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Recurrent UTI in female mastiff

med912

New Member
Hi there! I am the mom of a 3 year old female mastiff. I got her at 8 weeks old and within a few days, she was having urinary urgency and had a positive urine culture. Within her first year of life, she had UTIs every 2-3 months. We saw an internal medicine specialist who did ultrasounds and her bladder and kidneys were overall normal. She did have a hooded vulva. We tried to see if it would self correct after one heat cycle, but it did not. She was spayed after this first cycle. The UTIs did decrease in frequency to only about every 6 months. She had a vulvoplasty at about 2 years old. She is now 3 years old and has her first UTI post-surgery. She is growing MRSA and enterococcus, so the bugs she is growing are getting more and more strong. She is about to start a month of Zeniquin ($$$ouch).

My question: Has anyone had experiences like this? If so, can you recommend any holistic options to help her not get further infections? My general vet isn't really a believer in canine cranberry pills.

Thank you!!
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
Welcome! You answered every question I was going to ask. My girl also had a hooded vulva that didn't correct after several heat cycles. We didn't end up doing an episioplasty and as she got older her UTIs did decrease. I made sure to clean her vulva after every potty break with an unscented diaper wipe. Every single time. I tried cranberry for her, and for myself as I used to have frequent UTIs, and it never did anything. My go-to for her and for myself at the first inkling of the start of one is nettle tea which is a diuretic and can help flush bacteria from the urinary tract. The thing that helped the most was D-mannose powder. Supposedly it stops bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall/urinary tract and allows it to be flushed out. I know that the literature says there's not enough evidence that it actually works, but I swear by it for myself and it definitely seemed to help my girl. I did not use it as a maintenance type of thing for her, just when she seemed to getting symptomatic. Please do some reading and see what you think and if you think. You must be awfully concerned with her bacteria strains getting stronger and more resistant. I hope this round of antibiotics helps. I should mention that for myself I use nettle tea and d-mannose together, but for my Ella girl I only did one at a time. If I were going to choose one it would be D-Mannose. Last thought is that I'm not sure of using anything while she's on the antibiotics. Do some checking on that before trying anything.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I just steeped tea and added it to her food. I do feel the d-mannose was more effective for us, but the nettle did provided me personally with some relief. Definitely check out the d-mannose. I swear by it and keep it on hand for myself now that my girl is gone.
 

med912

New Member
Ok thank you! I ordered a supplement with D-mannose and cranberry. I will start it when her antibiotics are done.
 

Michele

Super Moderator
Staff member
My dog had UTI's a lot. Sometimes there is too much protein in the food. My vet had me switch to Royal Canine and I never had an issue after that.