Recurrent UTI

For those seeking advice on caring for incontinent pets and animals with kidney-related problems.
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kristenv
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 8:10 pm

Recurrent UTI

Post by kristenv »

Looking for some ideas on how to prevent UTI's for our little girl Sary
Quick backstory: She joined our family on Oct 29 2017. She was found as a stray with limited mobility in her back end, left side weaker than right. She seemed to stabilize for a time and was voiding to some degree at that point. Then she worsened and became unable to walk. She had a laminectomy discectomy on Dec 30. Surgeon gave us a guarded prognosis for regaining mobility because of the long standing injury to her spine that was never treated, but with months of PT she is able to wobble about, and we are still doing weekly underwater treadmill and daily stretching exercises. We express her for both poo and urine as she is not able to empty her bladder/intestines well. She can dribble when full and tends to get constipated without twice daily poos. So the routine is she gets expressed about 5 times a day, then on her walkies in the grass she dribbles about twice a day. I get a decent amount of urine during epressing, so I was feeling like I was doing a decent job with this, feel terrible that she is getting these infections! Should I be washing her little vulva area daily to help?

In addition she is on prednisone for IBD. We are also trying to get her on the lowest dose of pred to control her IBD which during a flare she gets diarrhea and a hugely inflammed GI tract. We have had 5 bouts of this before keeping her on pred, and recently changed her diet again to ZD.
We are on our 3rd UTI since the surgery, 3 different organisms. She was placed on Primor 2 days ago. below is our routine and meds:
Expressed at 4am 6am 12pm 4pm 8pm

Meds and supplements
1mg prednisone once daily (has been on twcie daily doeses of 2.5mg during flares)
gabepentin 25 Q12
phenoxybenzamine Q12
Crandandin Once daily
D'mannose 225 Q12
VSL 3 probiotics
Fortiflora probiotics
Kefir once daily

Thanks for any tips...
Kristen
Kristen, Samy, and Dottie
Jenner, Alex, BB
4 epsiodes of IVDD for Samy: Surgery x2 , crate rest x2 still going strong
Dottie no IVDD
Rory no IVDD (at the bridge)
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critters
Founding Member
Posts: 14362
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2001 7:00 pm

Re: Recurrent UTI

Post by critters »

kristenv wrote:Looking for some ideas on how to prevent UTI's for our little girl Sary
Quick backstory: She joined our family on Oct 29 2017. She was found as a stray with limited mobility in her back end, left side weaker than right. She seemed to stabilize for a time and was voiding to some degree at that point. Then she worsened and became unable to walk. She had a laminectomy discectomy on Dec 30. Surgeon gave us a guarded prognosis for regaining mobility because of the long standing injury to her spine that was never treated, but with months of PT she is able to wobble about, and we are still doing weekly underwater treadmill and daily stretching exercises. We express her for both poo and urine as she is not able to empty her bladder/intestines well. She can dribble when full and tends to get constipated without twice daily poos. So the routine is she gets expressed about 5 times a day, then on her walkies in the grass she dribbles about twice a day. I get a decent amount of urine during epressing, so I was feeling like I was doing a decent job with this, feel terrible that she is getting these infections! Should I be washing her little vulva area daily to help? Hmm. Maybe. I'd ask vets for ideas on what to use and how often, because you wouldn't want to irritate her.

In addition she is on prednisone for IBD. We are also trying to get her on the lowest dose of pred to control her IBD which during a flare she gets diarrhea and a hugely inflammed GI tract. We have had 5 bouts of this before keeping her on pred, and recently changed her diet again to ZD. Of course, pred would make her more prone to UTIs, but, yes, I have one that does that. Metronidazole is what finally fixed Kiki, much to my dismay. Metro is something they find nasty, so it can be hard to give.
We are on our 3rd UTI since the surgery, 3 different organisms. She was placed on Primor 2 days ago. below is our routine and meds:
Expressed at 4am 6am 12pm 4pm 8pm

Meds and supplements
1mg prednisone once daily (has been on twcie daily doeses of 2.5mg during flares)
gabepentin 25 Q12
phenoxybenzamine Q12
Crandandin Once daily
D'mannose 225 Q12
VSL 3 probiotics
Fortiflora probiotics
Kefir once daily

Thanks for any tips...
Kristen
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CarolC
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Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 7:00 pm
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Re: Recurrent UTI

Post by CarolC »

It's so strange that she's had 3 different types of infections. Is her little vulva open? My one dog is paralyzed and if you look at her little bottom, you can see some pink bare skin showing in the middle of the fur of the female area. It is totally unprotected if she sits on the floor. She sleeps in a clean playpen with clean bedding every night and no diaper, but during the day she wears a denim diaper with a pad, and I squirt a little triple antibiotic on the pad before I put it on her. I mentioned this recently and someone hesitated about it because triple antibiotic has zinc in it, which I hadn't thought about. But I do wipe her with tissues after her last express and before I put her in the playpen.

Anyway, a few weeks ago it was late and she was already in her playpen ready for bed (with no diaper on) when friend came over with her daughter. While we were talking, the daughter (sweet girl) took Dolly out of the playpen and let her play bare-bottom on the floor. She got a UTI not long after, and she usually doesn't get them. I'm not sure that's why she got it, but it was a coincidence.

So I don't know if you would want to try diapers for your dog for hygiene purposes. It may make it harder for her to walk. But if her vulva is open, if there is bare skin exposed, she may be picking up germs that way.

Also, if she is going to PT every week, chances are they take her out of the water after her session and set her on some mats next to the treadmill and dry her off. It is possible germs from other parts of the hospital are being tracked into the PT room, and again if her vulva is open, that might be a source of infection. Perhaps you could take a clean towel with you to every session and request that they only sit her on that and never on the mats or flooring.

EDIT to add: They are on the honor system in PT facilities to keep the treadmill clean. My dog's first physical therapist described what is involved with cleaning an underwater treadmill after a dog messes in it. It takes 2 people a couple of hours to drain, disassemble, sanitize, and reassemble it. Any other appointments are out of luck so they lose money and inconvenience other clients. It is a big problem. She said any time a dog is going to mess in the treadmill, she just prays "Oh, please let it be 'formed'".
CaliCatsMom
Posts: 56
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 5:26 pm

Re: Recurrent UTI

Post by CaliCatsMom »

If the poor dog has inflammatory problems, I recommend a food sensitivity test ($300), a nutriscan http://www.hemopet.org/hemolife-diagnos ... rance.html

I recently adopted a cat with IBSD that was terrible. She also had a tearing eye and some thin fur spots in front of her ears. The Nutriscan does not test for everything that is in petfood, but they are a good start. I got my girl on catfood that should have been fine for her, but she was still bad. But then I turned my attention on the other ingredients (so much crap in these foods!). It turned out to be Xanthum Gum giving her the IBSD.

Her Nutriscan said she could have Lamb, duck, pork and whitefish and was bad on a whole bunch of common ingredients in cat food. Once they are inflamed, they can develop sensitivity to a whole bunch of stuff.

The problem is finding a food that is simple and contains only things she is scanned for. I ended up with Ziwi Lamb. I also found some plain meat for dog that has no additives. Then I found an additive with the essential nutrients, for adding to raw food diets.

The plain meat I got at Against the Grain, see their one ingredient product http://www.againstthegrainpetfood.com/product/

I know you have a dog, so you cannot use cat supplements but I found them here: http://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/alnutrin ... lcium.html

Here is an interesting website that is for dogs, that I wish they had for cats:
http://www.hearthstonehomemade.com/index.html

The right food can be everything.

Right now I am feeding my cat the Ziwi Lamb, some plain duck with supplements, cod fish and freeze dried lamb liver treats.

Her eye stopped tearing after I discontinued the cat food containing Gaur Gum and I am waiting to see if the thin spots on her skin fill out.

I had an old cat before this one who had a spinal injury and subsequently developed health problems, including inflammatory issues. She ended up with intestinal cancer. There is too much junk in our pet's food.
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