramax [FONT=Roboto, serif]Crananidin Chewable Tables. We get ours from chewy online. That seems to help, as she hasn't gotten one a long time. I would also maybe talk to another vet to see if they have any other ideas or different antibiotic, as sometimes the bacteria will become immune to the antibiotic. You might also consider a food change? Yu may have to get a food that is formulated for urinary track heath. Also did the vet check for crystals in the urine? These will also cause UTI's and a food change can help with that as well. Plus every time she pees, wipe her backside too. Hope this helps, [/FONT]

lucy · Nov 9, 2016

Thank you for your feedback. I do have her on the Cranberry Chews. I have a appointment with another Vet tomorrow and she will review the history report from my current vet and re-check her.
I am so confused and frustrated with this and the money I have already spend.

2bullymama · Nov 11, 2016

lucy said:
Thank you for your feedback. I do have her on the Cranberry Chews. I have a appointment with another Vet tomorrow and she will review the history report from my current vet and re-check her.
I am so confused and frustrated with this and the money I have already spend.

How did the second vet visit go?

My Bulldog had this issue and it was due to too much skin around her vulva... once we did that (as you did) she was fine. Is she possibly a low pee'er.... my girl practically sat when she would pee which cause dirt to get in her 'girl'

lucy · Nov 11, 2016

She does pee lower then most but not touching the ground. I am waiting on the results from 2nd Vet. I am hoping they can get the culture to grow so we know what type of bacteria we are dealing with. If not They want to send my to NC State Vet. School for further testing. I am unsure I will be able to do that as I have already spent $4,300.00 at my Vet and they said the school will charge $4,000.00-$6,000.oo for testing. I am praying for some good news. I have never had this issue with any other dog and am confused and frustrated. Thank you for you feedback and help!

2bullymama · Nov 11, 2016

Starting wiping her after she pees... i did that with Banks and it seemed to help

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Honeys Owners · Nov 11, 2016

If the culture comes back negative it could be she has bladder irritation ( interstitial cystitis ) without an infection, or kidney stones. She should have had an ultrasound to rule out kidney stones. It definitely won't hurt to try suggestions mentioned, plus putting her on a good dog probiotic. It's important to get her to drink a lot of water and take her out often for a pee. If she doesn't drink water give her fresh or canned dog food for increased moisture. I've read that you can add 1 & 1/2 tsps apple cider vinegar per day to some yoghurt or mixed in to the dog food to help prevent kidney stones. Or, you can buy potassium citrate granules for dogs which is good for all types of kidney stones besides the ones caused by an infection ( ie. the struvite type ) . The struvite type is usually treated surgically.

lucy · Nov 19, 2016

Thank you for the info. The culture came bace negative and the doctors are stumped and want to send me to the vet school for further testing by the specialist.I started her her on the apple cider vinger. I will inquiry about an ultrasound. I enjoy how everyone is helpful and shares thoughts ans experiences. Thank you. I am so frustrated.

Honeys Owners · Nov 20, 2016

So sorry to hear its still ongoing. I read recently that a good probiotic you can get from amazon is VetriScience laboratories Mega probiotic, and I personally use Probiotic Miracle in my dog since it's cheaper. I'm not sure which one is better. Purina Fortiflora, which is a commonly recommended probiotic by vets, contains enterococcus faecium which can be an opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised humans, so I'd rather not be handling that. Enterococcus faecium is already present in quite a few of the dry dog foods anyways,so your dog is probably getting that probiotic anyways.

Coconut oil is also supposed to be good for urinary tract infections and kidney stones ( amongst other benefits) . It can cause diarrhea if you don't start slowly, so start with 1/2 teaspoon per day, then work up to 1 teaspoon per 10 pounds per day.

Honeys Owners · Nov 20, 2016

I was thinking again about my recommendation on giving your dog apple cider vinegar. That alkalinizes the urine which is good for most stones, but not struvite stones. For struvite stones you want to acidify the urine, which you could accomplish by giving vitamin C. Since your dog has a long history of urinary tract infections ,if she has stones, she's more likely to get the struvite type. So it's probably safer not to give her either vitamin C or apple cider vinegar unless you know for sure she has stones, and what type they are. Sorry about my previous recommendation.

Honeys Owners · Nov 20, 2016

I know that women with frequent recurrent UTI infections will sometimes go on low dose antibiotic prophylaxis. That's an option if none of the holistic therapies mentioned above work and she doesn't have kidney stones that need to be surgically removed or treated medically.

Jennifer72 · Mar 17, 2019

Yes. Same problem with my 3 yr old Frenchie. She is going in 2 days to get the extra skin around her vulvar area removed. It holds their urine and causes bacteria which causes the UTI's.

FroxerMom · Mar 18, 2019

Lucy - I am also in Raleigh. Please feel free to PM me if you'd like. Your vet estimate seems INSANE even for NC State where all vets around here want to send you. I'd love to help if I can and can recommend two vets if you want a second opinion.