Hi, I'm Dr. Fiona Caldwell and I'm a veterinarian at Idaho Veterinary Hospital. I'm answering questions from Pets Best Facebook page today.
The first question comes from Linda. "What to do about a one-year-old dog that has had four urinary tract infections? We've tried changing the diet and adding cranberry supplements. She's on antibiotics once again for a whole month. We have a doggy door so both dogs are able to go out at any time. Any ideas?"
It sounds to me like you've been working with a veterinarian already since the urinary tract infections have been diagnosed and she's been on antibiotics. I'm not sure what your veterinarian has already done, but I would recommend that you do a couple of additional diagnostic tests besides just a urinalysis, such as an x-ray to rule out bladder stones, which can certainly cause recurrent urinary tract infections in dogs. Blood work might be important just to make sure that her kidneys are producing normal urine and urine that shouldn't have a problem with infection.
She's a younger dog so there's a possibility that she could have been born with some type of different anatomy that creates urine pooling in which bacteria can grow and then come back up into the bladder. Sometimes certain conditions like that can be surgically corrected but, of course, would need to be diagnosed.
If the bladder continues to become infected, one other thing that you might think about is culturing it. Have your veterinarian actually grow what's in there and make sure that you're using the appropriate antibiotic rather than just picking one out of a bunch. Those are the next things that I would do to try to keep this from becoming such a recurrent problem.
The next question comes from James. "My American Bulldog keeps getting a bumpy rash and needs antibiotics to fix it. They only stay away for a few weeks and then come back. I've tried changing food and am now using a low ingredient buffalo food. I feel for her and just want it to go away."
Because you use a good, hypoallergenic diet, it sounds like you might be able to rule out food allergies as a cause, unless she's truly allergic to buffalo. That leaves some type of contact allergen. I do think that this rash is probably related to some sort of allergies. It may be something that you don't have a lot of control over such as pollens, dust, molds, and that type of thing. When she has a flare-up, you're definitely going to want to see the veterinarian so that you can get the antibiotics she needs.
Things that you might do to try to prevent it from happening would be antihistamines, certain prescription shampoos and sprays. These would all be things that you would need to talk to your veterinarian about, to get dosages and that type of thing. Dogs can get allergy shots, too. Allergy testing, so they can actually get prescription allergy shots, is sometimes a possibility.
Allergies can be really frustrating, but if you work with your veterinarian you can hopefully formulate a plan that will keep her from continuing to flare up.
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