hi im just wondering is anyone can help, any suggestions would be grately appreciated. I will start from the very beginning i have a 3 year old bichon frise she has always been in great health and never had any problems 1 year ago she had her very first litter of 6 healthy puppies and had no problems since, anyway me and my husband thought it was a good time to breed her again keep a puppy and have her spayed so we took her to the vets had all the relevant checks done and she was good to go we searched alot of stud dogs till we found one who was fully health checked with all certificates and began the process she was mated twice with two ties first one 20mins and second 40 mins 48 hours apart, everything seemed fine untill 4 weeks later when i noticed blood in her urine and she was very lethargic so took her straight to the vets had her wee tested which showed infection was given antibiotics and kept taking her back every few days to have wee checked and was kept getting more antibiotics, anyway rushed her in last thursday as she was losing alot of blood from her vulva alot more than shes ever had in a season, they gave her a scan and said there was no sign of pregnancy and gave her an antibiotic injection and i was to take her back the following morning for more antibiotics, anyway shes finished those antibiotics and still has blood in her urine and seems very depressed and is crying and moping around, im very worried as this is totally not like her at all and i just cannot get to the bottom of whats going on i had a culture and sensitivity blood test which showed fine and they re scanned her and said her bladder was a little enlarged, just wondering if anyone has had anything similar or if anyone can point me in the right direction, my vets are adiment its not bladder stones but im wondering if i should have an x ray to double check as shes urinating on my carpet which she has never done and urinating very frequently and sometimes nothing comes out, if any one has any advice i would be very grateful xx

I would be asking the vets -
Kidneys - what are their function like? Are they normal.
The other thing would be to check ovaries - think ovarian cyst this can cause
blood to be in urine etc.

I'm sure others will be on soon to give more ideas of questions/directions to go

Were the results from the culture and sensitivity test showing she had received the correct antibiotics?

This frequent urination sounds like she has cystitis caused by infection, partial blockage[stones or stricture] or injury, if it had happened closer to the mating I would blame that causing irritation to the urethra which is close to the entry of the vagina.

I would take her back to the vet and say she is no better and ask for a second opinion from a different vet at the practice.

thanks very much guys for the advice i done exactly that i rang the vets and asked to speak with the manager whom i did i explained everything and he said come straight along, so along i went an ultra sound showed her bladder was enlarged and her tummy swollen they have sent her urine sample to an external lab for a culture and sensitivity test if that comes back clear they advised the only other option would be to have an x ray done and see if anything shows up, i asked about the culture and sensitivity blood test they done and they said everything was normal apart from something called Lac which came back very high, they said this would be normal with her recently been mated, im just hoping and praying that from either the urine culture test and xray comes back with what the problem is as i cant bear to see her so poorly xx

Has your vet offered to do a cystoscopy or urothsocopy to look into the bladder?

hi justine unfortunantly not im genrally quite a soft person but last night when i went back to the surgery id really took enough ive forked out £368 up untill now and still my little darling is poorly i dont mind paying any amounts if she was getting better, when he started examining her she was crying and wouldnt take her paws off my arm she was leaning over my arm weeping i felt heartbroken he said is there any chance she could be pregnant??? i looked at him in disbelief and said have you actually read her notes she was mated before all this happened and has two scans off your vet and no puppies were seen just an elarged bladder and alot of gas, anyway he said she seemed very unsettled and swollen so gave her an injection for the swelling sent a urine sample away for culture and sensitivity and said if that comes back clear they will x ray her for stones as thats what all the symptoms are pointing to, i no definetly my girl is not right and i think she may have stones i also think shes having a phantom pregnancy its just an awful feeling when you cannot get to the root problem xx

I feel so sorry for you and your girl.   Have been there with the gravel and sand in the bladder etc.    It's so upsetting to see them suffer.

I'm puzzled as to why the vet didn't x-ray immediately for stones etc.  Rather than waiting for tests again.   Surely an x-ray would be a more immediate way of finding stones, as it's looking very likely anyway?  

Also, if the bitch has a large amount of urine in the bladder, a scan or x-ray would surely show this?   There are ways of reducing urine in the bladder and at least making her more comfortable whilst you wait for definitive results.

thanks very much dill its my girl i feel sorry for, i said last night to just x ray her and he said the urine culture and sensitivity test tells them more that x rays arnt straight forward he said sometimes they have to blow up the bladder to see little stones to be honest im beginning to think i may be getting fobbed off cos he was going on holiday today till after bank holiday and i dont want to go anywhere else because they have the history of whats going on im in a catch 22 xx

Is she actually passing urine?   

Try to keep a record of how much she is drinking, and how much she is passing.    Not easy, I know ;)   but if it's substantially less,  and her bladder is swollen, then it's likely that she'll need to be catheterised to remove the urine if she's not passing it normally.   

Basic info here

But there are other causes of bladder problems that can give similar symptoms.

I would hope that the results would be back a lot sooner than the bank holiday.   That's a long time for your girl to be in pain!

If you get a referral to a specialist her notes would go with her so I wouldn't worry about your vet having the history of what is going on. Likewise, if you went to another vet practice for a second opinion, which you are entitled to do, your vet would have to pass on her notes. Getting a referral to a specialist would make more sense though.