[Derek L]

Just an update. Sorry @ashley_a that you are going through this 🙁

I took my dog to a different vet and boy was I much more happy with their service, knowledge, and ease to work with. They did an overall exam and noted he looked healthy. I informed them and provided all of the paperwork of what the previous vet prescribed for antibiotics. The ran a urinalysis and a urine culture. The urinalysis returned with no signs of blood and only a slightly high pH. The vet called back a few days later with the culture results which were negative.

At this point the vet advised as long as my dog is not acting differently, there are no signs of blood, that he looks to be fine. They did mention very few or any traces at all of struvite but said we could look into an xray if we wanted to. He advised it is not absolutely necessary given his results.

The things I did differently. After the rounds of antibiotics, I supplemented with a cranberry + vit c supplement. I provided and suggested more and more water intake. Meals were prepared with half a cup of kibble mixed with wet food and added additional water. Water was the key thing I ensured to increase overall. I’m not positive what the perfect combination is, but regardless I am going to continue to monitor him and get a few pH strips just to see how he’s doing.

His demeanor never changed so pay more attention than you need to. The only way I found out about this was I noticed his urine had a little red tint. He acted normal this entire time, so just be conscious.

[Derek L]

@crazy4cats it did still show crystals. I didn’t like the idea of just continuing to pump antibiotic over and over again. I’m trying to find another vet and hopefully one that will be more helpful.

[Derek L]

Thanks Nate i’ll take a look.

So background. I noticed my dog had red in his urine when marking so I immediately took him to the vet. It was a UTI. The vet found the struvite crystals and then gave him a few rounds of antibiotics. Each with a urinalysis afterwards to see how he was doing. He didn’t give me much feedback aside from either do a $200 test to check which antibiotics would work or continue giving him what he already was.

I wasn’t pleased with his answers and ability to really help me understand. I’ve then used the vitamin c and cranberry supplement, incorporated more wet food into his diet and tried to further encourage my dog to drink more water.

I’ve been monitoring and trying to find a better vet in the process. Any next steps that I may be missing?

[Derek L]

Does anyone else have tips to encourage drinking water?

I have added much more wet food for moisture, there is fresh water out but i’m not sure what else I can do to encourage my dog to drink water.

He’s had struvite for a few months now and the antiobiotics didn’t seem to do too much. I purchased the cranberry vitamin C supplement to assist but I notice his urine is a lighter yellow but still noticeable. The vet I visited did not provide me much quality input and I am looking for another vet.

Should I be looking into a urinalysis?

[Derek L]

Thank you barbara! Any other advice would be greatly appreciated. Also thank you for the tip on the solid gold. The reviews for that product look vrey solid.

[Derek L]

Hopefully some of you folks could provide me input.

My dog has a UTI and struvite crystals. He was prescribed Baytril then Simplicef. His urine results just came back and has a high pH and bacteria – cocci and rods.

The culture sensitivity is quite pricey and I wanted to know if that is really what I need to do next. The vet wanted to continue another round of baytril and have him neutered. From reading this thread, it seems like vitamin C and the cranberry supplement are primarily for the decrease of struvites.

I believe the focus is to rid of the UTI. Am I on the right track? I am trying to make sure we are going in the right path and that my vet is not leading me astray.

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