just a post to ask if anyone has experienced this, my girl peggy is 13 now and has been taking steroids for half her life, but last May she got a water infection which was cleared up with antibiotics.
She now has it again ,had sample of urine tested and was given two weeks of the same antibiotic which worked fine until 3 days after she stopped taking them, so back on them.
She is booked into vets for scan and x-ray on Tuesday and a possible sample from her bladder which im told involves a needle being put directly into her bladder to draw a sample to test what bacteria is causing this.
Im pretty sure this is steroids causing this but I have no option,recently tried to come off them for a while and my poor girl was in so much pain with her arthritis(rheumatoid) she collapsed and went like a rag doll.
I guess im looking for a magic cure, I  will look at diet and supplements but if anyone out there has any advice I would very grateful,
Ash

Anybody?

Was the sample send out for culture and sensitivity??
I have a diabetic dog on steroids and he suffers frequent uti's his samples are always a 'free catch' and i personally have never gone down the cysto route of needles into the bladder. Recently my wee man was on antibiotics for a month to clear it up as the steroids and the diabetes make it much harder but not impossible to clear. I have discuss with the vet if it keeps happening so frequently having him on long term antibiotic which is not ideal but given his other issues may be likely for him in the future.

D-mannose is a good supplement to help with uti's.

> Im pretty sure this is steroids causing this

Why do you think it is the steroids if she has been on them for so long and not had a problem before? Has your vet said it is steroid related? If your dog is so much worse without the steroids then I think the odd urine infection is a small price to pay for her comfort.

thanks for advice peg in vets tomorrow and I think I will not let them do needle aspiration, just go with scan and x-ray to rule out anything else.
urine has just been tested by vets so I think I will ask them to send sample to lab for a proper analysis and I will look up supplement.
newyork, in the end, you pay a high price for long term steroid use, my girl would  be dead without them, but they suppress her immunity in order to suppress her disease, so cure for one thing ends up leaving her wide open to any infection, also the lining of her stomach damaged due to steroids but we can manage that.
Luckily most of the time she is a happy, stubborn little saluki but when you see your dog peeing blood it its scary and I know painful, im just hoping a longer course of antibiotics will sort this out and that her scan tomorrow does not show anything sinister.
ash.

I would get them to send it out for culture before I done any other tests. It would only take a few days and you would know for sure if its been just the wrong antibiotic or not on it long enough.
I am assuming that they would sedate her for an x-ray and I would try to avoid this until totally necessary.
If its an ultrasound then no sedation so it depends on what your vet has planed?
Do you know if the vet found any crystals in her urine?
Could be the vet is scanning for bladder stone but she would have crystals in her urine if that was the case.

I agree long term steroid use has its price - but for me anyway the good far out weights the bad.
When you tried to stop the steroids did you wean her off them gradually?

I don't want to worry you needlessly, but I did just want to say that whilst I would totally understand avoiding the sedation needed for xray and the needle aspiration I would definitely go for the ultrasound. I had a 12 year old (male ) lab develop an apparent UTI, antibiotics reduced the amount of blood etc in the urine but didn't cure it, I was reluctant to allow a needle aspiration as it seems an uncomfortable procedure for an elderly dog. after a while pfaffing around thinking it was stones and wanting me to swap from Raw to a special Hills diet a different vet suggested the scan which unfortunately showed  a bladder tumor. They are relatively common I believe in older dogs and the scan was quite quick and easy so I would def recommend it.
In my case I was in a way pleased to have an answer so we could focus on keeping him comfortable and stop dragging him into the vets repeatedly.
I  do hope it's just a simple infection and you get it sorted for her
xxx

no we are not having her sedated today for x ray and ultra sound there is no need as she is a really easy going dog, she takes 5mg of pred a day at the moment but before it was every other day, we have tried in the past to wean her off but I wont try anymore after last time it was a disaster but we had to stop as her stomach was inflamed we thought she had an ulcer(she didn't)she was fine for two weeks without steroids and then collapsed,.
That was when I truly thought it was all over, vet would not come out , I was not happy at the time but now I understand ,he was telling me to get 10mg of pred down her and another dose in the morning ,if we had called him out I know it would of been for the last time, I remember my husband saying 'what the hell do we do now? and I said wait 10 hours, it works or it doesn't, up all night and in the morning peggy stood up, it was a miracle.
so keeping a low dose is so important as I know if things get bad I can increase the dose, after that I know there is nowhere else to go. 
I will post results today, fingers crossed.
ash

tests showed nothing thank god, they kept her all the day and the longer it went on the more I worried, but all is ok ,no crystals either so that's good, just more antibiotics for a bit longer, after that another urine sample to send to lab.
Many thanks for all your replies, its always a great help.
Ash.