OK, let's back up.

What is the issue that's causing you to change foods? Incontinence and vaginal discharge?

And one vet has seen this discharge and said it was unimportant?

Has she had a diagnosed UTI, or not?


Has her urine been cultured?


What does
"Luckily no diarrhea for us! The poor girl has been having issues with the "front end"
mean?

I'm just so lost..
She has seizures on the cheap low protein foods. She has urinary issues that we cant even figure out what the cause is on TOTW. But the seizures are reduced..
Mr old vet helped me. Then all of the sudden this new vet says these problems are just "old dog issues" yet she ssays i should still change foods...
I'm just lost.
So, kidney issues or stones could become worse with too much protein..? Okay, but if i switch her back to the other cheap food, with like no protein, those seizures will come back.

Okay, so i call a vet and vet says i cant loose giving her more water..
So, dehydrated foods will provide more fluids for her. But then i read its over 80 bucks a month, and 12 percent protein without add ins...
Help...

 Quote: Brianah Maloney

Luckily no diarrhea for us!
The poor girl has been having issues with the "front end".
Sorry to confuse you with the misleading original post! I meant to say urinary control in the original post...

...I would like to keep away from many grains. She tends to have less (almost none) seizures now that shes clean of them. Coincidence or not?

Forgive me, Brianah, but I'm still confused about what issues your girl is having that you are concerned about and that lead you to feel you want to change foods. Okay, no diarrhea, that's good! But when you say issues with the front end, do you mean the urinary incontinence you mentioned, or do you mean vomiting? Sorry, just not sure what "front end" means in this context.

What kind of dog is she and how old? I see she also has a seizure history. Is she on any meds for that? You say "sick dog" in the title of your post, so I'm wondering what other issues there might be.

I'm a kibble feeder, and I have a dog who went through some issues a few years ago. One thing I discovered was that he did best on limited ingredient formulas, although I do rotate to make sure he's getting a well-rounded variety of nutrients. But the longer the ingredient list on the bag, the more likely he is to have loose stools. (I'm not referring to the added vitamins and minerals in kibbles. That list is always long. I'm referring to the actual food ingredients.) It may not be an issue for your girl, but I just thought I'd mention my own experience.

BTW, Melissa mentioned a product called B-Naturals Digestion Blend, which I also use on a more or less regular basis. I've had good experience with it.

ETA: I see Brianah and Connie were both typing at the same time I was, so some of my questions are duplicates and have been already been answered.

Edited by Cheri Grissom (10/23/2013 04:51 PM)
Edit reason: eta

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

OK, let's back up.

What is the issue that's causing you to change foods? Incontinence and vaginal discharge?

And one vet has seen this discharge and said it was unimportant?

Has she had a diagnosed UTI, or not?


Has her urine been cultured?


What does
"Luckily no diarrhea for us! The poor girl has been having issues with the "front end"
mean?

She goes to the vet about 2 times monthly.
She has had about 5 cultures.. all different results.
Been treated for UTI 2 times. Not even sure if its gone..Not even sure if that's actually the issue. Vets just gave her the meds before reading the cultures.. and each vet came up with a different opinion about each culture. One even said she could have stones. (she cant have surgery, so now what?)
I recently unwillingly switched to a new vet. This vet said nothing existed. And shes just old and incontinence.

Each time i switch vets, she has a new diagnoses.

All i know, is that i am confused..
And food has created or solved many issues in her past that the vets just couldn't help solve..
Maybe this discharge will lessen, if i try out a new food..

Saying a persons "front end" is a polite way to say "reproductive area/issues/parts"
Front end, would be her urinary issues/parts.

Let's forget about food just for a minute, except for probably sticking with low-starch low-grain with a dog who has a seizure disorder.


What do you mean by "5 different results for cultures"? Sometimes she had a UTI, but sometimes not, although still incontinent?

Do you know that the urine should be re-checked after the antibiotic protocol?



How is her other blood work?




My first step would be to get the urine cultured and get a detailed opinion on why the discharge doesn't need to be cultured.




ETA
No polite body-part or ailment language needed here.





Edited by Connie Sutherland (10/23/2013 05:00 PM)
Edit reason: edited to add

How old is she?
What breed?
Is she spayed?
Has a vet done lab work including kidney function tests on her?

I sympathize with what you are going through, Brianah. You sound like a loving and caring owner.

I too am concerned about a possible unresolved UTI. But urinary incontinence can happen (especially in older dogs) without an infection. Has she ever been on any meds for urinary incontinence?

Likewise with the seizures. Is she or has she ever been on any anti-seizure meds?

I really appreciate you guys helping me out.


As for the uti issue. Most vets send the dog home with pills to be treated for UTIs.
Her vets, no matter her results. Even BEFORE they got results, treated her with meds for UTIs.
I went to the vets to get follow-up cultures after each medication was given time to work. To see if she had any change, for the better or worse.

Each vet had said there was a change in her urine. But no set diagnoses, and to just bring her back in again. Just to be told, she may or may not have this or that issue. and to come back if the dog "changes".

She recently had a "change", she started having discharge.
AKA. incontinent.
I started feeding TOTW not too long before the discharge started.

I went to a random vet, culture done immediately, same day.
This new vet said she didn't find her to have a UTI.
I asked her about kidney stones, she said if she does have them, she cant be operated on anyways.

She did not like her high protein diet for IF she DID have kidney issues. But if she DOESN'T, a high protein diet would still be bad for an old dog (i have heard this is incorrect from my old GOOD vet. My GOOD vet said high quality meat protein is fine for a healthy old dog, without kidney damage.)

But we never tested for stones, or her kidney.
My vet was pretty happy with her diagnoses of "your dog never had issues, shes just old and has old dog issues".
We went home.
Her discharge has stayed the whole time. Its thick, like she has an infection of some sort.
Current vet disagrees.

So, i sit here confused, and lost.

I see lots going on, and I totally get your confusion.

(By the way, discharge is not "AKA incontinence.")


So now, quick questions to get us further along:

The old vet sounds like he thought spay incontinence. And the new vet did a culture and said no infection. Correct?

But the discharge was never cultured? Correct?


And again:

How old is she?
What breed?
Is she spayed?
Has a vet done lab work including kidney function tests on her?

Has she ever been on any meds for urinary incontinence?

Likewise with the seizures. Is she or has she ever been on any anti-seizure meds?

 Quote: Cheri Grissom

I sympathize with what you are going through, Brianah. You sound like a loving and caring owner.

I too am concerned about a possible unresolved UTI. But urinary incontinence can happen (especially in older dogs) without an infection. Has she ever been on any meds for urinary incontinence?

Likewise with the seizures. Is she or has she ever been on any anti-seizure meds?

:O Thanks for the love. <3

My current vet, who believes that my dog is just old and incontinent, said if i don't like her incontinence, she will give my dog speed.

I don't know about you, but my dog, even though she is very old still tries to throw herself over fences to retrieve frisbeees.
She still attempts to jump down sets of stairs at times.

AKA she thinks shes still young, and does everything as "hard and rough and tough" as she used to do when she was young performance dog.
She STILL spins in circles at night, and screams and grabs her leash while following me every second i stand up."
When she sees training equipment she will scream bloody murder. And has even pulled me down stairs once to get to a teeter.
I try to tell her that shes OLD. and will hurt herself, and to go old. But, in one ear, out the other.

No way in hell would i be able to live with this dog on speed.
I would probably need a prescription of speed myself, to keep this dog from driving me inane, and keep up helping prevent this dog from injuring herself.

Plus, i DO believe that shes not "just incontinent".
I believe she has discharge from a urine related issue that was not resolved by my old vet visits.
Food has changed her for good, and for bad. Food has literally saved her from seizures.. I'm willing to bet this "incontinent" issue will resolve with a different diet.