my 4 yr old golden rechiver has blood in her pee.

Question
every time she gets a hair cut it seems see gets problems peeing. she walks and plays fine but when it comes to peeing she cant hold it and it has blood in it. this has happened once before and it was a track infection from the people who gave her a hair cut. so i trimmed her hair myself and it seems the same problem is happening. what is wrong?

Answer
Hi Danielle,

I can't say why the blood in your dog's urine seems to occur whenever she gets a hair cut. Maybe the urinary tract infection wasn't fully knocked out last time, and you're cutting her hair at the same time intervals it takes for her urinary tract infection to flair up again.

Needless to say your dog needs to be seen by your veterinarian, and she may need to be put on antibiotics. Make sure your vet knows this is a recurring problem. It may be that your dog wasn't on medication long enough in the past to fully wipe out the infection, and will need to stay on medication for a longer period of time, this time around.

If this is an ongoing problem, you should know that recurring urinary tract infections may be the first "alert" regarding an underlying disease or condition. In a 2003 study, dogs who had various recurrent urinary tract infections found a large percentage had other diseases or conditions which would make them more prone to having UTIs. Those who had their predisposing disorder(s) AND their urinary infections treated were much less likely to suffer recurrences of their urinary problems than those whose UTIs alone were treated. So you may want to talk to your vet about this.

What you feed your dog can help guard against developing urinary tract infections.  Most infections commonly occur in alkaline urine (urine with a high pH), diets should help maintain an acidic urine (low pH) as much as possible. Cereal-based diets are more likely to cause an alkaline urine, while animal-based protein promotes acidic urine. Read the ingredient list on the food you currently feed your dog. If corn or other grains are listed in the first 5 ingredients, you're feeding your dog a cereal based diet.

Canned food is better than dry, because it contains more water. Water flushes out your dog's kidneys and urinary tract which helps to control the bacterial growth. If you plan on changing your dog's diet, do so gradually, over a period of 5-7 days.

You could also add something to your dog's diet to make your dog's urine more acidic.  One of the easiest ways is to take advantage of the benefits of cranberries in preventing or treating urinary tract infections. There is at least one product that I know of that is a cranberry extract in pill form, called Cran-Max. It would be easy to add this to your dog's diet. This is not a substitute for the medication your dog needs, but it may help prevent future urinary tract infections.

Best of luck,

Patti