So Bella and I went to the vet again today, for her 13 week shots and also to follow up after her UTI a few weeks back. We did the round of antibiotics, and she hasn't had any continuing issues with urgency or straining when she is going. She has a pretty tucked up vulva, so we've been watching it carefully. She weighed in at 22 pounds, and the vet says she looks fantastic....but when they did another urine check, she still has a bunch of white blood cells in there (aka puss...ewww...), but the crystals have been resolved. So the vet wants to do a sterile sample straight from the bladder to see if she can determine if it's an infection in her bladder itself, or just some puppy vaginitis related likely to her tucked vulva. For now, no antibiotics, and until we get the sterile sample and see where the issue is, we don't really have a treatment plan. ??? Thankfully Bella seems to feel fine, but I wish she would just have a 100% clean bill of health...poor girl. Now to coordinate another trip to get the sample done...such as challenge this time of year with everything else going on.....sigh.... :-\
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... I'm sorry to read this Heidi ...poor little girl,good it's been picked up though... I seem to remember that Lauren's Penny had something similar and I'm pretty sure she was told it would resolve after her first season.... Get your sample in sharpish and then you can start on the treatment plan and then you will get the clean bill of health for sure..... Best wishes Angela x
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... Progress has been made! Glad she is feeling better though. Hope the urine sample is straightforward for you both and you get your clean bill of health for Christmas.
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... Glad she is better in herself it is horrible when they aren't right and seem to have problem after problem - I've had this a lot, but try not to worry to much as I trust my vet. Hopefully treatment can start soon x
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... Aw I hope you get to the bottom of it soon - always a worry when they're not right
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... I hope bella gets better quickly. My two had urine infections that lasted 12 weeks. That was because I got a different vet everytime so it took 6 weeks before one of them decided to take a sterile sample and send it off. I would be very interested to know if they catheterise her if they use a light sedative ? Unfortunately my dogs had to have a number of catheters which I'm sure is what caused their distrust of people. I've since changed vets. My new vet said he would've lightly sedated them as they had to have so many. The other way to get a sterile sample is to asperate although they possibly wouldn't do that with her being so young. Once they've found the cause it can be treated and she will be fine. My two had ecoli in their bladder hopefully Bella's is external. Good luck and fingers crossed
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts. To get the sterile bladder sample they will cath her, but not sedate her. She said that yesterday when we were there, they started to cath her, but she was too desperate and just peed on them :-[ She asked that I bring her back when she has less in her bladder...so my plan is to have hubby take her to potty about an hour before I normally pick her up, let her have a drink, and then take her by on my way home. Dr. Nancy said it's just a quick thing, and will give us the sterile sample to look at and culture if necessary. We did talk quite a bit about her tucked vulva and when to do her spay. She is a strong advocate for an early spay for a variety of reasons. The first is that they recover so quickly, and all the tissues are so small....but she was talking about the benefits of an early spay and mammary cancer. She said that females that were spayed prior to their first season reduced their chances of mammary cancer down to 1 in 200 cases....but if waiting until after their first season, the chances are 1 in 8. We live near a very prominent university vet hospital that does tons of research, so most vets in the area have strong research drives. Anywho...we'll see what happens with the sterile sample, what we learn from that, and then move forward (with fingers crossed of course). Thanks again for all the well wishes for Miss Bella
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... If she has a tucked vulva you really should wait until she's had at least one season - the chances are very high that this will correct the tucked vulva without surgery. My Penny had a tucked vulva and had a lot of urine infections and vaginitis. Once she had her season her vulva went to normal and we've never had a problem since - it's the swelling of it from the season that 'pops' everything into it's proper place.
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... There is new research being done all the time on the most appropriate age to neuter dogs and whilst early neuter brings down some risks it appears that it increases others. I would recommend you do your research and make a decision appropriate to you, your pet and your circumstances. There's more info on the main site and some good material in the facebook group "Against the routine neutering of dogs" Best of luck
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... I'm sure you'll get this sorted. Hope Bella is on the road to recovery soon Re. desexing... Reading the original research articles is best if possible. It's good that your vet is happy to spend time talking about the research and the pros and cons
Re: Follow up from Vet Appointment.... Many years ago, I had a Springer Spaniel with a tipped vulva. The vet I was working for at the time was a top-notch Lab breeder and was Board Certified in veterinary obstetrics. She advised waiting as long as possible to spay, because the growth process would allow the vulva time to get to a more normal position. She would check the dog weekly, once we were past 6 months, and didn't advise the spay until the dog was 10 months old. The dog never had any UTIs, and only one bout of incontinence about 3 years later that only lasted for a couple months. If you can figure out that magic time just before her season, that would be a good time for the spay. Hard decisions!
