My sister in law's 10 1/2 year old springer spaniel, has just has a very nasty urinary infection, she has been treated with antibiotics which seem to have done the trick, but they are worried about reoccurence as she is getting less able to control when she wees,they are trying to keep the area as clean as possible and the vet has reccomended to put vaseline on the area as it was very sore and swollen to stop further irritation.  Is there a supplement that she could give her to help stop it happening again. As i know in humans they reccomend cranberry supplements.

Many  thanks

Chrissy

You can give cranberry to a dog, we  have done it with the vets full agreement, but at that age i would be thinking of a small dose of AB to ward off infection daily ...

The vet doesnt want her to have ab everyday, how much cranberry can you give daily?

Thanks

Chrisssy

Have they tried making sure she drinks plenty to keep the bladder flushed out? If she's eating wet food she'll need less than if she's eating dried food, but an extra pint of water (with a little milk added if necessary to encourage her, and if she isn't milk-intolerant) would  help. They'd need to make sure she gets taken out to wee every couple of hours of course.

hi there

Yes she is constantly drinking and is outside during dry days in a run and let out every hour when inside.  She is fed on a dry food soaked with a large cup of water with each meal.  The vet advised against giving small doses of antibiotics everyday.  That said since she has taken the ab's her incontinence has virtually stopped.  I will tell my sister in law to try the cranberry and she how it goes.

Many thanks for all posts

Chrissy

ABs should never be given as routine, only when there is a specific infection to be cured. Not only do they destroy the natural gut bacteria leading to increase risk of digestive disorders, but also overuse of ABs leads to germs becoming resistant to them - hence MRSA.

It is not unusual for humans with long term urine problems to be given very low doses of antibiotics for months at a time JG.  Not sure where that fits into the resistance arguement though :)

Can't get the link, from the BMJ, I wanted to work but basically it says low doses of the antibiotics used in urine infections have not been found to lead to resistance nor do side effects, affecting 4 out of 10 women initially, continue long term.  The main ones being stomach upsets and thrush of course.

My male Ridgeback got a really nasty infection last year.  He was dripping bloody drops.  The initial antibiotics didn't cure it and the vet wanted to investigate further and suggested an x-ray.  It was so bad that when his bladder was x-rayed, the bladder wall was so inflamed that the vet thought he had a tumour.  After opening him up, luckily they found that wasn't the case.  He had to have several courses of antibiotics to clear it, and the vet also suggested cranberry tablets.  I got into the habit of giving him milky drinks several times a day to keep his bladder flushed out and I still do it twice a day, just in case.  Luckily, he can tolerate milk and he just loves his drinks.  I also don't feed dry foods.
 

Very true Isabel my daughters been on cephalaxin (sp) for 6yrs now 5ml everynight...

You can get cranberry tablets from the supermarket i have put one in each meal, but as said she must be ideally drinking plenty of water..