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Bladder infections: Interesting stuff, promise!
By Christie Keith
September 5, 2007
I called my editor at SFGate.com to talk about the topic of my next column.
“I’d like to write about canine bladder infections,” I said.
Silence.
I used my most persuasive voice. “I promise I can make it interesting.”
“Okay…” but she didn’t sound convinced.
“I’ll make it funny.” I paused. “It’s actually a very controversial topic. Honestly.”
So she agreed and I wrote it:
I was at the dog park the other day, chatting with a dog-obsessed friend who knows me really well, when another dog owner came over and mentioned that her dog had recently been diagnosed with a bladder infection.I smiled at her and opened my mouth to ask a question, and noticed that my friend was shaking her head, scrunching up her eyes and basically indicating with every available bit of body language that something terrible was about to happen. I frowned, and asked, “What?”
“Please,” she said. “Not the bladder infection lecture again.”
The dog owner looked from me to my friend, and back again. “Bladder infection lecture?” she finally asked.
My friend sighed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said.
So now you’re all wondering: What’s the big deal with canine bladder infections? The dog has one, a couple of weeks of antibiotics, and the dog’s fine. Right?
It should be that simple, but far too often, it’s not. And that’s not because canine urinary tract infections are that hard to diagnose or treat; they usually aren’t. And it’s not because there is medical controversy over the best way to diagnose and treat canine bladder infections; there isn’t.
It’s because a lot of the time you have no idea your dog has a bladder infection in the first place, and when you do, it can be surprisingly hard to get it properly diagnosed and treated.
And the rest is here — I’m even arguing with someone in the comments section!
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My most recent past Border Collie had Cushing’s and I got really good at collecting samples. Since treating Cushing’s is in many cases worse than the disease, having her urine tested often allowed me and the vet to keep her in better health and ease her to her conclusion peacefully.
The tests were magnitudes less expensive than drug treatments would have been and minuscule compared to surgery. Clearing up her UTIs before they happened was also a priceless gift since Cushings dogs are prone to spoil in the house anyway (excessive drinking, distension of the abdominal muscles, UTI prone, poor kidney function, etc). Keeping her healthy meant fewer or no accidents inside. This is not just a minor thing since Cushings dogs might expel several cups at a time.
If I had the choice between the $25 physical exam that my dogs get every time they go in and a $25 urine test with no dog, just a sample, I’d take the urine test every time. I can do a pretty decent job giving my dog a once over (and a keen nose makes up for fancy equipment for things like inner ear infections), but the urine and stool tests are so informative, they are worth every penny. I’d rather be able to target the specific bacteria or treat a specific vitamin deficiency rather than hop up my dog weeks later on broad spectrum antibiotics when there’s a real problem.
Comment by Christopher — September 5, 2007 @ 8:23 pm
Good job! I wrote about this for cats at least a couple of times last year. Same issues (you can tell Mike R., in the comments section), if not more so. If people are unwilling to pay for tests for dogs, they’re really unwilling to do it for cats.
Kim
Comment by Kim Thornton — September 5, 2007 @ 8:45 pm
Wow, thank you. I had no idea.
I don’t have my puppy yet - that’s next year - but I wouldn’t have known to ask for the tests if my vet didn’t offer the option.
I remember how hesitant he was to offer to do a blood workup when my cat had an unexplained seizure last October (the workup found pretty much nothing. Just some elevated calcium, which was down with the follow up blood test.)
I could see him being hesitant to offer the sensitivity test. I will definitely keep it in mind for the future.
Comment by Grav_ — September 6, 2007 @ 6:03 am
My beloved dog Hammer also had Cushings. Had bladder stones at a young age and finally developed bladder cancer late in life. Had supposed infections for a while which later proved to be the first indications of this cancer. Cushings was never a big problem for him, but I am extra sensitive when any pet of mine exhibits signs of an infection.
Comment by Carol — September 6, 2007 @ 7:34 am
A vet suggested that I give my dogs distilled water to help prevent certain types of bladder stones. It’s worked.
Susan
Comment by Susan — September 7, 2007 @ 3:39 pm