[Suzanne J]

Aimee, I do not like the thought of my puppy having a needle stuck in her bladder again. The vet did this exact same test recently & nothing showed up; no infection at all. She’s never had a positive test for a UTI infection like your pup, and she has had so many urine tests I can’t even remember how many. The test is not without risk & it scares me. Maybe I’m overprotective, but that doesn’t mean I’m wrong either.

Dogfoodie, the vet did this “clean urine” test right before Christmas because she thought my puppy had an infection. I don’t know if you read my whole story or not, but Cookie had two rounds of antibiotics without having a urine test first because my vet just “thought” Cookie had an infection. Then she made us wait a week after the two rounds of (maybe unneeded) antibiotics and then the vet did the first “clean urine test” to see about the “infection”. She did not have an infection per results of that culture, and I don’t think she has one now. The vet didn’t believe that culture was right so she is doing another culture right now. I don’t think my vet has ever seen a puppy with crystals that didn’t have an infection & she just doesn’t know what to do, but that doesn’t make her a bad vet or a bad person. Still, I feel like my vet is treating Cookie (my puppy) like a test case. She keeps calling a specialist in another state & he told her to just do a regular urine test every two weeks & to let him know if there was a big change, and we agreed to do that and there has been no change. There just comes a point where you say “what the hello” is going on? I may have to eat my words after this new culture if it comes back positive so we’ll see. If it comes back positive I’ll let you know. Either way, I’ll let all of you know the results.

zcRiley, as soon as I finish typing this I will order the lamb you recommended from Chewy. I do think my poor puppy is being over treated for something she could very well grow out of. I am a librarian and I have read several “peer reviewed articles” by experts in veterinary medicine that say crystals are not really that unusual in young female puppies unless there is a UTI, and that the crystals will usually go away after the first heat. That is the main reason why I’m waiting to have my puppy fixed. I do not plan to breed her, even though she is a purebred, very beautiful cocker spaniel puppy. She a solid buff color with deep brown (almost black) eyes that make my heart melt when I look at her. I do believe she deserves a better vet, maybe a vet who is a few years older and has much more experience in the field.

Thank you all for your replies. I really do appreciate your concern and advice. It helps to belong to a board where everybody loves their pets so much.