Help?

[Sowa]

So I decided I wanted some privacy tonight. My boyfriend had company over so I went up to the spare bed room. There is a bed and a sofa in here. I was on the sofa (which is right next to the bed atm) so I called the dogs up on the bed to snuggle with me a bit. Even the cat jumped up. So we're all just relaxing. Clover jumps off to go sniff something then comes back. Jumps on to the bed, scratches a bit at the sheets, then pees! I couldn't believe it! She hasn't had any house training problems at all??? Why would she think a bed is a good place to go?? Especially when she was just laying down on it.

I JUST had her to the vet today. I'm not sure if you remember my recent post about the marks on her belly? Well they started to come back and she's been licking her vulva like non stop for a while now. The vet didn't really help much I felt....She said we'd try her on some reactine for itching cause she said it probably allergy since she's licking her paws too. She also said to try salmon fish oil tablets or something? Suppose to take away infection? Maybe I remember wrong what she said, she talked a lot. She also suggested mixed vinegar in baby wipes and cleaning her vulva everyday since she has a recessed vulva. She said this is why she's been licking. I'm no vet, but I don't feel this is the reason. I've know about her recessed vulva for a while, and I don't use vinegar I have cleaned it with baby wipes. It hasn't been dirty in several months so I stopped. However the licking is new, and ALL THE TIME. I personally feel there is an infection and shouldn't she get meds?? I had mentioned I wasn't sure if I'd get her shots today if her treatment was too much so I feel she just didnt bother with treatment? I don't have the money but if she is this uncomfortable I'll make it work.

We even talked about UTI. She felt her belly and said it wasn't tender and the area in the vulva was pink which is good, and not a bad red color. She felt it wasn't UTI. Since she just pee'd on the bed right in front of me, I'm now wondering...UTI?

Could it be anything else? I'm a little worried now. I'm taking a pee sample first thing tomorrow morning and dropping it off to see if it is indeed a UTI.

Oh, btw, she still has some of those pustuals (spelling??) I think the vet called it anyway, on her belly. Like what she was treated for last time. They never fully went away which is why i went back thinking I'd get more of that super expensive medication. Can the fish oil actually help this type of thing or should I ask for the medication?

[Karen]

Ask her what the medication did last time, and just ask if fish oil would help. Me, I'm allergic to fish, so I'd be lumpier if I took it!

Is it a room that isn't used much? Could she have smelled something on that bed that prompted her to "mark" it? Anyway, a good cleaning with an enzymatic cleaner is in order, just in case!

[Sowa]

We don't use it much, but she's never marked anything else before?

[Freedom]

My first thought is: get another vet. I wasn't real impressed with what you learned from today's visit.

Urine sample: this is best if you can catch the first one of the morning. Use a clean, empty yogurt container, or something like that, make sure you seal the top. If it is too early and the vet isn't open yet, keep it in the fridge.

Since she has the belly rash, and is licking paws and vulva, this may well be an allergic reaction. You have to figure out if it is food or environmental. Not easy to do; takes time. For food allergies, you start with a limited ingredient food. Use that for 3 to 4 weeks and see if there is any difference. Make sure you monitor treats too! Then start changing ONE ingredient at a time. I suggest you keep a log in a notebook, as you will quickly forget which foods you tried, start and end dates, changes in her licking. For environmental allergies, you start by keeping her off grass, see if there is any change. I know one bichon who constantly wears a sweater/t-shirt / hoodie, as she is allergic to something in the environment, her owner isn't sure what, but this keeps her from getting too itchy. In the house, she goes "naked" and is fine.

[Taz_Zoee]

I agree to get another vet. You said she was on some kind of medicine, maybe its a reaction to that. Or something in the environment like Freedom said. I hope you can figure out her belly and licking issues.

[Sowa]

I dropped off the pee today. They said they were too busy with an emergency to look at it before they closed...sooo, I won't know until Monday. My poor girl has to suffer til then. I went out and got the salmon tablets, reactine, and baby wipes (added vinegar) so I hope that helps her a bit.

[wolf_Q]

Glad you took in a urine sample. The only time Keva has ever peed in the house right in front of me was when she had a UTI. She never acted like her belly was tender and her vulva wasn't red either (though she's very furry so it would be harder to tell on her) she was licking there a lot though. I didn't realize she had an issue until her urine was discolored.

[Jessika]

Not all pets are painful or lick their vulvas when they have a UTI. Bring her back and ask that they run a urinalysis (this seems CRAZY to me that it wasn't done in the first place, anyway, since you brought up a UTI... any vet here would have been happy to run one for you just to rule it out as a possibility!!!!). I'd recommend against obtaining it yourself as collecting a voided sample can introduce bacteria and can throw it off... unless your vet doesn't obtain sterile samples via cystocentesis.

[Sowa]

Not all pets are painful or lick their vulvas when they have a UTI. Bring her back and ask that they run a urinalysis (this seems CRAZY to me that it wasn't done in the first place, anyway, since you brought up a UTI... any vet here would have been happy to run one for you just to rule it out as a possibility!!!!). I'd recommend against obtaining it yourself as collecting a voided sample can introduce bacteria and can throw it off... unless your vet doesn't obtain sterile samples via cystocentesis.

I didn't really know that. They just told me to collect it myself because it has to be the first pee of the day. I just a soup ladle from the dollar store and used that. Put it into a clean butter container. I'll ask them about it again on monday