HELP - Bacteria/Yeast Infection/UTI - how & why???

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HELP - Bacteria/Yeast Infection/UTI - how & why???

Posted : 11/18/2006 11:15:42 AM

I know that sounds like a rather stupid question, but I just need to know what's going on - maybe then I'll know how to prevent it.

Lola has had two UTI's since we adopted her on August 1st. The first one she had when we got her; the second one was about 6 weeks ago (had a blood clot in her urine when she had an accident in the house - that's how we knew she was sick again). Both times she was on meds that cleared the infection up (supposedly [

]).

I took her to the vet on Wednesday to have her nails trimmed and to have a urinalysis done because I wanted to be absolutely sure that the UTI had been completely cleared up. The results came back saying that her blood cell count was within the normal range, but that they found some sort of bacteria in it.  The vet thought that it could have been something from her V (like a yeast infection or another kind of bacteria) that just found it's way into her urine sample. He is going to put her on another medication that is a "good comprehensive antibiotic that should help clear up whatever it is".

Questions:
1) Do you think I should look into this further? My gut is telling me that it might be somewhat related to her UTI issue and it could be a sign of a big problem. If it is another UTI, why is this happening?  What can we do to get her body working properly?
2) If it is truly a yeast infection/bacteria, why is this happening? Is there anything I can do to keep things *cleaner* for her? I noticed something about her that might be relevant - when she urinates, quite often her whole bottom is just about touching the ground. I am sure that is creating some problems.

She has been spayed...
She eats Nutro - Lamb Meal & Rice Formula...
She drinks a normal amount of water...

Thank you so much for any help you can give!!!

Heather (& Lola)

calliecritturs

Posted : 11/18/2006 6:17:01 PM

Some dogs, particularly some females, just plain run UTI's easily. You may find a really good alternative is to use cranberry -- a cap once or twice a day usually helps most dogs. Essentially what cranberry does (aside from keeping the urine a bit more acidic and not as receptive to infection) is it helps infection NOT 'stick' to the walls of the urinary tract.

One of the meds Billy is on actually has uti's as one of it's main 'side effects' and we've had the devil's own time keeping him rid of them (at one time it got SO bad he had pseudomonas in his urine which is mega nasty!!)

My holistic vet has now recommended we use D-Mannose, which is a human 'supplement' (technically it's a nutra-ceutical). It is a simple sugar similar to glucose but it bonds to bacteria and makes it so they can't 'stick' to the urinary tract (similar to what cranberry does but far more effective than cranberry alone). You can buy it all over the place -- online or at a health store. The one I got was a 'NOW' brand. The dogs LOVE it -- it literally tastes like confectioners sugar!

If you really want to diagnose a persistent uti, then you have to have a sterile urine draw done or you get exactly what your vet said. AS the urine flows out of the body the vulva may be 'dirty' and you can't then tell whether the bacteria came from the urine or the body itself. So essentially they need to use a catheter, or an aspirate directly from the kidney. Then they send it to a lab to be 'cultured' (specificially they see what they can 'grow' bacteria-wise and then see what drugs will kill it). That's called a culture and sensitivity -- typically is gonna cost you about $100 but you get a real diagnosis AND you know what drug to use to kill the bacteria.

Now, Billy's on the D-Mannose with the blessings of ALL the vets (regular and holistic). So hope that helps you.

Can be food-related. I home-cook, and one of the reasons I do is so I can add good stuff that helps decrease uti's and elminate stuff that's problematic for my crew. I'd try the cranberry first and the D-mannose and see if it resolves your problem without more antibiotics.