Urinary Tract Infection

[wolfsoul]

What kind of dog food do you feed? In order to boost her immune system it is recommended that you feed a high quality food. As well as cranberry, supplement with fresh parsley. Parsley is the absolute best thing you can feed for urinary tract infectons. Just blend it and mix with with fish oil to make it tasty. It's very healthy. Spaying her early is perfectly fine, if it's shown to help UTIs, I'd do it. Good luck!

[Ed Bickel]

Thanks everyone for your replies. There are some great suggestions.
We tried unsuccessfully to get her to drink cranberry juice but the oral syringe sounds like the way to go.

A sterile urine test showed that the Bladder urine did not have the UTI, thus the infection was downstream of the Bladder.

She has been on Baytril for the last 4 days and we are cauciously optimistic that there may be some improvement. I will let everyone know.

She has had at least three urinalysis tests done, all confirming the UTI and showing no improvement. We had a sterile urine sample taken directly from the Bladder which did not grow a culture, indicating that there was no infection in the Bladder. Thus the UTI is downstream of the Bladder.
A blood test, indicated that there was no damage to the Liver or Kidneys, at least at that time.

She is being fed Eukanuba. At one point we switched to Inova then California Natural since we understand that Eukanuba contains Yeast. They didn't help but caused her to have loose stools.


Thanks again for your posts.

Ed

[wolfsoul]

Eukanuba is a very poor quality food. I would try switching her to something higher quality to boost her immune system, atleast until her infection has cleared. If she has loose stools, give her a tablespoon of canned pumpkin mixed with her food, it works very well, or try adding some digestive enzymes.

[Ed Bickel]

Wolfsoul, I am surprised to hear that you feel Eukanuba is a poor quality dog food. Most people I know consider it to be a very high quality dog food. The breeder uses it and his dogs are healthy and beautiful as well as good hunters.

My dog is extremely healthy in appearance and behavior short of the UTI. Her stools are fine on Eukanuba. They were loose when we switched to Inova and California natural.

What dog foods do you consider the best? What dog foods do you use?

[wolfsoul]

Eukanuba uses feed grade ingredients. Take a look at the ingredient list:

"Ingredients
Chicken, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Fish Meal (source of fish oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Brewers Rice, Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Dried Egg Product, Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Flax Meal, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), DL-Methionine, Rosemary Extract"

The first ingredient, chicken, is a trick --- chicken is 70-80% water, fat, and oils. Therefore, it drops about six ingredients down the list. You want chicken MEAL. By-products include things that dogs would not naturally eat, like feathers and beaks. Corn is a filler that is the #3 allergen for dogs and is hard to digest. Grains sorghum is also a filler. They don't specify the type of fish when they say fish meal, therefore they probably don't even know. Brewers rice is a filler that has no nutritional value and is usually swept off the floor of beer mills. Beet pulp is another filler with no nutritional value. Brewer's Dried Yeast has been known to cause allergies and bloat. Eukanuba does not get their ingredients from reputable sources.

I prefer kibbles that have more meat and less grains (no grains is even better) and use human grade ingredients. Here is an example, Nature's Variety Raw Instincts:


"Chicken Meal, Tapioca, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid), Pumpkinseeds, Menhaden Fish Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Montmorillonite Clay, Natural Chicken Flavor, Vitamins (Choline Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Niacin Supplement, Biotin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Acetate, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Beta Carotene, Folic Acid), Kelp, Minerals (Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite), Chicken Liver, Sea Salt, Inulin, Flaxseed Oil, Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Apples, Carrots, Peas, Cottage Cheese, Chicken Eggs, Freeze Dried Chicken, Freeze Dried Turkey, Freeze Dried Turkey Liver, Freeze Dried Turkey Hearts, Ground Chicken Bone, Butternut Squash, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Salmon Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Blueberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Persimmons, Olive Oil, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Quail Eggs, Rosemary Extract, Sage, Clove."

Some other better quality kibbles include Innova (EVO is really good), Healthwise, Summit, Go! Natural, Wellness, Nature's Variety, Timberwolf Organics, etc. If you'd rather go with something easier to find, Nutro Ultra isn't too bad, it doesn't use human-grade ingredients, but otherwise. I prefer a raw diet myself, I thought my dog looked healthy when she was on kibble, but she's ten times better now.

[Ed Bickel]

Wofsoul, Thanks for your reply. i must admit I find it very difficult to compare the ingredients from one manufacturer to another. The only things that I can value are the amounts of each ingredient. I do recognize the quality of each can vary. I am not sure how the average pet owner can determine which is the better product.

I did submit a post to Eukanuba. It will be interesting to see if they reply and if so, what they have to say. I'll let you know if I hear from them.

In general I have and suscribe to "you get what you pay for". In general I have found that higher priced products have better quality, features, etc. Eukanuba is certainly not on the lower end of the dog food price scale. That's one of the reasons, among others, that I have chosen it thus far.

Ed

[My Peanuts]

I used to feed Eukanuba until I realized it was poor food at premium prices. Now I use Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul and my guys do very well on it. Not all do well on it though. It's priced like Eukanuba, but it's a much better food.