[Drbetsy5151]

I have had my mini -Cognac- now for 8 weeks and he is now almost 5 months old. He is extremely bright and has had only had one poop accident in the house. However, he has had significant problems with housebreaking for urine and has urinated many times in the home, despite being taken out even 1-2 hours. About 5 weeks ago, I told the vet, whom I do not know well as this is a new clinic I am taking him to, that he must have something going on, maybe a UTI and could she please check. He, indeed, had a severe UTI and was begun on a broad spectrum antibiotic for 10 days. I brought him back for a recheck 2 weeks later and we decided to culture his urine as he still had a moderately severe UTI, but she gave me Amoxicillin to give him until we heard back from the folks who culture urine. IT came back 5 days late with staph resistant to either of the first 2 antibiotics. He is now on his 3rd antibiotic-Doxicillin - which is supposed to take care of this. However, she mentioned that it is very unusual to have a male puppy with a UTI. This has made me fearful that he may have kidney problems. I am wondering, now, if I should get an ultrasound on his kidneys and if she should have done any of this differently.
Thanks for any sharing of experiences or information

 

[Rose n Poos]

Hi,

Yes, females are more likely to develop UTI's but it's not so unusual in males to need to suppose something must be seriously wrong. Put in a call to your vet tomorrow to ask if they think additional testing is needed at this time. If so, I'd think blood tests are the starting point.

I hope some members with more experience drop by soon to offer more specific info.

 

[Fenris-wolf]

I agree with Rose n poos.

 

[Mufar42]

I do think its unusual for a 5 month old to have a uti and I think your vet has taken a good approach in re checking each time. If the current anti biotic doesn't clear it up I would then have further testing done. Have you spoken to the breeder? Often their experience can be helpful.

 

[Starvt]

Not common for a male pup to be sure but it does happen. Bladder infections can travel up the ureter to the kidneys causing kidney infections, which generally require longer courses of antibiotics as they are harder to treat. However that is not likely at this age. UTIs are not a symptom of kidneys not working properly though. There is the potential of physical abnormalities that make infections more likely (again very unlikely though), or that he had been in an unclean environment.
I think your vet followed a reasonable protocol to start with an antibiotic that covers the usual UTI, and then recheck and culture when that was shown to be ineffective.
I would say that if the infection is not cleared at the end of the current round of meds, or if it recurs fairly soon, that an ultrasound to check the kidneys as well as the whole urogenital system would be a good next step.