well, you guys know how teagan has been peeing not very often?

she didn't pee friday morning, which was 24 hours, despite me adding water to dinner the night before. i gave her an egg and fish oil mixed with about 750-1000mL of water before i left for work. to be honest, i was relieved when i came home and found she'd had an accident. i took the dogs out and she peed again. !!!!!

i gave her more 'flavoured water' that night, and she had another accident overnight, plus when i took the dogs out in the morning she peed again AND it was cloudy.

so i cancelled the fundraiser hike for the bully dog rescue, and took her to the vet (i felt bad calling people at 7.30 am and cancelling, but teagan's a wee bit more important (ok, a whole bunch more ).) our regular vet was totally booked so we went to the emerg vet (VEC).

the vet agreed we needed to test for urinary tract infection/bladder infection - and i wanted to do this as quickly as possible, i know from having a UTI i delayed getting the antibiotics (a bird poohed on my head) and by the next morning i had a fever.

she was normal on exam, so i ok'd xrays (he suggested i could take her home and just do xrays tonight depending on the results of the urinanalysis, but to be honest, since there's a $130 emerg. fee, it was more cost effective to get them done this morning, and that way i'm only stressing her once. they were normal, so that's positive.

he was going to send me home w/antibiotics, but decided to wait on the results of the urinanalysis, which they should get back tonight. he also finds it odd she hadn't been peeing constantly (as you would expect from an infection), but it appears that has changed.

in the meantime, teagan had another accident (small) in her crate when i was returning the car to my mom's, and i just took them out and she peed again - wow. all this peeing, and i did give her more flavoured water after her accident this morning so there'd be something there for the urinanalysis, but still.

and she also hadn't pooped for awhile - she waited until we got home but i did give her a bunch of tonic lax after we got back from the VEC, so.

i was going to be taking her in for a urinanalysis monday, just to be sure, even though the long times between peeing seemed the opposite of an infection. and she hadn't been having accidents. she's sure acting like an infection now though.

argh. i'm thinking of getting some cranberry juice or cranberries and adding them to her food. thoughts?

does this sound like a bladder infection to everyone else as well? any thoughts on why she'd have the weird really long periods between peeing leading up to it? this feast or famine approach to urination is confusing me....

Encourage fluids and give her lots of peeing opportunity, is what I see everywhere.

Also, crystals or stones (or even high urethral tone*) could present with strange peeing patterns.

If it's a UTI and/or crystals, everything says to dilute the urine.



*I don't know much about urethral tone (except for when it's very low: urinary sphincter mechanism incontinence), but I gather that it's a condition that can cause the frequent peeing from an infection to be masked by the urethral tone being so high that the bladder does not relieve until it's full and pressuring the urethra. I guess that it is not likely.

also, while she did curl her lip and growl at the vet in the examining room, they took her back and examined her there muzzled as a result and apparently she behaved beautifully

....in the waiting room, one dog started growling at an american bulldog who came in. the owner said 'oh no fido, you have to share! share! yes, you can share!' ....emmm....okay, your dog was growling, so you tell it to share (what, share the waiting room?). she also dropped the leash and let the dog wander around, when the dog jumped up on someone, the owner said 'oh that's because he wants your sandwich'. maybe....but maybe you should get your dog off that lady. WOW.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Encourage fluids and give her lots of peeing opportunity, is what I see everywhere.

thanks connie! i was actually debating giving her sub-q, but she's not dehydrated, and drinks her 'flavoured water' (mixed w/a bit of wet food) well - i started that b/c i thought she wasn't drinking enough before. i'm thinking of keeping on giving her that and taking her out every hour or so.

would crystals show up on the xrays? they've ruled out stones b/c her bladder is clear on the xrays.

i'd never thought of (or heard of, though it's logical enough) urethral tone. i'm going to ask the vet when i talk to him later tonight.

thanks! i'm not going to lie, i'm worried. i thought we were okay to go in on monday b/c she was most definitely not peeing a lot, and no accidents, but....yikes!

Struvites are found in the actual urine when they do the analysis.

Yes, I will be interested in hearing about that urethral tone, too. It sounded unlikely when I read about it, but possible.

You might also want to double-check on how much to push the water. Everything I have read always said to dilute the urine for both struvite formation and UTIs, and there is apparently no blockage -- but I'd ask anyway.

good idea! my understanding is also dilute the urine, but it is a good thing to actually check. thank you so much! we're just off to the park again....

....waiting for the vet to call me back w/the results. but she's peeing once an hour or more, and yeah, she's getting lots of fluids, but she's not so good at holding it (OMG you're putting the leash on....end of story )....just washing one of the rugs in the entry way as we speak.

i got some 'ultracran' capsules and chicken broth (couldn't find low-sodium at the drug store, but since it's being diluted, it's just to get her to drink all this water, i figured that was okay). she's drinking lots, doing okay, she's not having her happiest day though, poor thing. i really want them to call me back w/the results which i'm sure will be positive so i can go get her antibiotics!!!!!
(instead i'm just whining on here)

Can you toss a piece of chicken (or any meat) into water and simmer it instead?

Chicken broth from the store is really high in salt if it's not the low-sodium kind.

I guess it does sound like a UTI now, if she is dribbling, etc. Good to flush that UT, though, so good to do what you are doing.

When will you know about the culture?

there was no signs of infection! WTH?

....she is getting between 250-500mL of fluids (the water/chicken broth/cranberry solution) every hour though. that would probably make her go a lot, though i'm not sure it explains the accidents, but it is true she's not as fastidious as luc is.

anyways, he said the urine was very dilute (since she'd peed so much that morning, i did make sure she drank before i took her over so she'd have some urine).

so no antibiotics, i'm supposed to take a urine sample tomorrow morning and monday morning and take to my vet so they can test the USG. he's thinking they might want to do bloodwork to check the functioning of her kidneys.

....now that i think about it, a short time before my cat mitch was diagnosed w/CRF he did have a couple of accidents and we tested for an urinary tract infection, which he didn't have. they also did a culture, which he suggested might have to be done for teagan since her urine has been dilute.

me=now officially confused!

he said there's nothing emergency that requires meds, but i feel bad for teagan!...on the one hand, i was feeling bad i'd assumed she didn't have an infection when today i felt sure she did, but apparently i was right.

perhaps i've just got her so hydrated she's flushing out like crazy?

i do have some chicken legs and wings i could boil. and some big knuckly bones i'm now concerned luc is too much of a 'cracker' to eat, i could boil those up so they don't go to waste. good idea!

i think i'll stop hydrating her as much as i have been, but still give her the flavoured water to encourage her to drink.

....so confused!

she just let out this big grunt/groan, and when i went to look at her, she'd peed but was still just lying there - hadn't gotten up or anything.

....she did get up to follow me when i went to get the cleaning stuff though.

and i'm definitely going to lay off the 'DRINK THIS' for the rest of the night. since apparently there's no infection.

.....eeeehhhhhh. i don't like this. i hope now that i've just overhydrated her. speaking as someone who heavily hydrates myself (due to the running) she very well could still be processing the fluids.