I don't know how any of you are aware of this, but i feel i should tell you to prevent future cases.
In 2008 my dog kept waking me all through the night to go out. I rang vets asap and managed to a urine sample from him. His urine was very discoloured, almost red, with alot of protien in. He wasnt himself at all, i knew exactky how he felt having suffered from these many times. The vets confirmed that he had a water infection and he was put on a course a anti-biotics. He had a check up the following week and all was fine.

July 2010, he was very uncomfortable and was yelping. After getting medication from the vet make him comfotable enough to travel him to the vets (4 tramadol & pardale) he went for x-rays where they discover a small boney lump on his spine, but this was not enough to be causing his pain. The following day he went in for an MRI scan, Lumber punctures and other things. The scan showed a clear picture of his spine and discs. Where one of his discs once was, was now a cloudy mass, it no longer there? No wonder he was so much pain. The bone was also starting to corode. This had been caused be a paticular type of Bacteria, that is only found in the unrine when infected. The anti-biotics had not cleared up the infection. The bacteria made migrated to his spine and eaten away his disc and bone. They hadnt seen a worse case than Alfy's.
He was put on 3 different antibiotics and two different painkillers....one being Tramadol.....9 per day!! He copped ok, exercise very restricted. But as long as he was pain free and happy, i was happy. Eventually thsi took his life in feb this year. His back collapsed and his back legs gave up.

Please, if your dog contracts a urine infection, after the antibiotic be sure to to insist on another urine test to be sure that its clear. I wouldnt wish any animal to go through what Alfy did.

Thank you for the information and I am so sorry for what happened to alfie I can see how raw this is for you atm

You obviously know what happened with your dog and I am certainly not trying to tell you differently but I've been speaking to a few breeders of late and have found some interesting facts about rotties and their tails/spine.  Apparently, since the docking ban, a spine abnormality has been showing up in the breed which is detected in the tail.  I don't know if this could be anything to do with your boy at all but I thought their might be some significance.  Either way, I hope you get your peace soon.  He sounds like a very special dog.

That is so sad!  My dog had his first ear infection ever at 6 years old that never cleared up and now has lost his face muscles and I often wonder if there is a correlation.  Seems so strange how these things happen

gWhat a terrible time for you Moonpig, and thank you for being able to share you experience with the rest of us. I am so sorry for your loss.

gale:
Has your vet looked into Masticatory Muscle Mysositis..?

Thanks - i just feel that this is something that needs to be made clear as urine infections can be so common. Its been an awful time...its still is.