Blood in urine

[Barbara Erwin]

My 11-year-old Westie, Harriet, was diagnosed with diabetes in 2009 and has been fairly well-regulated ever since. However, lately, she has had recurrent urinary tract infections, with blood in the urine. The vet will prescribe a week's worth of antibiotics, which will seem to help in the short term, but the infection will recur within a week or two. The last time we took her in, the vet did a bunch of blood tests and an ultrasound. They found a mass of some kind on the ultrasound, but could not tell whether it was a tumor or a blood clot. They put her on another course of antibiotics because, if it is a blood clot, it will dissolve on its own. We are to go back for another ultrasound in the next few days, but in the meantime, the blood in the urine has returned. She has only been off the antibiotics for a few days. The vet had said that it was unlikely to be cancer because of the location of the mass. Has anyone experienced anything similar? Other than the blood in the urine and frequent urination, she seems to be her usual self -- no problems eating and her energy is the same.

[juliwilliams]

Re: Blood in urine

My dog had blood in his urine and a urinary tract infection that turned into a bladder infection. It lasted 5 months! He's finally infection free (although I doubt that will last!). I highly recommend doing urine cultures. It will tell you exactly what the bacteria causing the infection is and what antibiotics can treat it.

I had one done on my dog and we started a 6 week course of antibiotics. After 4 weeks we did another culture and found out the bacteria developed resistance to the antibiotic he was on and had to change to another antibiotic. We tested him after 2 weeks on that antibiotic and he came back clean. We're continuing the antibiotic for another 2 weeks and then the vet wants another urine culture after he's been off the antibiotics for a few days to make sure it hasn't come back again.

Once the infection travels from the urinary tract up into the bladder it can be a lot harder to get rid of.

[Barbara Erwin]

Re: Blood in urine

I definitely think she's not getting a long enough course of antibiotics. We've had cultures every time we go to the vet and there is always infection present. They keep only giving me a one-week course of drugs, though. Then they want to do the cultures and the ultrasounds all over again. Last time, the bill (including the ultrasound and sedation) was over $1,700. They tell me that the next step is another ultrasound, another culture and probably a biopsy to look at/sample and/or remove the mass. I can't imagine what that will cost. I am willing to pay if it's necessary, but I can't keep doing test after test without any improvement. I don't want to put her through that. Should I change vets?

[ABBIE'SMOM]

Re: Blood in urine

Hi Barbara, sorry to hear Harriet's having that struggle. We went through it with our Abbie when she was first diagnosed with diabetes. It "freaked" me out. We were lucky & it was resolved, but required two weeks of antibiotics. Wishing you & Harriet the best. Sounds like you are on the right track. I know it is so concerning when you are not seeing improvements & the Vet bills can be more than you would ever expect. You both will be in my thoughts. Please post progress. Want to know how you both are doing.
Elaine & Abbie

[juliwilliams]

Re: Blood in urine

Are you seeing just a general vet? My general vet went back and forth with antibiotics, then urinalysis, and repeat over and over. He finally went with the urine culture and then I switched vets for other issues. I now see a internal medicine specialist. But even my old vet did long courses of antibiotics, 4-6 weeks on average.

I'm no expert, but I think that if your vet is only giving one week of antibiotics at a time, he may not know how to deal with this infection.

And $1700 for a ultrasound seems like a lot! I don't know though. My guy had an ultrasound of his adrenals a few weeks ago and it was $500 at the vet specialist (which has been consistently higher in price than my general vet). I don't believe he was sedated, but that's still a huge difference.

[eileen]

Re: Blood in urine

Barbara,

I don't see that you mentioned just where this 'mass' is located.

My girl began peeing blood, thru ultra sound she was found to have bladder cancer, several masses in her bladder.

Do be sure to follow up with what is necessary to find out just what you are dealing with.
Hoping it is nothing more than an untreated urinary tract infection.

Best wishes for your girl.

[Abby's Mom]

Re: Blood in urine

Hi Barbara,

Do you know what type of antibodics they are giving. Some strains are resistant to some antibodics, so they may need to switch things up. There is clavamox, and baytril. Also, I understand if the strain is really resistant you may want to look into a shot.

Also, d-Mannose and Cranberry are wonderful to prevent UTI's. Abby started out with UTI's, and once I started giving Cranberry, she hasn't had any since.

I would ask for a different drug, but first find out what type of infection you are dealing with. Abby had strain of Staph, and 2 weeks of clavamox fixed it. I did get another culture done to be sure after the infection was supposedly gone.

Barb

[k9diabetes]

Re: Blood in urine

Love her name!

I too would want a more definitive answer about what may be happening in the bladder since the symptoms are similar to ones found with dogs with bladder cancer. I would get a referral to a internal medicine specialist if you haven't seen one already.

And I would want a culture of the urine to make sure the right antiobiotic is being used plus a long course of the right antibiotic. They can be incredibly difficult to get rid of completely and so many strains are resistant to various antibiotics.

An infection would likely cause disruption of her blood sugar - has her blood sugar been running higher since this started?

Natalie

[Barbara Erwin]

Re: Blood in urine

Thanks, everyone. My vets are general vets but each of the team of three has a specialty. Ironically, the one who is Harriet's primary vet has diabetes himself. It's quite a sophisticated practice -- lots of specialized treatments available and other vets tend to refer complicated cases to them. Harriet had been on a week of Clavamox and then another week and a bit of Baytril. Each seemed to work at the time, but the infection returned. We have done three cultures so far and, each time, they showed bacteria. I took her back last night and she is now on Zeniquen. Her primary vet looked at the ultrasound images (he wasn't there for her previous visit) and said the mass is fairly large -- could be a tumor or a polyp, although it seems large for a polyp. It's not in the usual place for TCC, though. He thinks we should wait a while before doing another ultrasound because it won't be conclusive, unless the mass shrinks (in which case, we can rule out cancer). He doesn't recommend a needle biopsy for possible TCC because it could spread. He's going to consult with a specialist who has a scope that can be used to take a biopsy but he doesn't think it can be done on a female dog because it gets threaded through the urinary tract.

[eileen]

Re: Blood in urine

Barbara,

Unless I have missed it, for which I apologize, I am still not understanding where exactly this 'mass' is being seen.

The ultra sound on Mildred showed conclusively 3 growths within her bladder. Then over the course of the next 7 months subsequent ultra sound images showed the growths multiplying.

My Vet too did not do the biopsy for the reasons you indicate.

[Rubytuesday]

Re: Blood in urine

Hi Barbara, I am curious why the vet switched antibiotics after a week. The cultures you had run should have also included a sensitivity test to tell you which antibiotic the infection would be sensitive to.

When Ruby had a UTI I was told that although new info was saying that 1 week of treatment was sufficient for a non diabetic dog, that diabetics should be on antibiotics for 3 weeks.

Tara