| Struvite Crystals and bacteria present in urine - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| Joanne |
| My 18mth Cocker Spaniel bitch has recently been peeing at night which is not usual. She has had scan and xray which didnt show any problems - however urine was taken by needle through her stomach and into bladder, sample showed bacteria (lab was not able to culture this to identify which bacteria) and struvite crystals. She has high temperature (although this is now improving) but otherwise seems well. This is the second urinary infection she has had in a short space of time, Vet thinks probably it wasnt cleared up properly last time and has niggled on. Vet has prescribed Flagyl and Synulox antibiotics and Purina UR Urinary diet to dissolve crystals. Last week we had 6 dry nights on the trot, now it seems to be a bit hit and miss again. Anybody had any experience of this and can advise how long this is likely to take and whether there is anything else I can do to help things along please ? |
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| Froggy |
A lot of the times a first bladder infection will be treated with broad spectrum antibiotics and most of the time it'll take care of it but if the problem re-occurs then they really should do a culture to pinpoint the exact bacteria and ensure the correct antibiotics are used. Do you know why a culture wasnt done?
I made this mistake with one of my dogs years ago, she had some leg and neck problems along with asthma and was on again off again with steroids, every time she was on a course of them she got a bladder infection and every time she was put on antibiotics... but it would start the ball rolling, asthma,=steroids, bladder infection=penicillin, all meds would run the full course and about 3 weeks later she was back on antibiotics for 'another' bladder infection which turned out to be the same infection that just wasnt cleared up properly with the antibiotics she was on. We cultured her and ended up having to special order the right antibiotics as it wasnt one that we normally carried.
The special diet to stop the struvites forming or breaking them down and a culture to get the right antibiotics, its recommended that about a week after the antibiotics have finished to have another urine sample tested to make sure the infections gone. With pets that are pre-disposed to stones it can be an ogoing problem (cocker spaniels, min. schnauzers and dalmatians are generally higher risk....dalmatians seem to have oxalate rather than struvites...just a personal observation) so diet is important, although struvites are often secondary to the bladder infection though.
As a side note also ensure that the meds are being taken adequately, most people hide them in food which is usually not a problem but things like hot dogs that have the skin on still, the skin will wrap around the pill in the gut and prevent it from working properly. Some meds should be taken with food, some without. Not saying that you havent already done this right but some people arent aware of it. |
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| Joanne |
Thanks Froggy,
Apparentely, they did try to grow the bacteria, but couldnt get it to grow due to the fact that she was already on antibiotics which the vet said can stop them being able to grow a culture? they could see bacteria in her urine though along with crystals, presumably with a microscope.
I am giving her the meds with a slight smear of marmite on them and she eats them whilst I watch like sweeties! Good point you made though.
The vet said that the two different types of antibiotocs should clear up any infection. She has been on the synulox for about 2 weeksand the Flagyl for 1 week, the food was introduced over 4 days and she has been eating entirely this for 5/6 days. |
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| Froggy |
| Well Ill keep my fingers crossed and hope that it goes away for good this time. Might be worth doing a follow up urinalyses though if you can...just to make sure. |
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| Joanne |
The Vet has said that they will do a repeat urine test, needle method, not sure what it's technical term is, in about 3 weeks, Hopefully the results will be clear.
Thanks again. |
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| Froggy |
Its a cystocentesis.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you, hope it all clears up. |
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