My dog has a urinary tract infection. What are the treatment options?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I am sorry to hear that Scotch is dealing with such a severe urinary tract infection! Unfortunately this is going to be quite the difficult case to manage due to such the resistance to antibiotics. In this case it would be worth trying a multi-antibiotic approach and you may need to resort to an antibiotic such as Amikacin, which can have adverse effects on the kidneys. Unfortunately, I see that Amikacin is also on the list of antibiotics that this is resistant to. There are more alternative methods of treatment such as ozone therapy in the bladder which may help kill the bacteria. I would discuss this further with your veterinarian as treatment will depend entirely on what the vet wants to use. Scotch may need to be admitted into the hospital for treatment for IV antibiotics as well. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hello. It is unfortunately impossible for us to recommend using human medication without knowing there is a real problem with your pet. At best, you may be giving an unnecessary medication & at worse, you may be treating inappropriately & causing a simple infection to become much worse. It is best to consult with your vet who knows your pet better & see if this antibiotic is appropriate based on her symptoms. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. 2 urinary tract infections in 1 month is not normal. I recommend having Bella's urine checked by a pathologist to see if there is actually a UTI present, or if it is just cystitis. Also, puppies can get 'puppy vaginitis' that shows as a white discharge from the vulva, but doesn't respond to antibiotics and doesn't require antibiotics. This often looks like a UTI (licking at vulva, frequent urination), but isn't. Treatment for this is to have her spayed at 6 months of age. I would talk to your vet about getting a cystocentesis sample and sending it way for a culture and sensitivity and a urinalysis at the lab, before more antibiotics. Best of luck with Bella!

Hi there and thanks for your post on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The best thing to do for a suspected urinary tract infection is to have Twinkles see her veterinarian for a urine test to confirm the infection and antibiotics. There are no home treatments or over the counter medications or supplements that can help treat a urinary tract infection. A supplement that can help prevent future urinary tract infections, however, is a cranberry extract supplement called Crananidin that you can purchase OTC at your local pet supplies store. Best of luck and thanks again for your question.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concerns! My next concern is are we dealing with some predisposing factor leading to these UTIs or is there a resistant bacteria in the urine that is not responding to the current rounds of medications? I would recommend ultrasounding the bladder and obtaining a sterile urine sample for culture and go from there. Have the crystals resolved yet? If there are still crystals in the urine, then these need to be resolved as the presence of crystals will lead to recurrent UTIs and symptoms. I hope this helps!

It may be that Goofy has a bladder stone or has a tumor in his bladder that is an underlying issue. If a bacterial culture hasn't yet been done, that should be considered as well to determine definitively whether or not there is an active infection. Talk to your vet about an X-ray or an abdominal ultrasound to further investigate. While the ALT and globulin are slightly high, they aren't terribly high out of the normal range. Its reasonable to repeat these blood tests in 1-2 weeks and see if the values have normalized. Neither of those bloodwork findings are terribly alarming to me, especially if Goofy isn't showing any symptoms. Follow up with your vet in a week or so to recheck bloodwork and discuss doing X-rays or an ultrasound (sonogram). Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Unfortunately not as urinary tract infections must be confirmed by your local veterinarian. Stress related (idiopathic type of inflammation) infection and presence of crystals are the most common causes of it. Antibiotics may be needed. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.