Browsing Tag: Tract

Urinary Tract Infections Hello I am Dr. Mike. Urinary tract infection
is a very common problem found in dogs. Unfortunately, many pet owners may not realize their pet
has an infection. For a brief overview of urinary tract infections in dogs, we are going
to visit with Dr. Jeff Glass. Urinary tract infection is an infection that occurs in the
urinary tract. This is usually divided up into three different places it can occur.
It can be in the lower urinary tract, which is below the bladder, in the bladder, or above
the bladder in the kidneys. It is very difficult to know where dogs get urinary tract infections
from. Sometimes it can be from the skin, sometimes it can be from lying on a contaminated environment,
and sometimes it can be something that comes by the blood. To be very frank with you, we
don’t really know where these infections come from in many cases. The science of urinary
tract infections can be very varied. Sometimes we’ll find a urinary tract infection coincidentally
with the dog showing no signs at all, and sometimes it can be where owners will complain
about the dog urinating more frequently, urinating small amounts, blood in the urine, even pain
urinating, and sometimes we’ll see dogs that will drink more, and that can often be a sign
of urinary tract infection. To diagnose urinary tract infection, it will be based on the clinical
signs that your dog will show. It’s always important to try to get a urine sample to
be able to get a correct diagnosis. If there’s evidence of infection, it would be a good
idea to get a culture of the urine as well. Collecting the sample can be done in various
ways. You can either bring a sample in to your veterinarian, or they can collect one
using a catheter. The best way to get a sample would be to get it directly from the bladder
because that’s a sterol sample with no contaminate at all, and therefore if we do see a problem
or infection, we know that it’s actually in the bladder or alternatively in the kidneys.
The way that this is done is by putting a needle directly into the bladder, which can
be done by holding the bladder or alternatively with an ultrasound to guide the needle into
the bladder. Both of those ways sound more dramatic than they really are, but it’s no
pain or discomfort or risk to your pet at all. It’s important to diagnose urinary tract
infections early because sometimes the infection that you see or the bacteria that you see
in the bladder can be only part of the problem. What happens is that bacteria cannot survive
in a very acidic urine, which is the normal urine of a dog. What the bacteria does is
they release enzymes, which change the pH, in other words, make that no longer acidic
and make it something called alkaline. When that happens, there’s a chemical procedure
that happens and that results in crystals often forming in the bladder. These crystals
can be very irritating to the bladder, and when many crystals form together,
they can result in bladder stones. Often it is necessary to remove these stones
by a surgery. Also this infection can then migrate up into the kidneys and result in
a kidney infection, which is a lot more dangerous and serious than a bladder infection. If you
treat the infection early, we can avoid this from happening. Treatment of the bladder infection
is very varied. It can depend on the bacteria that you find in the urine, which ideally
you want to diagnose on a culture, and when you do a culture you can then do a sensitivity.
What a sensitivity is, is you are testing the bacteria against various types of antibiotics
to determine which is the best antibiotic to kill of that infection. Usually, that is
all that is necessary if it’s a bacterial infection. There can be different types of
fungal yeast infections, but those are pretty rare. If there are stones or crystals in the
bladder, sometimes they can be dissolved by various foods, and sometimes
it’s necessary to do surgery to remove those stones. After completing the course of antibiotics,
it is really important to know that the infection is absolutely resolved. This can be done by
collecting a urine sample and sending it off to the lab for a culture where they will attempt
to grow out the bacteria that were in the bladder. If the culture is negative, we can
know for sure that this infection is gone. Sometimes we will see that different bacteria
can grow, or alternatively, we will find that the same bacteria is continuing to grow, which
either means that we have not resolved the problem, or that we have a resistant bug and
we need to change to different kind of antibiotic. It is important to recognize the signs of
a urinary tract infection. If not diagnosed, these infections can lead to a severe illness
or even formation of bladder stones. Many dogs do not show any clinical signs of an
infection. That is why I recommend that your pet have
a urinalysis performed during their routine physical exam. I am Dr. Mike and thanks for
watching.