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My anxious bulldog has bloody urine & UTIs. Is a biopsy safe?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Bulldog | Female | unspayed | 8 years and 6 months old | 55 lbs

I have a 81/2 year old British bulldog. Unspeyed. Nellie is currently on her 5th or 6th course of antibiotics for uti in the last year. She seems to be really struggling to wee & has lots of blood I her urine & when she does go it’s anywhere. It’s as if she doesn’t know she’s doing it. The vet wants to sedate her & take a bladder biopsy but I don’t think she would cope. She’s not very good when anxious, struggling to breathe & panting a lot.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on December 11th, 2017

Poor girl. It sounds like a biopsy is needed here but you should be able to do this safely by having her either intubated or placed on an oxygen mask during this procedure to ensure her breathing is controlled well and this significantly minimizes the chance of complications arising. So basically the vet can use propofol (an induction agent) to sedate her and then just intubate her until the procedure is done. You can also request that a board certified ultrasonographer do a scan first and get samples if it is still unclear as to the final diagnosis here. I am sorry to say but a bladder tumor is high on the list of possible causes for her bloody urine and non-resolved UTI at this point. Poor girl. I hope everything works out for your pet Nellie. Take care.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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