Urinary issues with my dog- please help!!!

[Dobewish]

I have a 9 yr old pit bull. She is spayed and before we got her she had at least 1 litter. Im really hoping that someone may have some ideas or experiences. For the past 6 months we have been fighting what we thought was a bladder infection.She has been on 3 different antibiotics with no luck. We moved onto Deramaxx for the anti inflammatory and that is the only thing that takes some of her discomfort away. She strains when she goes outside and gets up every 2-3 hrs all nite. I think she feels like she needs to go more than she really needs to go. So we have done an ultrasound- showed nothing. She had a scope inserted into her urethra and they took tissue samples. Came back no cancer thank goodness.They diagnosed her with inflammation of the urethra. So here we are on Deramaxx now and Dexamethasone with no luck so far. Im very concerned about the long term effects of the steroid and the anti inflammatory and I am at my wits end with what to do with her. Next step is a holistic vet I guess.
Does anyone have any ideas at all?
Thanks in advance!!

[odette]

Since she has been to the vet and no stones ,try cranberry relief by NaturVet, it helps my old spayed bitch, hope she gets some relif soon,poor thing.

[Debbiedogs]

Second opinion?

The poor thing is still uncomfortable, so I would get a second opinion.

[Pegroomer]

my dobe mix

had similar problems when I brought her home as a young dog. She would actually pee out blood clots (but no infection present). Switching her to a diet with no corn, wheat or soy cleared it up (I 'm not sure why but I suspect it was some sort of allergic reaction). She's on a grain free diet now. Have to watch her around hubby...he doesn't get that a crust of bread can set her off. The local drive thrus give out treats for dogs, I feel bad for her cause she can't have any of the things they give out (Timbits, milkbones).
Peg

[Dobewish]

ok

Yes, I will take a closer look at her diet. I was actually thinking /wondering if the little bit of canned cat food that she had been getting into for the past few months could have contributed to it. I had a 19 yr old kitty who had to eat canned food only and he always left a tiny bit and of course the dog got to it before I could. It was always a nagging thought in my head but I never really considered it for real. We lost my kitty 2 wks ago after having him for 18 yrs so there is no more canned food access. She is on California Natural- Herring and Sweet potato.

Ive been to 3 different vets and the practice I go to has 4 vets in there all trying to sort out her trouble. So, Ive had a ton of opinions, but none have gotten me anywhere too far. She is slightly more comfortable than she has been and we both slept all nite for once. I feel like I have a newborn again!

I will try the cranberry relief for sure- thanks for that. I didnt think I should give her Ocean Spray but was ready to!!

if anyone else has a thought, my little white Lacey would be so very appreciative and so would her worried mom!
Thanks everyone!

[odette]

It very well could have been the cat food,way to high in protien, that'll burn the kidneys fast, may take a month to get it out of the system.

[Helly]

I doubt the cat food had anything to do with it. Even though cat food is higher in protein, she wasn't eating enough to cause any problems. Also, the current view of that is that low protein diets are necessary when an animal or person has kidney disease, high protein is not responsible for causing kidney disease. So I wouldn't worry about that.

I'd ask your vet if it's possible she's having bladder spasms. My little Dachshund has them, but fortunately not all the time. It's not unusual for bitches to experience some nerve damage during a spay surgery.

And I gotta ask, have you tested her for diabetes and Cushing's disease?

[FalconVT]

“ORGANIC” apple cider vinegar

Suggestion: try giving her 1 tablespoon of “ORGANIC” apple cider vinegar,
added to her food once a day. Within 12-24, the problem may be gone.
I have a dog that cannot fight infections well because of an auto-immune disease.
After constant vet visits, and antibiotics, I did some reading and decided to
give this a try. It worked for her, and the vet seemed to agree that it was a good
idea. Now all of my dogs get it. I also like adding a tablespoon of yogurt.

[Helly]

I had another thought. Diabetes Insipidus. It's a kidney problem, has nothing to do with blood sugar, and though it's fairly rare, it's possible.

If you don't find that it's something else first, I'd ask to have it ruled out. Dogs with Diabetes Insipidus need constant access to water, or they can become severely dehydrated in a very short period of time.

[Dobewish]

so far

Hi Guys
Well the vets are still stumped. I have discovered that the cranberry did help a bit. I came home after a wknd away and her eyes had swelled up a bit and she had a rash on her belly. So I stopped all extra stuff and just gave her vet meds. The reaction went away but she started peeing in the house and all nite again. Before that once I started with the cranberry she was doing great and sleeping all nite and no accidents in the house. I put her back on the cranberry and she was doing better until last nite. She got up at 3 and 5 am. She just doesnt seem to be well most of the time.
I have been looking into a grain free food and some other things. Has anyone fed Wellness Core? The local pet food store has a nutritionist who is all about natural remedies and I did try her version of vitamin c, tomato paste and yogurt and cayenne pepper. I dont think it helped at all but she did suggest to get her off grains completely. I dont know if that would be way too high protein for her but if it makes her nuts but feels better, Im all for it. I am at a loss. The vet did not think she could have been allergic to the cranberry since she was on it for about a week before the reaction. I was also giving her yogurt at the time and I did cut that out.

Helly- you were right, the vet did not think it could have been the cat food either.

I will definitely speak to her tomorrow about cushings and diabetes. She isnt drinking excessively but definitely more than she was and I noticed that before we put her on the sterioid. I did even ask the vet if Deramaxx could cause an increase in thirst but they said no and I thought she had been drinking more at that time. I feel just horrible for my poor girl and am trying and searching for everything and anything to try.

If anyone has any other thought, feel free!!
Thanks so much!

[puppy love]

Can she at least take something like Azo-Standard to make her more comfortable while you are trying to find something to correct her bladder problem? Helly, do you know if Azo would be OK for her to take or would it even be helpful? I know some human medications are fine for dogs to take but others are totally off limits-dont know which list the Azo would be on...

[Nadu]

It seems I remember Azo being not very good to give dogs.

[RudyRoo]

Thats weird about your vet saying the steriod wouldn't increase her thirst. My dog was on steroids last year and the vet said it would increase his thirst levels. That boy drank tons of water. He also had a hard time holding it and was peeing everywhere in the house, which had never happenend before. Since the vets can't find anything medically wrong with her I would try and find a Hollistic vet to hep with a diet. You could do more damage than good trying to play around with it yourself. I took a nutrition class in school and remember the course talking about toxicitaly levels from processed foods building up over a life time, until the dogs system could no longer tolerate certain chemicals. Scarey stuff!! Hope your baby gets better soon.

[Dobewish]

probably doesnt matter now

Hi everyone
Thanks for all your input. Lacey was not feeling well at all last nite or this morning. Last nite I found a tumor behind her nipple. We went to the vet today. It is a mammary tumor. The vet said 6-12 months. Because of all her problems she has been having, it is possible it is all related. The tumor came out of nowhere as I check her all the time.I know she had at least one litter before we got her. For now, we are going to try to get the symptoms she is having under control and make her more comfortable and see how much bigger the tumor is in a week. Im not so sure we are going to put her through anything else. This will be the loss of a third pet in less than a year. I cant quite deal with this yet although I did suspect that is what he was going to tell me when we went today.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

[RudyRoo]

I'm sorry you got such bad news, hang in there and hope for the best!