dog has blood in urine
 

Yesterday when I picked up Guinness from daycare/grooming they told me they'd observed him peeing blood, said it wasn't much but thought I should know. I was hoping they were mistaken, but no, when we got home last night he did have blood in his urine (which I was only able to see thanks to the snow in the backyard). Honestly, if they hadn't noticed it, I probably wouldn't have last night as it was dark, so still wouldn't know. I called the ER vet and they did say it was ok to wait to call my regular vet in the morning unless I observed him in pain or unable to urinate. So today we have an appointment and I am bringing in a sample. Just wondering what are some causes of this? If it is a UTI, what makes a dog prone to getting those? btw, Guinness is a male dog. Could he have crystals? I know cats get those, and it is more of a problem for males.

Probably an infection, easily cleared with antibiotics.
Reminds me of the bright red urine on a snowbank that I spotted last week, wondering if the owner had seen it, or taken his poor animal to the vet :sad:

thanks, I hope it is something easily cured! :fingerscr He's otherwise been acting normal, so yeah, it would be easy to miss this problem if it weren't for the snow, at least until he really started feeling bad.

I went through this several years ago with my male Dachshund - he had bladder stones - scared the heck out of me when I came home to find him peeing blood. I would take to vet as soon as possible to determine cause.

The most common cause of blood in the urine is a UTI but it can also be a bladder or kidney infection. Good luck at the vet and keep us posted. :fingerscr :goodvibes:

I always assume the worst when it comes to these things. Hopefully the lab results are done by the time we get to the vet's... but my dog seems comfortable and doesn't act like he's in any pain. We're supposed to leave for my parent's place tomorrow, too, but now not sure what we'll do. If this is really serious, we may have to stay in town. What causes bladder stones? Could it be something he's eaten? Poor Guinness :sick:

Grain-free diets are supposed to be good. Orijen ([url]www.championpetfoods.com[/url]) is my favourite. The vet will probably insist you put him on one of the prescription kibbles though. :rolleyes:

If Guinness seems completely normal it is most likely only a UTI. Good luck and keep us posted. :fingerscr :goodvibes:

Any results on Guinness, yet? :fingerscr that it's just a UTI!

I was wondering the same thing. :o

Yes, we did get to the vet yesterday and thankfully the lab results were already done for his urine. All they found in his urine was blood, no crystals. The vet thinks it is likely an infection somewhere, probably the urethra. She prescribed antibiotics but told me to watch him as stones are not ruled out. She has seen animals as young as 6 months with stones and also has seen cases of stones with no crystals found in the urine. He did have an accident in the house last night, so he is obviously feeling 'off'. I was wondering when that was going to happen! Poor guy... thanks for the concern, I'll update if anything else goes on.

He's been eating Wellness Fish and Sweet Potato formula kibble and before that was California Natural Lamb and Rice. I have been wanting to try Orijen but can't find it in stores around here. I did see someone posted a link in one of the threads recently where it can be ordered online... maybe will try that next. I was surprised, my vet didn't push or even mention putting him on Rx food.

just add water to his food so he will pee more, i have to do that with my pin a few yrs back he had chrstals and the vet told me to add the water! flush flush, hope this helps and yes 4 months now my guys are on the orjen the love it. brenda and the pins.

My guy had an X-Ray to see the 4 stones he had - and then had to eat Hill's CD until they were surgically removed and for several months after surgery - not an easy thing for a food loving Dachshund - and the C/D looks like white lard. But it paid off - he did not develop further crystals/stones. He was about a year old when the stones were found. I also get kidney stones - too much uric acid not being passed - have to really watch the purines and oxalic acids in food. Some people develop stones by eating too much of a certain thing - a friend did it by over doing it daily with oranges and Vitamin C supplements. I can't take Vitamin C anything. Just make sure your dog gets lots of water and that he pees as often as he should. If peeing stops, please get to vet. This should not hinder your holiday plans. Our current dog, an Eskimo, is a breed prone to stones - but so far, so good - nearly 3 years, 9 months - but should he start peeing blood I won't be quite as freaked out as last time - assuming reason is same. I feed him Fromms Salmon A La Veg - good for northern breeds.

white lard, ewww! :yuck: but if that's what we have to do, and it works, I'd feed him whatever it takes. I did get him some wet food and he loved it, so that should help with his liquid intake. He hasnt' been drinking any more than usual but only pees a little at a time and it is still bloody. He has been taking antibiotics only since Fri. night - anyone know how long it takes for them to take effect? Other than seeming more tired than usual, he is fine (and the bloody urine, of course). Doesn't seem in pain or straining when he urinates and is basically his happy self. Except for a couple small accidents in my parent's house, the holidays have been as usual. Apparently he was actually howling last night when I left to go to the store, though. Never heard him do that before, could be he feels something is not quite right and is extra-needy. We are all going out tonight but he has been more mellow today, so should be ok, I hope! :fingerscr It probably wouldn't be appreciated if my dog destroyed something of my parent's, but maybe they'd be ok with it as they think he's a great doggy. Don't want to have to find out though! :fingerscr:fingerscr

Good luck then while you're gone tonight! :fingerscr The antibiotics should be starting to work by now so maybe he's feeling a little better today and not so needy. :D

I agree.....the antibiotics should be working by now. If they haven't by tomorrow, give the vet a call. Do you have a crate to put him in when you go out tonight? Or can you baby-gate off a room to keep him in? Hopefully, he will be okay. :fingerscr

[QUOTE=Kristen7]I have been wanting to try Orijen but can't find it in stores around here. [/QUOTE]

Where in the U.S. do you live?

Well, unfortunately he did do some damage in the basement... hopefully my mom will get over it. My dad doesn't care and he is the one who will be fixing it. I do have a crate, but have never left him in it alone for hours at a time. He goes it in in my car. I thought my parent's had a baby gate, which is what I use at home, but they left it in their other house so we had to shut him in the basement. He tore apart some trim around the door while we were gone. Poor guy - I wasn't sure what to do with him but was hoping for the best because we have left him alone in the house here before with no incident. He is definitely more of a baby right now though! There is less blood today and more urine so hopefully he is turning around. He still seems normal otherwise. If something happens, my relatives here have recommended a great animal emergency clinic, so I could take him there.

I live in Indianapolis, IN. I have been able to find just about every kind of good brand of food except Orijen. I can even find raw brands for sale at the petstore. Maybe it is not distributed to us.

Kristin7,

Hope your baby gets well soon. It's rough to have a sick animal and not be home where everything is familiar.

MarySmith

Yeah, that wasn't so much fun, but we are home now and yesterday I didn't see anymore blood. Guinness sure is tired today, though, likely from all the excitement of a trip and also because of his illness. Hopefully now he'll be able to recover quicker! Sure is tempting to not go to the parent's place for any more holidays. It is very difficult to find a place to board him for any holiday in this city, all the places are booked up months in advance.

update
 

arrrrgh!!! The bloody urine problem is back. He has been fine since the last episode, I guess about a month and a half ago. I've been watching and haven't seen anything until tonight. I picked him up at daycare and they told me Guinness was urinating blood, that it had started off as just a little or nothing, and got worse and worse throughout the day. This seems rather sudden to me. Is this normal for a uti? Do they come on all of a sudden? Though last time, the blood stopped after a couple days of antibiotics, which I gave to him for 3 weeks total. The vet did say it could come back though. I am just thinking, isn't this a bit odd, to have it progress so fast over the course of only one day? Another thing is, both times this has happened after a day at daycare. Could all the bouncing around he does there be triggering something?? By the way, he seems fine, I'm calling the vet early tomorrow and plan to collect a sample for them to drop off on my way to work. He's acting normal and was quite enthusiastic about his dinner, so there doesn't seem to be an emergency. The vet had said before that this could be bladder stones, so I'm wondering if his situation sounds more like that than an infection, or if it is an infection, maybe he has some stones in there irritating things and triggering infections. If it not stones, why is he getting infections so often?? He eats good quality food and I've even been incorporating wet food in the last month or so, to get more liquids into him. Not that he seems to be depriving himself water... his intake is normal, not limited or excessive (and believe me, I know excessive from my previous dog with CRF). help!!

Aww poor Guinness:sick:. Even in humans it is sometimes difficult to get rid of a bladder infection.

Yeah, I guess 3 weeks of antibiotics wasn't enough. He was good all last night but did ask to go out once. But this morning, he threw up a couple times, once while I was on the phone with the vet, so they said if I was worried about leaving him home alone, then I could bring him in for observation today. So, that's where he is right now. :sad: I hope he is ok, last time he was fine except for the bloody urine. I hope he didn't eat anything bad at the doggy daycare place.

update from vet
 

I just talked to the vet, poor Guinness has a fever, not super high, but the vet isn't sure what is going on so she took blood for lab tests and has some urine as well. They also did xrays of his urinary tract, kidneys, bladder... she said the tubes going out of the bladder looked fine, so did the bladder but she [U]thought she saw something on or near his right kidney[/U]! I am not sure what to think of that but it doesn't sound good. He threw up a couple times at the vet's too, and not sure if it has anything to do with his bloody urine or if he just ate something that isn't setting right with him. I'm going to take him home tonight after work and am not supposed to feed him, and only give him water a little at a time so his stomach doesn't get too disturbed. I feel so bad for him! I hope this is nothing bad, but the kidney thing worries me greatly (it doesn't help that my last dog died from complications from her CRF at the age of 3). If I have another dog with kidney problems, I swear, no more dogs for me, I can't handle this!! :cry:

Well keep us posted, and we are all praying it's a simple fix!! :grouphug: :pray:

Poor doggie, no dinner for him!! :eek: When will you know more?

And can you post a pic of your pup so we know exactly what we are dealing with here...:shrug: :D

Oh no....I am so sorry to hear about Guinness. :grouphug: Is he having an ultrasound done on his right kidney? I hope it is nothing too serious. :pray: :fingerscr :goodvibes: :goodvibes:

Thanks for the get well wishes! I should know more tomorrow, as the lab tests will be ready by then. I don't recall the vet saying anything about an ultrasound but was wondering about that (my other dog had quite a few of those). I think she is wanting to wait for lab test results first, but then if something looks odd, go ahead and do the ultrasound. The vet said she's being extra cautious because it's me (referring to past experience with Sydney), and I told her to do whatever she felt would help. Poor Guinness, he gets so scared at the vets... I am going to leave soon to go bring him home.

I'll see if i can find a good pic at home... I have had a hard time capturing him on film, probably my camera isn't very good. By the time the pic snaps, he is usually moved away already, plus, he is black so there are some tricks to that. But if you have good vision, you can check out my avatar, that's him enjoying the water. His dogster page has some pics, too, but not enough. :dog:

Kristen, my thoughts will be with you and Guinness. :grouphug: Good luck. :pray: :fingerscr :goodvibes:

Btw, when I checked dogster for pics it says this...

[url]http://www.dogster.com/669963[/url]

here, try this rainbow: [url]http://www.dogster.com/dogs/669963[/url]

Well, he's home and seems rather tired, but he probably was stressed all day (he is kinda scared at the vets), plus is usually tired after a day of daycare. He's thirsty but won't eat the ice cubes... he wants to eat snow, so I guess that is better than nothing. Of course he threw up all over the back of my car on the way home, even though it had been hours since he did that at the vets. He does get carsick, so really, I don't know if this is all that unusual, esp after his stressful day and not feeling great to begin with. So far so good, though, at home. If he doesn't puke in the next hr or two, I can give him a little bit of food. The vet of course gave me some special food for dogs (bland diet, canned). It looks ok, I suppose, and she didn't say it had to be his permanent diet, only for tonight/tomorrow. :fingerscr that he is back to normal tomorrow and doesn't have any scary health problems.

Guinness is one good looking boy. :lovestruck: I wonder why the link didn't work when I first checked? It's the same as the one you just re-posted. :confused: Oh well, doesn't matter, got to see the handsome boy and that's all that matters. :D He does look more border collie than akita. I'm a little surprised that there isn't any white with that mix. :o

I hope he eats the vet's canned food for you. Their prescription food is sometimes the only thing that will help at the time. Hopefully, it will stay down for him. :fingerscr

I hope you manage to have a good nights sleep.....hugs to you both :grouphug: and hoping for good results tomorrow. :pray: :fingerscr :goodvibes: :goodvibes:

He is definitely a handsome Dude, Kristin! We've got :fingerscr and a whole bunch of crossed :pawprint:s here hoping for good results tomorrow! :grouphug:

pics
 

Thanks, yes, I think he is quite handsome though I am biased :D He's definitely more border collie, but is fairly mellow. He does like to play though, but mostly does that outside. The only white on him is one of his whiskers, the rest is dark brown or black, with lighter brown around his ears.

He didn't get to eat last night, he was having trouble holding down water.. :sad: I let him eat some snow and ice cubes and he threw up several times, just water. He seems somewhat better now though, and I've let him out a couple times to eat a little snow. He doesn't seem to want to drink water and isn't all that thrilled about ice either, but I figure he needs to have some liquids in him, so snow it is.

Here are some pics of my boy:

Enjoying a deserted beach near Grand Marais, MI
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Same beach but a good example of my bad photo taking (that's my friend's Keeshond mix in the background)
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On my back steps last summer just hanging out
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