Stubborn painful UTI Canine

[NicoleC]

Hi there,
1. Sky/14/female
2 Spayed
3. Samoyed/ malamute mix
4.72 lbs
5. B- looks very uncomfortable, licking, straining to pee ( after a larger urine release initially), scooting, restless,sleepy/sluggish( could be from gabapentin vet prescribed her for pain management)
6. Honest kitchen freeze dried beef recipe, cucumber, HMDS, just started some CJ, carrots, peas, melon
7.She was vax’d before I had her when she was a puppy. I’ve never done any since.
8. Severe uti/ bladder problem. She has always had bladder issues on and off her whole life. But slowly started getting worse the past 6 months till it flared out of control and now we are here. There was nothing that I can think of that would have triggered it.
9. She gets much more uncomfortable much she gets excited.(ie Like when my husband comes home from work) Then shuts down right away and is in more pain. Hot weather seems to trigger it and she likes to lay on the cool floor. But she has always done that.
10. Please see attached bloodwork, urinalysis and fecal testing. She had her kidneys X-rays and came back clear. Ultrasound on her bladder they said had some inflammation on inside walls ( they really didn’t know though)
11. Vet wanted to do a round of antibiotics
It cleared up a bit for a month but came back. Also has her on gabapentin for the extreme pain. He wanted to do more antibiotics this past week. She still gets the gabapentin if the pain is too severe which is usually every night. ( I can tell gabapentin making her lethargic and I really don’t want her to be on them but she is in severe pain if not ). She’s always been on baseline supps from vimergy but I just recently the past week started increasing them and adding more garlic into her food.
12. Yesterday I noticed some blood drops and what looked to be a bit of mucous in her urine. I have not seen any blood today but there was a bit of mucous still.

13. @Dr. jeff @Dr. Christina @Dr. Jean Hofve

Thank you for your precious time it is greatly appreciated!

 

[NicoleC]

Ps. Sorry I forgot to type in the rest of my BEAM

E- energy is lower then usual
A-appetite is quite good
M- she seems depressed shes happier to receive attention and love. And she gets lots of that

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Hello, thanks for your post!

I would start first of all with her diet. Honest Kitchen is fairly high in carbs, and you are adding a lot more carbs with the fresh foods. Fruits and vegetables raise urine pH, which creates the conditions for struvite to form. Can you cut back on those and add extra protein, particularly raw meats? Also, add more water/broth/fluid to her meals, we want to flush all that junk out of the bladder. Make sure she has constant access to very fresh water, change the bowl frequently.

Does she have access to the outdoors during the day, or does she have to "hold it" while folks are at work or school. In a dog her age, that's a pretty common contributing factor.

If the blood/mucus increased when you started that supplement, maybe stop that for now. If we make too many changes at once, it confuses the case and we don't know what's helping/hurting.

Also work on the Happiness Protocol to bring more joy back into her life. Stress management will also be very important for her. Perhaps flower essences or Tinkle Tonic or one of the other remedies commonly recommended in the Forum would help.

Acupuncture/acupressure would be good for her too. Get the book Acu-Dog by my good friends at Tallgrass. Excellent book!

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Hey Nicole!

I'm sorry to hear about Sky's painful UTI symptoms.

Dr. Jean already said most of what I would also advise.

Yes, getting her urine pH down is key. This will reduce the struvite crystals that could be uncomfortable for her.

Extra fluids (especially structured water and the "juice" in raw meats), vitamin C, cranberry and d-mannose are also mainstays of management.

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And the most effective, IMHO, to reduce both the current symptoms as well as decrease the likelihood of this happening again is to work with a trained vet homeopath.

Someone like Dr. Todd Cooney, Judy Herman or Adriana Sagrera.

 

[NicoleC]

Thank you both for the prompt responses!
@Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. jeff
When she started showing signs of discomfort I switched her to an all raw grass fed beef diet. She had the runs and they were goopy and only a couple table spoons or so would be eliminated. Now she won’t eat the raw anymore when I offer. That’s why I started the honest kitchen bc she eats it with no hesitation and I can mix supplements and herbs in there without her noticing. I will try and mix some raw meat in with the honest kitchen recipe and go from there so she is getting the raw meat in her diet, which I know is important. She also gets canned wild caught sardines in water.
In concerns to the fruit raising pH in the body creating crystals.. Just curious, is that a theory?
I am home with her all day so she is never alone. Half the time she can’t hold it and goes in the house. She’s always had trouble holding her bladder since puppyhood.
Thank you so much. I will bring in the cranberry and d mannose in addition to her vit c and I will get in more of the structured water, broths and raw meat juices!

How much raw meat should a dog her weight ( 72 lbs) and low activity, consume on a daily basis?

Is making the switch from cooked to raw better done gradually ? ( as you read above she, and also one of my other dogs had the runs )

 

[Dr. Jeff]

How much raw meat should a dog her weight ( 72 lbs) and low activity, consume on a daily basis?

Great question! It depends on her metabolic rate, the brand and density of the food, etc. But this is a question that Dr. Jean may be better able to address.

Here's a general guide:

Dog Food Calculator

Dog food calculator, calculate how much fresh food to feed your dogs daily.

www.feedreal.com

Is making the switch from cooked to raw better done gradually ?

Yes!

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

With regard to a commercial balanced diet, you can supplement with other foods up to 10-15% of the diet without skewing the balance. If that's how much of the fruit/veggies you were giving, just substitute meat for some/most/all of it.

Herbivores eating only plants have a urine pH of about 8, carnivores eating essentially no plants are at about 5.

Years ago, PETA did a study on how wonderful a vegan diet is for dogs, but many dogs had trouble with UTIs because the pH got too high on a plant-only diet. High pH leads to struvite formation, even without bacterial involvement.