UTI ?

Question
QUESTION: Hi Marie,
I have an 11 year old golden retriever.  For months now I have been trying to resolve  a problem with frequent diarrea.  The only thing she could tolerate was hamburger and rice but in the long term I don't think she was getting the proper nutrition.  I finally found a food that seems to be working (Science Diet i/d).  Coincidentally, a couple weeks after I started her on this food she developed what I thought was a UTI.  I brought a sample in to the vet for analysis (you could tell there was blood in the urine).  The results returned with 2 different bacterias.  She was started on Ciprofloxacin but after a week I didn't notice any difference and returned to the vet.  They did a culture and the culture returned negative.  Because of the diarrea problem she had recent blood work which they found no problem with.  She also had an ultrasound in Feb. and everything there was normal as well.  I just took another sample from her and the color is worsening.  Her urine was a reddish brown and now looks the color of grape juice.  Could this be related to the food?  The vet told me it was highly inlikely.  They told me to finish the Ciprfloxacin and if that didn't work we could try the antibiotic that worked on her last UTI a year ago.  If that didn't work I could try changing her food and of course more blood work, another ultrasound, etc.  I am at a loss.  Any information or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Marcia

ANSWER: Wow, I feel bad for the two of you!  First off, why did she have an untrasound in the past?  What were they looking for?
I don't believe the food would be giving her this problem.

What did they do the ultrasound on?  What organs were they looking at:???  
Let me know, Thanks

Marie


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The ultrasound was taken due to the chronic diarrhea problem.  They were looking for abnormalities such as growths or any kind or cancer.  They checked the liver, kidneys, spleen, stomach, intestines and except for the intestinal lining being a lttle thicker than normal, all was normal.  The next step would have been to take a biopsy from both her intestines and her stomach.  I thought this was too invasive so I continued with the food search.  She had dropped to 63 pounds.  Since putting her on the science diet i/d formula the first of June she has put on 11 pounds and was looking terrific and I was finally hopeful until I noticed the blood in her urine.  Obviously I will be taking her back to the vet but I thought if I could learn more about the possibilities of her condition I could communicate beeter with the vet.  I feel like things have just been trial and error and it would be nice to go there better educated.  Thanks for your quick response.

Answer
I understand better now.  Also, you don't want to put this gal thru too much.  If she does have a positive biopsy ( cancer), would you do surgery or Chemo???  It would be so very hard on her to go thru the chemo.  Think of the quality of life for this gal????

What I would do is get to the bottom of the UTI.  See it you can repair the situation and give her some comfort.  If you look very deeply into all her troubles you most likely will find some major problems.  What I mean by that is the following:
liver failure?  
cancer?
kidney troubles ?
Just too many to list.


She is a great friend and companion.  Deal with the diarrhea or the UTI and see what happens with each problem.  Don't go searching to deeply into every area, it may cause this gal more pain and discomfort than she needs.

Before you have any tests, think about what you are looking for and what you are willing to put her thru.

I hope you don't mind me being straight with you on this.
Just thinking of what is best for your girl.



Good Luck with all-

Marie

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