An article from a qualified veterinary surgeon. Cystitis, Bladder Infection In The dog, diagnosis, Treatment. The above x-ray shows a dog’s bladder and points to a bladder stone.
Cystitis { bladder infections / colds in the bladder } is quite common situation in female dogs. Why should this be? Well most acute cystitis episodes are ascending infections meaning that the offending bacteria rise from the outside and then pass from the reproductive tract into the bladder. The anatomy of the female animal in particular the shorter tube from the bladder to the outside facilitates this transfer more than in the case of a male dog.
Cause: The main cause of true cystitis is as I have said above an ascending infection, more rarely it can be caused by a generalised infection elsewhere in the body. Cystitis symptoms can also occur secondary to stones in the bladder and also secondary to cancer of the bladder but I will cover those two as separate topics at some point. There are also other things which can predispose to cystitis such as diabetes, glucocorticoid therapy, and chemotherapy to name a few.
Symptoms: There are three signs you might look for in a true cystitis, the first is increased frequency of urination, the second is dysuria meaning discomfort during urination, and the third is the presence of blood in the urine, sometimes this can be a little and sometimes a lot.
Treatment: Most cases of cystitis respond to a course of antibiotics, not all antibiotics reach high levels in the bladder so your vet will choose the right one. I always favour augmentin [Synulox] as a first line antibiotic for cystitis { See The use of clavamox { synulox , augmentin } in dogs } If your first line antibiotic fails then you should carry out culture and sensitivity on a urine sample to determine if a bacterial infection is indeed present and what antibiotic will kill it best. Your vet may also use a urinary antiseptic for recurrent cases. If this also fails then further investigation is needed, an X-ray of the bladder [pneumocystogram] or an ultrasound would be logical next moves. As the owner it is good to persuade your dog to drink as much as possible during treatment which will have the effect of flushing the bladder through and cranberry juice is thought to effective in human cystitis so I doubt if you would do any harm by trying to persuade your pet to drink some of that as well.
Prevention: Some dogs get repeat attacks of cystitis and special diets such as some of the Hills Prescription Diet range can be used to reduce the likelihood of any future attacks occurring. Other dogs stay on low daily doses of antibiotics to reduce the frequency of attacks.
Cystitis is on the face of it an easy disease to treat, you just give the dog a course of antibiotics and it gets better, the trap for the unwary vet is that it might not be a simple cystitis but the signs you are seeing are in fact caused by a serious underlying secondary disease.
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This article was brought to you by Scott Nimmo BVMS MRCVS. If you have found it to be interesting or of value please share it with your social media using the buttons below.
Straight to the point info.excellent description confirms my suspicion.Doggie is on the anti – biotics now for a week.Thank you.
Well Done on an excellent service.
No problem Paul, glad you found it of interest …
Regards,
Scott