Three month old english mastiff puppy with reoccurring UTI infections

[Olive07]

Hi.

I just brought my English mastiff puppy into my home about two months ago. She is now three and a half months old. When I first brought her home, she was having a hard time potty training. The vet assured me she was just a puppy, and I needed to give it time. Low and behold, come to find out a week later, my puppy had her first urinary tract infection. She was put on antibiotics for 14 days. She seemed to be a bit better while on antibiotics, but after the medication ran its course, she again didn't have much bladder control.

We brought her back to the vet, and they gave her another course of antibiotics for seven days (a different brand). She again seemed okay during the antibiotic phase. After this course though, her infection seemed to get worse (squatting to urinate every two minutes, crying, blood in urine, etc).

I took her to an emergency clinic then, and they put her on another round of antibiotics, this time for four days. She is currently on day three, and the antibiotics don't seem to be helping much. While she has a bit more control, she's still having accidents and still seeming to need to go quite frequently.

I'm wondering if the vet could possibly be overlooking another problem that may be causing the UTI infections. Has anyone been through this before? Can you please offer any advise?

Thank you!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Have they actually done a proper urine culture at any point in this to confirm she's on the RIGHT antibiotic?

Please also add a probiotic to her diet, with this constant run of antibiotics.

What was her urine PH?

Although I'll agree that blood in urine is a good sign of a urinary problem are you sure that hte lack of control is really a UTI? It sounds like you got her when she was 6 weeks old? Thats VERY young. Its not unusual for pups that young to have no concept of urinary control. Even at 14 weeks they still lack alot of the control expected with older dogs.

 

[Boxergirl]

Does she have a recessed vulva? That can be a cause of repeat UTIs and vaginitis. I would also suggest wiping her each time she urinates with a baby wipe. In addition to what Ruth has suggested, perhaps see if they think a cystocentesis is indicated. A draw directly from the bladder so there's no outside contamination.

 

[Olive07]

ruthcatrin - we got it done this last time and we are waiting for the results. there is definitely an element of her being a puppy with poor bladder control, but this recent change is definitely out of character.

boxergirl - thank you for the reference. i've been staring at the pictures for 30 minutes and cannot figure out whether Olive's in problematic.

i've uploaded a picture - what do you think?

 

[ruthcatrin]

If her urine PH number was high (not acidic enough) you may want to try adding a cranberry supplement to her diet, and/or apple cider vinegar to her water, as both can help balance the urine PH to a more acidic number (which helps keep the bacteria that causes the UTI from lingering in the urinary tract).

 

[Boxergirl]

Nope. Doesn't look recessed to me. Too bad because that's a pretty easy one to deal with. I'd give adding cranberry and cider vinegar to her diet a try. I've also heard good things about D-Mannose, but haven't needed to try it since I lost my boy that had constant UTIs.

 

[Olive07]

Thank you both. I will try the cranberry and cider vinegar, as well as probiotic yogurt. I don't know why I didn't think of the cider vinegar, as I drink it myself. It only makes sense that what keeps us healthy keeps our furry friends healthy as well.

 

[DennasMom]

Be sure you check with the vet about starting cranberry before finishing up the current antibiotics... they might interfere with each other.

You might also consider an actual probiotic supplement designed for dogs and not just yogurt. Yogurt is good, but it's kinda one dimensional. With her being young and having all sorts of antibiotics already... you really want to re-build the gut flora with as many strains of good bugs as you can.

Is she drinking enough fluids? I know you probably don't want more pee around the house... but... if you can get her to drink a little extra when you're home and can spend lots of time out in her potty area... see if you can flush the system, if you know what I mean? A low-sodium broth or home-made bone broth should help induce extra fluid uptake.

Sure hope you get the bladder issues under control. UTI's are no fun!!

 

[Lisa P]

Does she lick herself a lot? She could be pushing bacteria back in.i would give her a wipe or rinse off everyday too

 

[Olive07]

Lisa P - It's very strange, but she doesn't seem to lick herself or have any pain in that area. Though, wiping her regularly is a great idea.

DennasMom - I will definitely make some low-sodium home-made broth! This sounds good for her and I

 

[tamara.taylor.7712]

I used blue puppy training pads and newspaper under neath , always keeping some newspaper with sent on it - washroom stuff) I got my bandogie - mastiff/amarican bulldog @ 5 weeks he's now 7 month s

 

[viclynsmastiff]

Could very well be cysturia you need to check that right away

 

[viclynsmastiff]

The DNA test is a 140.00 this puppy should not being having this problem. I've been with this breed 25 years. It's a very bad problem in this breed and more so with back yard breeders that don't do health testing. I went to collage 3 years to be a vet tech and I really know what I'm talking about