Complications from bladder expression?

For those seeking advice on caring for incontinent pets and animals with kidney-related problems.
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Caritrueb
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Complications from bladder expression?

Post by Caritrueb »

Thanks in advance for reading and taking the time to respond. Long time handicapped pet owner. We have a Westie named Lola born with a hemivertebrae who is paralyzed. We have had her for almost 8 years and she’s been this way since she was 5 months old. She has only had 2 or 3 UTIs in her life and we are pretty good at screening her every 2 months or so. She recently had a bad UTI and we gave her antibiotics. A week or two later we decided to screen her at home and it came back positive. We took her to the vet and her urinalysis and culture looked good. My husband is the primary caretaker and he expresses her 3-4 times a day. He says lately he feels her bladder and urine output is different. Almost harder and swollen. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Monday. My question is has anyone who has had a handicapped dog that you have expressed for years run into any complications regarding conditions to the bladder? Besides recurrent UTIs is there anything that has happened to your fur baby that we should look out for? Thanks again for reading. This forum was godsent when we first got Lola and we didn’t know what we were doing.
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CarolC
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Re: Complications from bladder expression?

Post by CarolC »

Ohmygosh, I jumped when I saw your name! :D :D :D
:welcomeback:

Yes, what your husband is describing sounds familiar. Here was my description of it a couple of times.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4627&p=24350#p24350
I reread Anita's message about UTIs and decided to try Cranactin. Way cool!!! My dog likes it. :))) I got the chewables and have to cut them into pieces to be small enough, but all I do is put a piece in her crate and she thinks it's a treat. Happy day. The vet says she doesn't have an infection, but I can tell you her bladder feels leathery or more like rubbery--hoping this will help.

Anita's info on UTIs

[EDIT 5/3/11: CranActin chewables now contain xylitol, which is not safe for dogs.]
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6227&p=34277#p34277
When her bladder starts to get thick and rubbery, I can tell. When I start her on 6 days of CranActin, we have a bladder that's not rubbery by the second day--oh joy!

<snip>

[EDIT 5/3/11 CranActin chewables now contain xylitol, which is not safe for dogs.]
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15599&p=83246#p83246
On the 75%, are you certain there is still urine left causing a feeling of 25%, or could it be the bladder itself is kind of thick and leathery? I get this with my dog. Normally when she is empty her bladder will be very small (I can express it "down to a nub"), but she has times where I assume there is some inflammation of the lining of the bladder, making the empty bladder have more size and shape than normal, but it really is empty, it's just kind of swollen in the tissues...if that is a way to describe it? I assume it's cystitis. I notice she will have this kind of swelling of the bladder tissue itself more often on the first express of the morning.
If your dog has a touch of cystitis, I haven't had to treat it for a while so I'm not sure what they are prescribing now. They will probably do a urinalysis as usual. If they don't notice anything in the kind of urinalysis they can do in your vet's office, they may have to send off a urine specimen to a lab for a culture and sensitivity. That might take a week or something. It takes longer to get the results because the lab has to try to get any germs to grow in the test tube or petri dish or whatever, and then they have to see which antibiotic works against that particular microbe. (This is my layman's imprecise version of it.)

I am not a big believer in using cranberry all the time, because you can cause stones or crystals if the pH is off in either direction. But you might ask the vet if it would be OK to give her some pet-safe cranberry right now temporarily. They sell it at PetsMart or online. As you can see from my previous post, the human kind of cranberry I used to buy is no longer safe for pets.

Anyway, by adjusting the pH of her urine a little for a few days, it may make the environment in her bladder less welcoming for whatever germs she has right now, and your husband may be able to notice a difference. You could maybe ask the vet about that. One brand a lot of people here have used is Solid Gold Berry Balance.

https://www.chewy.com/solid-gold-supple ... e/dp/55334

I hope this helps. I've noticed the same thing at times. It wasn't anything overly serious, and it wasn't permanent, at least with my dog. It just happens sometimes. :)

Hugs to Lola! :grouph:
Caritrueb
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Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 4:04 pm

Re: Complications from bladder expression?

Post by Caritrueb »

Thank you! That makes so much sense! We will ask on Monday when they do the ultrasound. My husband is so scared that something is damaged and serious. We are still waiting on the urine culture. I’m going to try that. Xoxo
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CarolC
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Re: Complications from bladder expression?

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Holding a good thought for you!
:angel:
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