Update on UTI and crystals

J

Jinee1

Forums Regular
We went to the vet again today. After Eevee's been on antibiotics for almost 4 weeks. She had 2nd round of antibiotics because 1st round didn't completely cure her of the infection.

Today's urinalysis said Eevee's free of the UTI but the amout of struve crystals has increased a lot. 2 weeks ago she only had 4 crystals seen under the microscope, today she had 20. Her urine pH was 6.5 last time and today it was 8.0.

The vet is suggesting that we change her diet to Royal canine urinary SO or Hills S/D. Does anyone have their dogs on these diets? Is it really necessary to change her diet? Some people suggested that I give Vitamin C, which I asked out vet. She said that is old method and people don't use it anymore. But I'm willing to try it out. She did mention too much vitamin C can cause different types of crystals. She suggested 500mg per day. Where do I get the vitamin C from? Are there dog specific tablets for the UTI I can give? someone suggested cranberry cap and Berry something from solid gold. Where can I get these from?

Also, how can I get Eevee to drink more so she will pee more? I tried adding some chicken broth to her water and she did like it for a day or so, but she doesn't drink much today. *sigh* We've had Eevee for 5 weeks and so far, we took a trip to the vet 4 times and the vet bills are piling up. :(
 
Your vet is right that too much vitamin C can cause different kinds of crystals. It did happened to my dog, but I know for a fact that a vitamin C a day has definitely helped my dog's condition.

Without vitamin C pills my puppy had many UTI's and crystals. After treating her over and over with antibiotics, we tried 500mg of vitamin C. Her UTI and crystals cleared up, but now she had a different type of crystal. We lowered the Vitamin C dose to 250mg (I cut it in half, so she gets half for breakfast and half for dinner). After 2 weeks, we did another urine test to see if her crystals were gone and they were. :biggrin2:

After she was spayed and doing so well, we decided to take her off the vitamin C pills. Not long after stopping the pills, she got another UTI. She's been back on the 250mg vitamin C pill and has been great since. I get a urine test for her every 6 months to make sure everything is good.

I give her normal human over the counter 250mg vitamin C pills.

My dog is not on any type of special diet. She currently eats Taste Of The Wild and is currently being transitioned to Acana.

I know how you feel, this all happened when Bailey was a puppy too. :( Did your vet check her private area to see if she has an inverted vulva?

I hope Eevee feels better and you find a supplement that works for her.
 
UTI and crystals

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your puppy. Our Sheltie is 3 years old and didn't have bladder problems until last Nov. She has had 5 UTI's since then. Xrays showed no stones but she had struvite crystals in Nov. so tried a diet brand that gave her diarrhea, so vet said to discontinue it. I read also to increase water intake. She loves ice water so I keep some filtered water in the refrigerator and add about 1/3 cold water to 2/3 regular temperature water to her bowl. I figure all ice water might be too shocking. She drinks more this way. This spring with a UTI she had a different kind of crystal, calcium something, so vet recommended Royal Canin SO to help prevent both kinds of crystals. Today we got the good news that the Royal Canin SO food is controlling the crystals as she has neither kind present and her most recent E. coli UTI infection has been cleared up with antibiotics. The vet also recommended I spray her rocks (that serve as her bathroom) with a mixture of 1 oz bleach to 32 oz water, 2-3 times a week and then rinse them with water. I haven't tried that yet though. I hope some of this helps. Hang in there, it can be expensive and frustrating finding something to fix UTI's and crystals! Good luck, Elaine
 
We had a sheltie on Royal Canine urinary SO. She had bladder surgery at 9 to remove crystals. She lived to be 14 on the special diet and didn't have any more bladder problems.
 

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Our Maddie was on Hills S/D. We added water to it to get more water down her. The vet would not let us give her anything but the Hills, no treats, no vegies just the Hills S/D. She still ended up needing bladder surgery to remove the stones.
 
A friend of mine's Aussie just had to get the surgery to remove the crystals. She recovered quickly and so far it has been a success.
 
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