Urinary Tract Medicine For Dogs

My Veterinarian Sent A Sample Of Urine To A Laboratory For A Culture And Sensitivity Test What Is This

All urinary tract infections are NOT created equal! Even though the most common organism to cause UTIs in dogs is Escherichia coli , there are several other organisms that may be involved. The only way to identify which specific bacteria is to blame, is to grow it in a laboratory. At the same time, the lab can also test which antibiotic is best suited to treat the infection.

Often, a veterinarian will prescribe an antibiotic that is among the most commonly used for treating UTIs in order to try to provide immediate relief to the dog. Pain medication may also be prescribed , and a diet change may be recommended.

Once the culture and sensitivity results are received, an appropriate antibiotic will be prescribed. After the course of antibiotics is given, it is important to recheck the urinalysis to confirm that the infection is resolved. If it is not, then it will be important to investigate additional issues that may contribute to a persistent UTI.

Use Of Antibiotics For Treating Utis In Dogs And Cats

JD Foster

VMD, DACVIM

Dr. Foster is an internist and Director of the Extracorporeal Therapies Service at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, D.C. He has lectured around the world on various renal and urinary diseases and authored numerous manuscripts and book chapters on these topics. He is the current president of the American Society of Veterinary Nephrology and Urology.

Urinary tract infections are common in small animal practice it has been reported that up to 27% of dogs will develop infection at some time in their lives.1

Most UTIs are successfully treated with commonly used drugs, dosages, and administration intervals. However, infections can be challenging to effectively treat when they involve the kidneys and prostate . In addition, it can be difficult to create an appropriate antibiotic prescription in patients with kidney disease due to reduced drug clearance.

Understanding drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics is essential when determining the most effective antibiotic therapy. In addition, successful antimicrobial therapy requires appropriate choice of antibiotic, including dose, frequency, and duration .

Figure 1

How To Treat A Uti In Female And Male Dogs: Signs And Symptoms Treatment Causes Prevention And More

This content was reviewed by veterinarian Dr. JoAnna Pendergrass, DVM.

To keep the lights on, we receive affiliate commissions via some of our links. Our review process.

Urinary tract infections in dogs are caused by bacteria that make their way into the bladder . If your dog is prone to UTIs, you probably feel helpless at times.

What can you give a dog for a urinary tract infection? Is there a dog UTI treatment over the counter? How can you help prevent your dog from getting UTIs? Well answer these questions and more.

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Are Some Dogs Predisposed To Utis

Older female dogs, and dogs with diabetes mellitus , more commonly develop UTIs than the general population. Dogs who have bladder stones are also more prone to recurrent UTIs. This highlights the importance of getting a complete diagnosis whenever there is evidence of disease in the urinary tract. Bladder stones must be removed or dissolved in order to restore bladder health.

Causes Of Utis In Dogs

A UTI happens when bacteria enter the urethra and results in an infection that can affect the urinary tract, bladder, and kidneys. Its not always possible to determine the cause of a UTI in dogs, but it can be influenced by factors including:

• A weakened immune system
• Abnormalities in the structure of the urinary tract
• Tumors in the bladder or urinary tract
• Illnesses such as diabetes

UTIs can lead to complications, including bladder stones and kidney damage. In addition, they can cause prostatitis in male dogs. Prostatitis is an infection of the prostate gland that is more common in older dogs or those who have not been neutered. This is just one of many reasons why its so important to neuter your dog.

Neutering not only prevents unexpected litters of puppies, but it also has important health benefits, including protecting against UTIs, preventing testicular cancer, and helping to reduce aggression. It can also eliminate unwanted behaviors, such as mounting people or objects. Learn more about neutering.

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Subclinical Bacteriuriato Treat Or Not To Treat

The limited studies performed in veterinary medicine have not shown that subclinical bacteriuria results in complications.8 However, human medicine has shown that more complications may arise when this condition is treated with antibiotics than when it is not. For veterinary patients with subclinical bacteriuria, no therapy is recommended. Neither the presence of antibiotic or multidrug resistance nor pyuria should prompt therapy. The number of bacteria obtained on culture and the presence of pyuria and hematuria cannot be used to differentiate subclinical bacteriuria from cystitis. Patients with systemic disease do not require drug therapy unless they have clinical signs suggestive of UTI. To help prevent struvite stone formation, antibiotic therapy may be considered for patients with subclinical bacteriuria caused by urease-producing bacteria .

What Are The Signs Of Utis In Dogs

Urinary tract disease can include kidney, ureters, urethra and bladder infection.

While were using a female dog example below remember that male dogs can get UTIs too! Typical symptoms of UTIs in dogs of either gender include:

• Frequent urination or urging.
• Bloody urine. Sometimes you may see a little blood at the very end. Other times there might be a blood clot. Sometimes its hardly noticeable. Get your dog to pee on a paper towel to see if theres blood present.
• Licking before or after she urinates.
• Inappropriate urination or accidents in the house.
• General restlessness.
• Needing to go out during the night.
• Trying to pee again right after shes peed. You may see her try a few times and appear to squat or strain a few different ways. This is due to difficult flow of urine.
• Signs of painful urination.

When untreated, UTIs can lead to bigger problems, including stones, dysfunction, infertility, kidney infection, and even kidney failure.

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How To Prevent Urinary Tract Infections From Occurring

Some pet parents try giving their dog yogurt for a UTI, which is thought to balance a dog’s microbiome in general. But this method has varying results and doesn’t necessarily work for every dog. It’s best to ask your vet for a recommendation instead of trying a home remedy to prevent or treat UTIs.

Marx says the best thing you can do to prevent another UTI is to make sure your dog has plenty of fresh water. Also, take frequent walks or provide a lot of potty breaks for your dog throughout the day.

If your dog has recurring UTIs, your vet may recommend taking supplements. “Cranberry and vitamin C can help dogs that have chronic UTIs by lowering urine pH,” Marx says. “But discuss it with your vet before using any treatment. These supplements can make some types of infections worse, especially if certain crystal types are part of the cause.”

An underlying medical condition could also be what’s behind your dog’s multiple UTIs or difficulty getting one to go away. Your vet may suggest additional testing to determine the root cause of chronic UTIs.

Efficacy Of Natural Urinary Tract Infection Remedies In Dogs

Remember that a dog showing signs of a UTI may not always have bladder crystals/stones or a severe bacterial infection , but may simply have minor form of cystitis .

Herbal remedies can be effective in changing the pH balance of your dog’s urinary tract, helping prevent an infection from establishing. Reducing inflammation with herbal supplements will help your dog feel better. If your dog is susceptible to recurrent urinary tract infections, preventive care might be necessary to keep from having treat and retreat.

If your dog does not urinate for 12 hours or more or is straining to pass urine but none is appearing, it is vital your dog sees your veterinarian right away.

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Prescription Urinary Tract & Kidney Treatment For Dogs

Help fight troublesome canine UTIs and kidney problems with urinary tract & kidney medicine. Chewy carries many types of prescription dog UTI medicine for fighting infections as well as kidney disease treatment for chronic kidney disease.

Dogs who suffer from urinary tract infections usually need prescription UTI treatment. Your vet will need to examine your pup, and she will likely prescribe antibiotics. Puppies may need special kidney & urinary tract medicine, or possibly just adult medicine in smaller doses. UTI treatment requires a full course of antibiotics, so make sure to finish your dogs prescription and administer the recommended dose every day. Suspending medication when your dog seems to feel better can result in a return of the infection or even an antibiotic-resistant infection.

Aging dogs sometimes suffer from reduced kidney function or renal disease. Your vet may prescribe a kidney failure treatment or other medications for kidney function support. Common kidney medications for dogs include diuretics, enzyme inhibitors, electrolytes and potassium supplements. You may also need to rehydrate your dog at home using IV fluids.

Find everything you need to treat UTIs and help dogs with kidney disease in the Chewy pet pharmacy. We carry

Frequently Asked Questions aboutPrescription Urinary Tract & Kidney Treatment for Dogs

How do I get dog urinary tract and kidney medicine prescriptions online at Chewy Pharmacy?

How do I treat my dog’s urinary tract infection?

What Are Common Dog Uti Signs And Symptoms

It can be hard to tell if your dog is in pain, because they may not show any signs at all. However, if youre seeing bloody, cloudy or their urine has a strong smell, you dog may have a UTI.

You may also notice straining or crying during urination, accidents in the house, needing to urinate more frequently, increased water consumption, or licking around their back end excessively after urinating, youll need to get them checked out by your veterinarian to rule out a UTI.

Also, if you have a dog thats all of a sudden not house-broken, especially puppies, its important to get them checked out for a bacterial UTI.

An important distinction is UTI doesnt always mean an infection. It can mean urinary tract inflammation versus urinary tract infection.

There are many causes of lower urinary tract problems that can lead to the symptoms mentioned. If you notice a change in your dogs urinary habits, make sure to get them checked out.

Some of the other causes of dog UTI signsinclude:

• Bladder inflammation or infection
• Crystals or sludge in the bladder or urethra
• Congenital abnormalities like inverted vulvas
• Cancers like transitional cell carcinoma

This is why its so important to get your pet checked out by your veterinarian if youre noticing any of the mentioned dog UTI symptoms.

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Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections

Any infection that occurs in the presence of an anatomic or functional abnormalities or in an animal that has a comorbidity that predisposes to persistent infection, recurrent infection or treatment failure. Recurrent infections can be further categorised as:

Co-morbidities that should be considered:

Endocrinopathy

Urinary incontinence/retention

DIAGNOSTICS

The same principles for diagnosis apply from uncomplicated infections. Presence of underlying factors should be investigated and client compliance with previous therapy ensured, especially in case of relapse. Consider whether the antimicrobial chosen is appropriate in dosing/dosing frequency to achieve adequate concentrations at the site of infection. Urine culture is always needed for ongoing management, antimicrobials should not be changed empirically.

TREATMENT

DURATION OF THERAPY

Treatment length may vary depending on the clinical signs/comorbidities goal of treatment is clinical cure and no adverse effects . Microbiological cure is desirable but not necessarily achievable.

Causes Of Urinary Tract Infections In Dogs

There are trillions of bacteria that live in the environment. A dogs external genitalia hold onto a lot of bacteria from direct contact with the environment, licking/mouth contact, and normal bacteria found on the skin. A UTI forms when bacteria enter a dogs urethra from their external genitalia and enter their bladder.

A healthy bladder has defense mechanisms that help prevent bacteria from causing an infection. These mechanisms break down most types of bacteria. However, when these mechanisms are not functioning well or are broken down due to this invasion, the bacteria penetrate the bladder wall, causing inflammation and pain. Viruses and fungus can occasionally invade the bladder wall, too, with similar effects.

Acute UTIs in dogs are usually caused by bacteria going up into the urethra and infecting the bladder.

Chronic UTIs can be due to a number of underlying causes:

• A reaction to immunosuppressive drugs

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Can Male Dogs Get A Uti

Female dogs are more prone than male dogs to getting UTIs, but male dogs can still get them. Older female dogs, dogs with diabetes, and dogs who have bladder stones are most at risk. But other health problems, such as Cushings disease and chronic kidney disease, can also contribute to increased UTIs.

How To Prevent Uti In Dogs

Below are three tips for preventing bladder infection in dogs.

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Dosage Regimens For Uti:

Currently, the duration of therapy for UTI is controversial. Although animals are routinely treated with antimicrobial drugs for 10â14 days, shorter duration antimicrobial regimens are routinely prescribed in human patients, including single-dose fluoroquinolone therapy. A clinical comparison of 3 days of therapy with a once-daily high dose of enrofloxacin with 2 wk of twice daily amoxicillin-clavulanic acid showed equivalence in the treatment of simple UTI in dogs. However, further studies are needed to determine the optimal dosage regimens for different classes of antimicrobials, and it is inappropriate to use fluoroquinolones as first-line therapy for simple UTIs. Animals with complicated UTI may require longer courses of therapy, and underlying pathology must be addressed. Chronic complicated cases of UTI, pyelonephritis, and prostatitis may require antimicrobial treatment for 4â6 wk, with the risk of selecting for antimicrobial resistance. A follow-up urine culture should be performed after 4â7 days of therapy to determine efficacy. If the same or a different pathogen is seen, then an alternative therapy should be chosen and the culture repeated again after 4â7 days. Urine should also be cultured 7â10 days after completing antimicrobial therapy to determine whether the UTI has resolved or recurred.

What Does A Urinalysis Look At

If your cat presents to your veterinarian with urinary signs, your veterinarian will first perform a urinalysis. The urinalysis can reveal so much important information about the urine when a UTI is suspected. Your veterinarian will look at the following:

• urine-specific gravity

Once these levels are measured, the urine specimen is placed into a centrifuge and spun down to allow cells and other debris to accumulate at the bottom of the sample tube. That debris can then be evaluated under magnification, and this examination can reveal the presence of red blood cells, white blood cells, bacteria, and crystals.

What is seen under the microscopes magnification can lead to the next steps of assessing the dogs urinary tract disease. For example, if there are crystals in the urine, your veterinarian may recommend radiographs or an ultrasound of the abdomen in order to look for bladder stones.

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Managing Multiple Episodes Of Uti:

In dogs and cats, if UTI occurs only once or twice yearly, each episode may be treated as an acute, uncomplicated UTI. If episodes occur more often, and predisposing causes of UTI cannot be identified or corrected, chronic low-dose therapy may be necessary. Low antimicrobial concentrations in the urine may interfere with fimbriae production by some pathogens and prevent their adhesion to the uroepithelium. In dogs, recurrent UTIs are due to a different strain or species of bacteria ~80% of the time therefore, antimicrobial culture and susceptibility is still indicated. Antimicrobial therapy should be started as previously described and when urine culture is negative, continued daily at â the total daily dose. The antimicrobial should be administered last thing at night to ensure that the bladder contains urine with a high antimicrobial concentration for as long as possible.

Antimicrobial Use Guidelines For Treatment Of Urinary Tract Disease In Dogs And Cats: Antimicrobial Guidelines Working Group Of The International Society For Companion Animal Infectious Diseases

J. Scott WeeseAcademic Editor: Received

Abstract

Urinary tract disease is a common reason for use of antimicrobials in dogs and cats. There is a lack of comprehensive treatment guidelines such as those that are available for human medicine. Accordingly, guidelines for diagnosis and management of urinary tract infections were created by a Working Group of the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases. While objective data are currently limited, these guidelines provide information to assist in the diagnosis and management of upper and lower urinary tract infections in dogs and cats.

1. Introduction

This document contains guidelines developed in 2010 by the Antimicrobial Guidelines Working Group of the International Society for Companion Animal Infectious Diseases. During the course of guideline development, it became abundantly clear that there are significant limitations in objective, published information. Accordingly, recommendations are based on available data, whenever present, along with expert opinion, considering principles of infectious diseases, antimicrobial therapy, antimicrobial resistance, pharmacology, and internal medicine. Corresponding guidelines for human medicine were evaluated, with careful consideration of the abundant differences between species.

2. Simple Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infection

2.1. Summary of Recommendations for Uncomplicated UTIs

2.1.1. Diagnosis of Uncomplicated UTIs

2.1.2. Treatment of Uncomplicated UTIs

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