EM puppy, recurrent UTI

[Cafecamelot]

Our 3mo old English Mastiff, Lucy, is working on her 3rd UTI//vaginitis combo since coming home at 7 weeks. Two consecutive courses of antibiotics cleared the first two bouts. We noticed two things: each UTI starts after a short bout of diarrhea, and is accompanied by quite a bit of yellow discharge that smells vaguely metallic. Thoughts and words of wisdom are very welcome! I hate to wipe out her gut microbiota again to get rid of this. Does cranberry extract work? This is our first mastiff so we are treading carefully
Thank you!

 

[musicdeb]

I'm sorry to hear about Lucy. She hasn't been de-sexed has she?

I have no other suggestions for you but I'm sure others will post a reply.

Hope she feels better.

 

[Boxergirl]

Has your vet said anything about her having a recessed vulva? Sometimes they call it inverted or hooded. Usually you see repeat UTIs and vaginitis. My Ella started having UTIs and vaginitis when she was very young. I made sure to clean her after every pee (unscented baby wipes) and we didn't have any further problems. The vulva usually corrects itself after the first heat. Ella's 15mo now and has had two heats. She's all good. I would for sure ask your vet if this might be part of her problem. Good luck!

 

[Cafecamelot]

Thank you so much! Lucy does have a recessed vulva, as it turns out - and I am quite upset that our vet did not mention this, even as we brought her in twice with UTI and vaginitis. This makes it even more important to delay her spay, which this vet is pushing to do at 6 months. I believe it is time to look for a new vet

 

[Sadies Mom]

Sadie had the same problem as a pup. She always got UTI's with diarrhea. Like someone said already, whip her down with un-scented baby whipes after she goes potty.

 

[DennasMom]

We had good luck with cranberry tablets for our cat (we found a liver-flavor tablet that she actually liked)... that and making sure she drank enough water did the trick for the cat.

I'd think it'd be worth a try for your puppy too. UTI's are NO FUN!!

 

[Mollys dad]

I'll further recommend the wipes. Molly has a recessed vulva and had 2 UTI's in rapid succession. So we wipe her after tinkling and playing lots outside (just in case).

 

[linux426]

We had similar issues with our EM pup. After a lot of research, we had GREAT luck with "D-Mannose", which is derived from cranberry. No idea what company would have the best...we just ordered one from Amazon and it worked - 2x now. Hope Lucy gets well soon!

 

[bugs]

We had this problem too. We waited to spay until after first heat. Still had some issues (by this point we recognized initial symptoms and were able to intervene before having to use antibiotics) so other things we did included adding water to food to increase water intake, more potty breaks, wiping with unscented baby wipes after peeing and giving her oranges to eat to increase acidity of urine. We now give her cranberry supplement because she stopped liking the oranges.

 

[RissyRenee]

Aw, I’m sorry to hear about Lucy! My Lola had reoccurring UTIs around the same age for several months. It was a challenge. We were taking her out every 30 mins, offering plenty of fresh water, removed any toys that were really dirty/gross. She too had the yellow metallic discharge. The first two antibodies didn’t work, but the 3 did. We added yogurt to her diet while she was on the antibiotics (I can’t remember which brand, plain Greek yogurt. I basically looked for the yogurt with least amount of sugar) I also tried cranberry juice (again the non sweetend stuff, that she liked) it small quantities. I was planning on getting the supplement but everything worked itself out by then. Best of luck!