Urinary tract infection
Sandra Augustine
on the phone this week talking to a very sad puppy buyer and I'd like to give
her some good advice, but I've never heard of this kind of problem before.
I'd really like to hear from any of you who have had similar problems. Here's
the background:
I sold Ozzie (golden retriever puppy, almost 3 months old) to Colleen
early in October. Since then, he's developed a urinary tract infection with
some crystals in his urine. The external symptoms of his problem are drinking a
lot of water and needing to go outside frequently. Ozzie has been on Amoxicillin
for one week with no improvement. Yesterday, Colleen was told by her vet that
because Ozzie has crystals in his urine now, that he will always be predisposed
to having these crystals. The vet also said that Ozzie will need to be on
a special diet his entire life and should have monthly urine tests done for a
least a year. He also discussed the possibility of surgery for Ozzie. As you
can imagine, Colleen is very depresssed about this. And as you can imagine,
I feel very bad for Colleen and Ozzie.
Colleen was told by her vet that Ozzie has crystals in his urine
because: (1) of the bacterial infection and (2) that he was fed Purina
Pro-Plan which causes the crystals to form in the presence of bacteria.
Colleen thought her vet said that "bad" ingredients in Pro-Plan were magnesium
and phosphates. I thought that all dog foods would contain magnesium and
phosphates, but I haven't had the time to check into this yet (I just heard
this last night). HAS ANYONE HEARD OF ANY PROBLEMS LIKE THIS WITH PRO-PLAN?
For those of you kind netters who might be concerned about Ozzie, I
can tell you that the vet has him on a different antibiotic and a prescription
diet which will supposedly dissolve the crystals. I just left a message on
Colleen's answering machine that I would pay for a second opinion if Ozzie
doesn't improve soon. The only good news is that Ozzie is the only puppy that
seems to have this problem. The others have stayed healthy.
Any information/insights which any of you might have on Pro-Plan causing
urinary crystals or on urinary tract infections coupled with urinary crystals
in puppies would be greatly appreciated.
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Sandra Augustine |Home of: Conformation, obedience, and field titled Golden
NORWOOD KENNELS |Retrievers who do therapy dog work, a disobedient but
ems: sl...@cas.org|beautiful Siberian husky and a *cute* Norfolk terrier puppy
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The above opinions are not those of my employer.
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J.M. Maurer
Folks,
I am a new poster so here goes. I am thinking about getting a
dog in the summer. I would like a German Shepard, but I have heard
mixed reviews. I have also hear that a shepard/lab mix makes a good
pet. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please send to
JMM...@ultb.isc.rit.edu
Thanx in Advance
Jimbo
Dale Cook
>In article <1992Nov12....@cas.org> sl...@cas.org (Sandra Augustine) writes:
>
>[stuff deleted]
>
>> I sold Ozzie (golden retriever puppy, almost 3 months old) to Colleen
>>early in October. Since then, he's developed a urinary tract infection with
>>some crystals in his urine. The external symptoms of his problem are drinking a
>>lot of water and needing to go outside frequently. Ozzie has been on Amoxicillin
>>for one week with no improvement. Yesterday, Colleen was told by her vet that
>>because Ozzie has crystals in his urine now, that he will always be predisposed
>>to having these crystals. The vet also said that Ozzie will need to be on
>>a special diet his entire life and should have monthly urine tests done for a
>>least a year. He also discussed the possibility of surgery for Ozzie. As you
>>can imagine, Colleen is very depresssed about this. And as you can imagine,
>>I feel very bad for Colleen and Ozzie.
>
>we had a cat that developed this problem. Symptoms were as you state, plus
>blood in the urine. The problem was easy to clear up, but the cat also
>had to be on a special diet the rest of its life, for the same reason (i.e.,
>that he would be predisposed to get them again). I did not think much of it
>at the time, until you mentioned it, but the veterinarian in this case also
>blamed the Purina cat food he had been eating all of his life. I have to admit
>that I really did not believe this, but he is the veterinarian. I mean, how
>many cats and dogs eat Purina dog food? I know lots of people that feed Pro-Plan
We have a cat that had this problem, too. The problem is known as Feline
Urinary Syndrome (FUS) and is quite common in male cats, especially neutered
ones. As far as I know, your vet is correct is stating that it is diet which
is to blame. Many cheaper cat foods have a high magnesium content, which
forms salts in the urine which can form crystals. These crystals cause
tiny cuts in the urethra which lead to inflammation and possibly infection.
Additionally, these crystals can ultimately block the urinary tract and if
not treated will cause death.
I believe this does occur in dogs as well, but is much less common.
To answer the original question, if this is indeed the problem, then
yes, I believe a special diet is in order for the rest of the dog's life.
The antibiotics will clear up any infection, but the root cause of the
problem, the crystals in the urine, will simply cause the problem over
again if left untreated.
>be common. If the dog does need a special diet (I think the cat was on Hill's
>"Stone" diet), it is not really all that bad. My recollection is that it was not
>THAT much more expensive. I never calculated the cost over the rest of the life
We feed our cats Science Diet (Hill's) CD formula, at about $1/can. I don't
know what the dog food costs.
---Dale Cook
Stephen R Lee
[stuff deleted]
> I sold Ozzie (golden retriever puppy, almost 3 months old) to Colleen
>early in October. Since then, he's developed a urinary tract infection with
>some crystals in his urine. The external symptoms of his problem are drinking a
>lot of water and needing to go outside frequently. Ozzie has been on Amoxicillin
>for one week with no improvement. Yesterday, Colleen was told by her vet that
>because Ozzie has crystals in his urine now, that he will always be predisposed
>to having these crystals. The vet also said that Ozzie will need to be on
>a special diet his entire life and should have monthly urine tests done for a
>least a year. He also discussed the possibility of surgery for Ozzie. As you
>can imagine, Colleen is very depresssed about this. And as you can imagine,
>I feel very bad for Colleen and Ozzie.
I'm not sure if this will help or not, but I'll toss it in. A long time ago
we had a cat that developed this problem. Symptoms were as you state, plus
blood in the urine. The problem was easy to clear up, but the cat also
had to be on a special diet the rest of its life, for the same reason (i.e.,
that he would be predisposed to get them again). I did not think much of it
at the time, until you mentioned it, but the veterinarian in this case also
blamed the Purina cat food he had been eating all of his life. I have to admit
that I really did not believe this, but he is the veterinarian. I mean, how
many cats and dogs eat Purina dog food? I know lots of people that feed Pro-Plan
to their sled dogs without any problems. I don't think they feed it to their
puppies, however. Most of the people I know feed Science Diet Growth or Eukanuba
to their pups. I have no first hand experience with Purina, other than with the
cat.
Again, this is probably not all that useful. This was a cat, and an old one
at that. You have a young puppy. You'll proably get lots of "my dog does
fine on Pro-Plan" and "my dog almost died on Pro-Plan" type responses, which
probably won't help all that much either. Nothing wrong with getting a second
opinion, of course, but special diets after something like this do seem to
be common. If the dog does need a special diet (I think the cat was on Hill's
"Stone" diet), it is not really all that bad. My recollection is that it was not
THAT much more expensive. I never calculated the cost over the rest of the life
of the cat, however, so I guess I really don't know exactly how much more expensive
it was. I would certainly get a second opinion on surgery. What was the proposed
surgery, anyway?
I hope this helps (somehow :-) ).
>
>********************************************************************************
>Sandra Augustine |Home of: Conformation, obedience, and field titled Golden
>NORWOOD KENNELS |Retrievers who do therapy dog work, a disobedient but
>ems: sl...@cas.org|beautiful Siberian husky and a *cute* Norfolk terrier puppy
>********************************************************************************
> The above opinions are not those of my employer.
>********************************************************************************
>
--
============================================================
Stephen R. Lee |
OooWoo Racing Kennel | I'd rather be driving sled
E-Mail: sr...@beta.lanl.gov | dogs.
Shari Bernhard
>Jimbo
If you think I'm going to let THIS one go by without mentioning Raven,
THE BEST DOG THAT EVER LIVED (your opinion may vary :-) ), you've never
read my posts! Raven is a Black Lab/White German Shepherd mix. Her
mom was the Lab, dad was the Shepherd. She has all the wonderful
attributes of the Lab: great with kids (even though we don't have any
of our own, just neighbors, nieces and nephews), loyal to the ends of the
earth, intelligent, loves to retrieve, loves to swim, loves attention,
very playful, even at 10 years old. She has all the best attributes of
the Shepherd: protective, possesses great strength and courage, loyal,
intelligent, loves kids, loves attention. The funny interaction is that
although the Lab in her loves to retrieve, the Shepherd in her decides to
keep it. She's black with Shepherd hair, tail, snout, and body shape.
Her eyes are Lab, and her paws are webbed. Her ears don't know WHAT to do!
I never took her to obedience classes; she practically trained herself.
I know I've been very lucky when I read in this newsgroup what so many
people go through. Aside from a digging streak when she was kept outdoors
all the time, she was a model dog once I started keeping her inside. She
didn't chew, scratch, shred or dirty. She would go for food kept on a
counter, but, GEESH! She's still a DOG. I'm well trained now! :-)
By the way, she also understands English. Go for it!
Shari (Raven's Mom) Bernhard