Questions about urine pH and general health concerns

[Nikkiey]

I got Juneau when he was 8 weeks old on November 1st. He was a the cutest more cuddly ball of fur ever. For the frst month, we just sat back and got to know our new family member, taking it easy, learning what worked for us. After we had him for about a month we started noticing a funky smell in his ears, so, brought him in to the vet to have it checked out and sure enough he has an infection in both ears. The vet said this was normal for young puppies with such floppy ears because they can't air out as well. So after a round of antibiotic ear drops, we were as good as new again.

Fast forward about another two weeks and we are back at the vet. This time for eye infections. So yet again, another round of antibiotic eye drops and after about a week, we were all healthy again.

(In between this time we have been keeping Juneau UTD on all his shots to make sure he's protected from all the scary stuff out there)

In January, he got his first bladder infection. Nothing major, no crystals, just a little bit of some red blood cells. So another round of antibiotics clear that up. Our vet said that once we get him neutered that that could help curb any reoccurance. (That was also the last time we saw that vet, just because he didn't really seem.....dog friendly?? Dogs weren't allowed to lick him or smell him....weird)

So in February, when Juneau was 5 months old, we got him neutered. The whole process went great and he was all healed up within 7 days.

Two weeks later he caught giardia (we think from our local off leash park). So another two rounds (first round wasn't enough to fully get rid of it) of antibiotics later and he was healthy again.

So then there was March, Juneau got another bladder infection , this time with crystals. So we went through the whole antibiotic round again and it seemed to go away.

Now fastforward to the beginning of June. Juneau started getting sticky stuff on the insides of his back legs and around his ''area''. So we made another vet appointment because we feared that he might, yet again, have another bladder infection. Brought him into the vet and did a urinalysis which came back negative. They tested the sticky stuff on him and they said it was full of white blood cells and a little bit of bacteria, but it didn't seem to be in his bladder. They also mentioned that the concentration of his urine was good (we had thought he was drinking a lot of water, 3 bowls of water a day) but that his pH was a lot higher. The vet said there was nothing to worry about because he seemed to be healthy and that sometimes pH is affected by when or what they eat. So she has prescribed us some antibiotcs for his 'sticky stuff' (which I swear is the same stuff we had for the bladder infections) and sent us on our way.

I am just wondering if anyone has had a similar issue (male dog with bladder infections or 'sticky stuff') or has heard of someone dealing with something similar. Most of the articles I can find always talk about female dogs so I am a little bit lost right now.

Sorry this is so long! I just wanted to make sure I included everything that might be related incase someone sees a pattern that I've missed.....thanks guys!

[Lucky Me]

What kind of dog food do you have him on? My first impression from reading this was food allergy...
And all of the antibiotics & meds have probably did a number on his good bacterial...
Sounds like some probiotics would do him good.....
I saw this article last year when I bought a pup & had a UTI issue. Found out later that a UTI isn't uncommon following their shots...
These articles deal with PH & urine crystals.... perhaps between the 2 sites you will find what is going on with his urine.. Good Luck!!
Bladder Stones + Crystals | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter
Crystals in urine

[Riverkatie]

I also thought food...

I don't know how you feel about preparing your own food, but how about trying that for a few weeks and seeing what happens. I have not tried this myself but a friend swears by it. There are a number of books/websites out there with recipes etc.

[Nikkiey]

We originally had him on Kirkland but quickly change that as the food didn't seem to agree with him. He is now on the Acana grain free line, more specifically Ranchland (He was on Grassland before). We also thought it was a food allergy so we took away all forms of treats and just gave him kibble instead which didn't seem to help.
When we started re-introducing treats back into his diet we only used real beef, chicken and cheese - we never used the store bought treats. Nothing seemed to help. We even started tracking what he ate and when to see if there was any correlation between his food and his issues, but nothing seemed to pop up. We even showed it to our original vet and out new vet and both saw nothing.

Thanks for the websites Lucky Me, I will certainly be checking them out!!

[deepnite10]

yeast infection s will usually occur in areas that won t allow the drying of
sweat and water..damp, moist and dark is a perfect breeding ground for all kinds of bad stuff..

for that reason i keep Toby s belly, armpits and ear s well shaved of hair all the time..this usually means working on the ears a couple time s a week and atleast twice a month on everything else..

you ve gone thru alot with the vet..and i d try to cut back on the number of incedences using a anti-biotic..the dogs and our own immunization systems can be compromised by not allowing the good bacteria do their job..

the dogs digestive tract is alot more active than our own..its stonger, being able to digest and rid of many things a human cant..mostly due to the contents of the type of bacteria in their systems..

diet can prove to be a problem if the dog has any food allergies..but, not usually create any problems where anti-biotics are needed..

id restrict his diet to a single type of protein..most likely a fish..though more expensive..you can move to another if you find his system responds well to the new diet..

to keep expenses down..get small bags of dog food..and keep a close eye on the how the dogs system reacts to the new food..

Some pet food stores will refund or exchange bags of dog food if the dog
does not take to it well..i can t remember how many bags ive return d to Petsmart..not that Toby had any allergies, he just did nt eat it..

of all the things..i d be more careful about over medicating than anything else..if there s nothing wrong with the immune system then i d allow the
dog to heal on its own..the result will be a healthier dog in the future..

[Nikkiey]

Juneau unfortunetly has a very weak stomach. His stomach produces too much stomach acid and therefore makes him sick to the point of puking up bile. In order to deal with this we have to make sure he eats at least every 6-8 hours, whether it be a full meal or part of one. Our vet originally mentioned that some pups grow out of this and to just "make it through the tough parts" to give him stuff similiar to pepto-bismol, but instead we opted for the extra feedings and the original change of food. Both of these really seemed to help because MAYBE once a month he'll have a little acid build-up and get sick, but it's quite rare now.

We also have to make sure we don't confuse him getting sick with the stomach acid rather than him just eating too fast. We had to buy a special bowl to slow him down (the ball didn't work because he would just throw it out of his dish) otherwise he would literally just inhale his food and then 5 minutes later be sick.

I've gone to our local pet pharmacy (and consulted with my vet) and have picked up a bunch of vitamin and oil supplements along with some probiotic stuff and have started adding that to his meals along with giving him one cranberry pill a day.

I am not quite confident enough to feed him strickly raw but I have started mixing 3/4 kibble with 1/4 raw for his daily feedings.

We are going to continue on this current run of antibiotics though because it has significantly cleared up his...'area' and he's no longer peeing all the time or looking like he's uncomfortable when he does. But I guess the trade-off is the fact that we have runny poo again, but at least I know what's causing it THIS time.

Thanks for all your help. I've been spending the last few days reading everything I could find on male dogs with bladder infections/kidney stones/crystals and pH problems so hopfully I'll be able to come up with a more holistic way of treating this.

[Nikkiey]

Oh and I forgot to mention that we are slowly moing Juneau over to the Acana Pacific (fish only) to see if this helps him! Thanks DeepNite10 for the suggestion