Cairn Terrier Infection

Question
Hello Beth ,I wonder if you could offer me some insight on our 11 month old Cairn Terrier,Opie.Two weeks ago he got quite sick and the Vet said he had an infection.He was walking very slowly and it looked like he was very tender in genital area.He had green discharge showing from his penis.He was,nt getting any better at home so the vet put him on I.V. and that cleared it up in two days.That was two weeks ago and now he is sick again and the Vet has given us Baytril 50 mg and amoxi clav 125 mg every 12 hours.Tomorrow will be two days so we hope to see some improvement.But I want to know why he is getting these U.T.I.or at least that is what the Vet thinks it is.Any information would be helpful. Thanks Mike

Answer
Mike -

I'm am not a vet so I simply can't help with diagnosis etc.

However, I can give you some advice about general health.  I once had a dog who had chronic - and I mean chronic - long term UTIs. Even Cornell University's vet school was shocked because the minute he went off antibiotics, it kept coming back.  This went on for months.  I felt so bad for him because it was obviously painful.

Now, years later, I believe that I could have at least helped support his immune system some. While it certainly would not likely have solved anything, I believe it would help his overall health, and it certainly would not have hurt anything.

I would recommend you go to a health food store (and some groceries have it too) and buy some kefir. It is a yogurt-like dairy beverage but has more and different cultures in it.  I would feed him 2 tablespoons of this per day.

The antibiotics will be killing all bacteria - even the good ones, so adding back in good ones is a good idea. There is another product that might be easier or perhaps even more helpful. Eagle Pack is a dog food brand, and they make a probiotic powder that is easy to give.

I sure hope they can get this wiped out !  Poor little guy.

-Beth