well today we noticed Murphy peeing blood. The first time ever seeing this I was very scared. He seems perfectly fine in all other ways, happy etc etc. He doesn't strain to wee or have difficulty doing so. He hasn't been injured either.

I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else out of the blue?

He is intact & 22 months old, were going to the vet in the morning.

We've had it with one of our dogs going for a poo.. Again like you we took our dog to the vet..

Fingers crossed all is ok and its nothing too serious..
Let us know how you get on

This is often caused by a UT infection so a visit to the vets will probably end with you having some ABs for the dog who will show improvement within 48 hours.

Don't worry it is not that unusual but it is frightening.

well its been 7 days today with him on antibiotics and he is still urinating blood :( I took him in on Friday as it was no better from him seeing the vet on Monday. They tested his urine for crystals and there wasn't any.

They want to do further investigation, either sedate him and get a sterile urine sample to be cultured.

Or knock him right out and do the full works, x-ray, inflation of his bladder check everything.

I am very worried because the Dogue de Bordeaux is VERY sensitive to anesthetics...

Its just odd as he is not in any pain, he doesnt strain to pee, he is his happy self. He has no temp, heart rate is normal. I am baffled

Have they tried to grow a culture to see if there is infection what it is, UT infections often have to have several changes of AB unless they know what they are dealing with. Ask you vet to change the AB for something different, if it is going to work you should see a change in about 48 hours.

There are, of course, many other reasons for blood in the urine but UTI is the most likely. Hope your vets sort the problem soon as you do need to know what it is you are dealing with.

Modern anaesthetics are much safer than they were but I suppose the bulk of the animal may make things difficult, I am sure the vet will be aware of the problems and be sure they are able to deal with it or they would not undertake it they would send him to one of the small animal hospitals rather than take the risk.

I wondered why they did not do a culture from his urine sample, but they said they need to do one from a sterile sample.

Thats why I am torn at what to do, just give him sedation to collect the sterile sample via catheder or needle. Then see what grows in the petri dish. Or just let them do the full works??

He is still in no pain or anything, so I suspect a infection. Thats why I wonder if they just want to do the full works for more £££ as theyknow he is insured?

If there was no improvement in 7 days I would have thought that changing the ABs would be the first thing to try as he is not suffering. TBH I would rather the dog had an anaesthetic than a sedative as it is easier to reverse the anaesthetic and although there are new sedatives that can be reversed it is more of a risk than the anaesthetic.  Any nurse worth their salt should be able to extract a sample with little contamination, good enough I would have thought to check for a known UT infection or at least to eliminate the most common.

It seems like they want to do everything the hard way... But only a hour ago his urine was yellow! yippee, I will keep checking it of course and then ring the vet tomorrow and let her know. I hope we can get away with only AB's

To be honest if my dog was well but not responding to the first lot of ABs I would be asking for something different rather than the sort of tests your vet is talking of, time for that when you have tried a varity of different ABs or should your dog start to feel ill.

Yellow urine is good and hopefully he is now on the mend, you may well need at least 3 weeks AB treatment or possibly 4.

Thanks for your advice, I feel the same way you do.
If Murphy was ill or in pain then it would be a different story. But he is well in every other way. Hopefully now he is getting better and AB's will clear it up :)

They will usually do a needle biopsy straight into the bladder to get a clear sample...it could be bladder stones, infection or cystinurea, both of these would be apparent from a urine sample.

today his first 2 wees were yellow again, then on his walk it became red again. I called the vet and am still waiting for the reply

Got off the phone with the vet, and because he is not in any pain were going to give it another week on antibiotics. Fingers crossed

1 week is a very short course for a UTI, on average I have found that you need 3 weeks to clear it totaly otherwise you stop at 14 days only to have it come back a week latter, best to make sure the first time. It does seem your boy is now on the mend so fingers crossed that by the end of another week it will be yellow all the way.

Well still 100% red urine :( I feel that I should go ahead with the x-rays etc to get to the bottom of all this.
We were going to get his hip/elbow scoring done at the same time, rather than putting him under again in the future. Sigh.... We were going to get his hips and elbows done anyways, so may as well do it then.
I am waiting to speak to the vet anyways...

Well you have to go with the vet you trust because they can see the condition where no one else can. You should at least be able to rule out anything nasty with an x-ray and make an informed decision as to what treatment he should be receiving.

thanks, he goes in Friday morning. I cancelled the hip/elbow scoring as he will be under for quite a lengthy time. We will do that at another time.
I will have a peace of mind once the tests are done anyways. i will worry like mad till I get the call come and get him he is fine

Would not worry yourself too much, yes there is always a slim chance with anaesthetic with any breed and sighthound more than others but it really is a very small number all most too small to count. In the case of your dog it will be the weight that would be the problem I think but your vet will be well aware of that and if they were not confident they would not take the risk. As you say it is far better to know what you are dealing with then you can do something about it. Try to arrange a busy Friday morning and you will cope without trouble.

today is the day, we take him in in a half hour. The last 2 days has ben yellow pee of course. Murphy's law

I think it has got to the stage where you need to be sure there is nothing nasty going on, it will mean you can continue with the AB knowing that eventually you will get on top of the infection which is what we both hope it is.