Cystitis

[Tara and Sam]

Had to call the vet out for my girl today

as she was bleeding when trying to wee

she had allready been outside to wee and a few minutes later she whinged to go out again

she squatted to do a wee then moved to another spot and did another one

this continued on for about 15 minutes , she squatted about 15 times

after the first 5 or 6 times I started to realise something wasnt right

so I followed her around

when she whent to squat again i then placed my hand under her and then noticed blood on my hands

came back inside to make sure it wasnt my blood

then followed her again and did the same thing

and she did have fresh blood

I turned her over and she had blood on her groin area

so I rang the vet and he came about hour or so later

she has cystitis or crystal stones ?

she had a injection for the pain in her groin area , ( she was very uncomfortable when he was trying to feel her and wouldnt keep still ,)

vet didnt appear to be concerned about the blood

but I have reead the threads on cystitis and no one else has mentioned blood

is the blood normal for this ?

she also on 2 other medications for this

she didnt eat all her dinner as she normally does , but has since passed a nice amount of urine , and sleeping next to me at the moment

Thanks

forgot to say she is 12 and half years old , and never had this problem before

so was a bit freaked when saw the blood

Edited September 24, 2009 by Tara and Sam

[DANERANGER]

Had to call the vet out for my girl today

as she was bleeding when trying to wee

she had allready been outside to wee and a few minutes later she whinged to go out again

she squatted to do a wee then moved to another spot and did another one

this continued on for about 15 minutes , she squatted about 15 times

after the first 5 or 6 times I started to realise something wasnt right

so I followed her around

when she whent to squat again i then placed my hand under her and then noticed blood on my hands

came back inside to make sure it wasnt my blood

then followed her again and did the same thing

and she did have fresh blood

I turned her over and she had blood on her groin area

so I rang the vet and he came about hour or so later

she has cystitis or crystal stones ?

she had a injection for the pain in her groin area , ( she was very uncomfortable when he was trying to feel her and wouldnt keep still ,)

vet didnt appear to be concerned about the blood

but I have reead the threads on cystitis and no one else has mentioned blood

is the blood normal for this ?

she also on 2 other medications for this

she didnt eat all her dinner as she normally does , but has since passed a nice amount of urine , and sleeping next to me at the moment

Thanks

forgot to say she is 12 and half years old , and never had this problem before

so was a bit freaked when saw the blood

Hi T & S

We recently had a girl with cystitis, a course of antibiotics, yogurt and I brought some cranberry capsules from the chemist, broke one capsule open and placed it on her brekky every morning for a week...normally too much protein in the urine can be the cause, was the case with my bitch!, next day after noticing the blood she bounced back to near normal,...girl power!!

Hoping your girl has a speedy recovery.

Kathy

Darkat Great Danes

http://www.darkatgreatdanes.com

[VJB]

Blood can be present with cystitis. Very unpleasant for your poor girl, but she will soon be on the mend now she's seen the vet and is getting treatment. My dog was quiet for a day or so. Pain relief medication tends to make that happen, but I was surprised at how quickly it all cleared up. Unfortunately it returned again 3 weeks later, which I've been told can happen after they come off the medication. Best to check that infection is fully gone.

[CavsRcute]

My girl had blood with her cystitis but it cleared up really quickly with antibiotics and cranberry tablets.

The cranberry stops the bacteria adhering to the lining of the bladder and also brings down the PH level which also stops stones forming

[Tara and Sam]

well she seems to be more comfortable now and not wanting to go outside to squat all the time

I have been following her with ice cream container to see if blood still there , but so far it isnt

Yes cranberry has been mentioned a few times so will check into that

yes the vet mentioned about 3-4 days , but if it starts again in about 3 weeks to get her checked again as she "might" have stones formed

I am so glad I did ring vet as soon as saw the blood , especially after reading other threads about the non output of urine :D

I will be certainly rechecking her again with the vet

Thanks for the replies , as I mentioned before he didnt seem concerned about the blood but I was

Cranberry sounds good as I certainly dont want her to get stones and then a op

one of the tabs he has given is to break up any crystals that "may" be there

[~Anne~]

I currently have a rescue in that has had stones removed twice now through surgery.

It is now strongly believed that it is the infection that causes the high alkaline PH levels and the crystals to form.

Most Vets routinely put dog on anitbiotics (clavulox I think is the most common) without doing a urine culture. The antibiotics do not clear the infection and it returns. Sometimes it may only be low grade and so you won't notice a lot of symptoms but those crystals are forming and they will form into stones.

Insist your Vet does a urine culture to ensure that the bitch is on the right antibiotics in the first place.

An easy test for crystals is to get the dog to urinate on a clean sheet of plain paper. Let the paper dry in the sun and you will see the crystals left if she has them.

[Staff'n'Toller]

If it returns at her age I would be wanting to ultrasound to be sure there are no stones present. If there are stones there, they cause inflammation to the bladder and you end up with a never-ending cycle.

I actually wouldn't be starting her on cranberry until she is well off the AB's in case it masks any further irritation symptoms.

[Rappie]

I currently have a rescue in that has had stones removed twice now through surgery.

It is now strongly believed that it is the infection that causes the high alkaline PH levels and the crystals to form.

Most Vets routinely put dog on anitbiotics (clavulox I think is the most common) without doing a urine culture. The antibiotics do not clear the infection and it returns. Sometimes it may only be low grade and so you won't notice a lot of symptoms but those crystals are forming and they will form into stones.

Insist your Vet does a urine culture to ensure that the bitch is on the right antibiotics in the first place.

An easy test for crystals is to get the dog to urinate on a clean sheet of plain paper. Let the paper dry in the sun and you will see the crystals left if she has them.

Most urinary tract infections are sensitive to Clavulox so it is an appropriate choice - the error is usually somewhere in the diagnostic process (or commonly lack of).

It is appropriate to treat a first occurence of an uncomplicated UTI with antibiotics, however I generally always try to get a urine sample to test in house at the same time (dipstick, test concentration, spin down to see if there is a sediment and if so view it under a microscope). This lets me see if there are any other issues that need to be considered as well - is the concentration too low, indicating kidney problems, or is there glucose that suggest diabetes? Second episode may warrant further investigation - certainly a urine culture but also imaging (either plain survey rads or ultrasound) to see if there are uroliths present. Male dogs are a little different - theoretically speaking they shouldn't get "uncomplicated" urinary tract infections so I always treat them with suspicion :D

In many cases, the clinical signs of haematuria are a result of urolith that is already present in the bladder. Treatment with antibiotics clear up the signs, but do not solve the problem - catch 22. We might see crystals in a dog with an infection, but may see nothing in dogs with uroliths.

Age is no barrier either - a few weeks ago, I diagnosed a complete urinary obstruction in a (then) 10 week old toy breed puppy. The culprit - a 1cm diameter urolith that resulted from an earlier infection.

[Tara and Sam]

I currently have a rescue in that has had stones removed twice now through surgery.

Thats what I am tryig to avoid

he did think she might have stones although he couldnt feel them , as she did move and squirm around alot

obviously it was hurting her as she normally not that bad , in fact I "think" she gave a small squeal

he did mention that if back again in a months time he wants a urine sample and "might" need a op

not keen on that as she getting older

she is takeing Acidurin tabs 3 tabs twice a day , these apparently are they one to breakup or dissolve the crystals

and Tribrissen 80 mg 1 and half tab once a day

she was given Dexadresseon injection for the pain when he was here

she seems abit happy today and has been passing good amounts of urine , slight specks of blood in it

will try the paper trick also

yes I was going to wait until of these meds before starting the Cranberry

Vet did mention a test if it continues , he mentioned she would be slightly sedated to do test , so that may be the Ultrasound ?

Rappie I tried to get urine sample for the in house vet to check , but after her first wee I missed that chance , it was only after she kept "trying" that I realised something wasnt right

poor girl just kept walking around and around looking for a spot to wee

I rang when I realised a problem , but in the hour or so waiting for vet I counted well over 40 times she tried :D

now I have the little container ready at the back door and follow her around and can catch the flow

RAppie last year she had a full blood work done , as they are getting older I wanted to know if anything was starting ,kidney problems , sugar levels etc

Senior blood test I call it

the only thing that showed was her Calcium level , so was tested a week later and all was fine so I was told

( both my dogs had full blood works done )

interesting Rappie , he mentioned she may have had this right from a puppy , because her vagina area is brown colouring , we were told by our older vet that was just normal colouring

could she have had this all these years and never had signs of this before now ?

Thanks