Doggie bladder infection?

pjlippert

Cathlete
So, my normally pee-freak Bichon seems to have a difficult time peeing today. Both on his morning and evening 'constitutional'. He wouldn't pee or sniff every few feet, wanted to come back home really quickly and would stop and lick himself "down-there" to help encourage the normally natural process. He only managed to dribble a bit out - some of it on himself. He's only six years old. I'm thinking I should take him to the Vet tomorrow.

Any advice, dear Cathletes with canine experience?

Thanks.
Pam
 
Hi Pam -

my 2 boy dogs have both had bladder infections too - I'd bring your guy in - mine were pretty easily cured, and pretty quickly symptoms stopped. Varied symptoms for my dogs- one suddenly squatting to pee instead of the usual but nothing else, then the next time for him a couple times peeing in the house, which he never has done (he's 14). My other guy (7 years old) just seemed kind of off of normal habits. Hope your baby is better soon,

Kris
 
I would Defiantly take him in. Some of the things They can gave have are bladder infections, crystals, or even stones that can cause a blockage which can be very serious so make sure he is passing some urine. Is he eating and drinking the same? I'm sure you keep a close eye on him. But watch the urinating close. Good luck let us know how the little guy is :)
 
Not sure about dogs, but when male cats have these symptoms, it's considered an emergency, as their urinary tract can easily become completely blocked and it can be fatal (females have a wider urinary tract, so it's not quite a urgent, though painful).

Get thee to a vet immediately.
 
I agree with the others. Bichons are a breed that are prone to urinary bladder stones. If they attempt to pass a stone from the bladder, it can get caught up in the lower urinary tract and cause an obstruction. Usually what we'll see if straining with just dribbling and they act very uncomfortable. He should get to the vet TODAY. This can be an emergency surgery if he's blocked. Let us know how he's doing!
 
bladder infection

You should take him immediately, it could develop into something which could have been easliy cured with immediate medical attention.
I have a coton de tulear, they are cousins. Was it hard to house train yours? It took about a year for Moe to figure it out.

Good luck
Karen
 
Have you been to the vet, yet? I can't stress enough the importance of this. One of my male cats once had similar problems, I called for an appointment and got one for later in the day (which I thought was a bit odd), but got called back by the vet's office to have me bring him in immediately, because it can be very serious.
 
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I will reiterate what everyone else has said. Take him to the vet immediately. He could be in pain and it could get worse if not treated ASAP. I would not take a chance.
 
Emergency surgery

Holy buckets! It's exteremely good that we brought him in to see the Vet this morning. He had to go into emergency surgery. Apparently he had some bladder-stones blocking much of his urethra. They were amazed he could pee at all.

First they had to get the stones back into the bladder (the path of least resistance) and now he's under to have his bladder operation to remove the stones.

Please pray for poor little Wolfy. They said that if we hadn't brought him in today he might have been here tomorrow! :(

He'll be kept overnight for observation.

I will keep you all posted.

Pam
 
You should take him immediately, it could develop into something which could have been easliy cured with immediate medical attention.
I have a coton de tulear, they are cousins. Was it hard to house train yours? It took about a year for Moe to figure it out.

Good luck
Karen

Hi Karen- yes he was nearly impossible to house-train. In fact, he really isn't house-trained all that well.

It really had only bothered him for about a day but if this happens again, I will bring him in immediately.

Pam
 
Surgery was successful

Thank you for your thoughts & prayers. The surgery went good. He had 17 stones the size of a lentil!! Poor little guy!! :( We pick him up tomorrow. It's weird not having him at home, but he is in very good hands with a Vet who loves him!

Oh yeah- Kathryn & Karen, the Vet did mention that this type of problem is more common in cats and small white dogs. BIG time dietary changes coming up.

Pam
 
Pam,

I'm so glad you got your dog to the vet in time and that the surgery went well. I'm sure they will take wonderful care of him. I know what you are going through - when we first got our miniature schnouzer she got parasites (at first they thought it was parvo) - she was so sick and spent the night at the vet. I know how hard it is to leave the vet and not have your dog with you. Even though we only had her for a week, the house didn't feel the same with her gone.

She's been to the vet a few times since then with minor issues, but every time I feel so much for her and wished I could make it better. He/she becomes part of the family - I'm amazed at how much I grew to love our little Molly.

My thoughts are with your little doggie and I hope he gets better soon. As everyone else has said, please keep us updated.

Jody
 
diet

Thank you for your thoughts & prayers. The surgery went good. He had 17 stones the size of a lentil!! Poor little guy!! :( We pick him up tomorrow. It's weird not having him at home, but he is in very good hands with a Vet who loves him!

Oh yeah- Kathryn & Karen, the Vet did mention that this type of problem is more common in cats and small white dogs. BIG time dietary changes coming up.

Pam

Hi Pam

In what way are you changing his diet? I feed my cats Evo grain free food & the dogs get Innova. I know male cats are big time prone to unrinary tract infections, I did not know about the LIL WHITE DOG also had that problem. Is it only the small male dogs?

Thanks for your input in this. My vet never told me about the dogs only the cats

Karen
 
Oh, Pam! I can only imagine what you've been going through!

I have a male cat that has feline urinary idiopathic disease; which is basically urinary problems without an underlying physical cause (no crystals, stones, or infection). Pip's problems seem to come from too much stress (other animals around his territory, travel, etc). I have him on a grain free diet and encourage him to drink a lot of water from his fountain. I also use Natural Pet Tract Ease in his wet food. He will sometimes strain to go, even passing blood, but this will usually last only a few days and he'll be back to normal again. Our vet wants him on kitty prozac, but he is only a young cat (2 yrs old) and I don't want him on that stuff! I watch him very close to make sure if he has episodes there is still some urine passing. He is an indoor kitty, so we try to keep our environment as clam and stress free as possible.

Did Wolfy have a history of "straining"? Did the vet give you any advice on prevention?
 
Pam,

Our Wire Fox terrier just had bladder stones surgically removed. What type of stones were they? Struvite or calcium oxalate? it makes a big difference in what you need to do to prevent future stones from forming. we are working very hard with our vet to get our dog's urine in a less acid state ( he had calcium oxalate stones) and they tend to form in acidic urine. So far it has been very difficult getting a diet down that he can have. I am probably going to end up with a homemade diet, since all commercial food is off limits, and the precription food is horrid.

PM me if you want to discuss diet etc...exchange ideas.
 
Pam,

Our Wire Fox terrier just had bladder stones surgically removed. What type of stones were they? Struvite or calcium oxalate? it makes a big difference in what you need to do to prevent future stones from forming. we are working very hard with our vet to get our dog's urine in a less acid state ( he had calcium oxalate stones) and they tend to form in acidic urine. So far it has been very difficult getting a diet down that he can have. I am probably going to end up with a homemade diet, since all commercial food is off limits, and the precription food is horrid.

PM me if you want to discuss diet etc...exchange ideas.

Hi Deb- Oh my - I am sooo sorry that you had to go through the same ordeal. The vet said they looked like calcium oxalate but will know for certain when the lab results come back.

Just curious how long it took your furry-kid to recovery. Wolfy's surgery was on Wednesday and he is still really tired and doesn't want to eat or drink hardly at all. I called them again this morning and our Vet said to try and bribe him with his favorite foods. Good news is that he a good long pee this morning.

I'd love to share diet ideas once we find out! Thank you for offering!

Pam
 
Just a great big thanks!

To all of the wonderful Cathletes who have provided support, encouragement, advice, shared experiences & thoughts & prayers. I REALLY appreciate it!

((((HUGS))))

Pam
 
How scary. I'm glad to hear everything turned out o.k. It's good you took him to the vet when you did.
 
Pam,

How is he doing today? I know the first couple of days with Keegan were the same, he was pretty out of it. It took him about 3 days to be normal. I had to keep him and our (at the time) 3 month old puppy separated, because she wanted to play and he was supposed to take it easy. We did have an infection problem afterwards that he is still fighting with anti-biotics. We take a urine sample in every 2 weeks to be analyzed for infection, PH levels, and to see if there are any oxalate crystals forming. He had a lot of crystals a couple of weeks ago, but this weekl's sample was better.

Sending ((Healing)) vibes to little Wolfy!
 

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