Hey all I'm a new husky mama, I have an almost 4 month old boy. We've had him for a little over 2 months and he's on his third UTI waiting for his vet appointment on Monday. I'm just trying to get an idea on if this is common? Also if there's anything I can be doing to prevent it besides the obvious (lots of water, going out frequently, walking him) Hes had 2 rounds of antibiotics so far. Any advice is welcomed! Thanks in advance.

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I never thought it was very common in the males but you are the second one I've seen recently (the other one is just a couple threads down in the post titled "Urine Crystals). My female, Mishka, started getting them last September and they kept recurring. Besides changing antibiotics, I also changed their food to one lower in carbs (bit of a warning here though, since changing their food about two months ago now, their poop has been mush...I'm not positive but I'm thinking maybe they need the carbs to keep their poop from being mush. I've kept lowering the amount fed thinking it's possibly a richer food and they don't need so much but I've been at 1 cup a day now for a month and I don't want to go lower, so ill be changing their food back, gradually, again, starting today) but what I also did as my vet suggested it, was to add a cranberry supplement to just Mishka's diet. My vet recommended Cranadin, but researching the different cranberry supplements, I liked Cranimals. It's organic and 100% cranberry in powder form that I just mix, according to the label for her weight, with some yogurt (yogurt is really good for dogs anyways) and since then, Mishka hasn't had any more UTI's <knock wood>

I ordered the Cranimals today but it won't be here for a few days, so I tried a pet store for something in the meantime. The closest thing I could find was Blue Buffalo "Earth Essentials" that are also cranberry. So I grabbed them, hopefully they'll do till the Cranimals gets it! The last one he was basically peeing straight blood before we could get him to a vet, so fingers crossed this will keep it at bay! Thankfully he loves ice cubes so he will be getting lots of water as well.

Aw, so sad

I'm not positive, maybe someone else can chime in, but I'm wondering if a cranberry supplement sold in the health isles for people, could be used in the meantime. I'm just not sure what to use, or how much of it. I know with the Cranimals, the amount given is determined by the dogs weight, and in your case it'd probly be a very small amount. Ugh, I know how the "waiting" time for the vet is, where you already know they have a uti, but until the vet diagnoses it...again...you're kinda stuck with your pup in discomfort/pain til new antibiotics can be given, so I'm just trying to think of something that might ease that part til you go to the vet. I was thinking of cranberry juice, without sugar, to make ice cubes out of, but not sure how easy that would be to find, and then again, it's usually mixed with other juices to get the sweetness. Well, I hope your pup feels better really soon.

I'll have a look around for some juice! Thank you that is a really good idea!

Cranberry pills from the vitamin aisle is fine to give. Mixing water in with his food can be done as well.

We found some sugar free all cranberry juice that we've put in his water. I'm hoping to see an improvement today!

Nice! I hope he feels better soon.

What has your vet said about his recurring UTI's?

He's feeling much better today, he pee is very yellow. They haven't said anything. We're doing everything right, he has lots of clean water, he's in his cage for 9 hours at night and very rarely wakes us up to go out side. The only thing I can think of is maybe from eating leaves/sticks? We try to keep him from eating stuff but it still happens.

In Mishka's UTI results (I asked for copies) it always showed her pee was dark yellow too. My vet, on Mishka's third UTI, also changed her antibiotic, it was more expensive but I think it did a better job. The antibiotic that vets normally give for UTI's, treats most of the bacterias that are most common, I believe Ecoli is the one most dogs get, but there are bacterias that these antibiotics won't treat. I know there are tests to get the exact bacteria your pup has, they put a needle in somewhere, for some reason I remember it's the stomach or abdomen (?) I honestly don't remember, but it draws out the urine direct. And I think the results take a little longer. Good luck to you tomorrow! Let's us know how it goes!

Hi Jenna Willner,

I've noticed that Echo recently has started to drink a lot of water and having a lot of urine output so I was suspecting a UTI and went to the vet yesterday. Going to have to wait for the urine analysis to come back tomorrow. My husky is a 5 month old male, and I thought it was rare too, but my vet says she sees it very often.

Do you know if your vet is actually culturing and doing sensitivity tests on your dog's urine sample? I think it takes longer and is more expensive but it is the gold standard for diagnosing a UTI. Since they will culture your dog's urine and subject it to a broad spectrum of antibiotics to see which one it is most sensitive to, so your doctor can prescribe the best antibiotic for your dog...

In reading up online, people have also mentioned the use of apple cider vinegar to treat UTI's holistically. People often use 1-1.5 tablespoons of it in a dollop of greek yogurt or even in their water bowl and I hear positive things about it. Anybody here has tried this before?

I'll let you know what my vet says tomorrow, if it comes back positive I'd like to ask her how to prevent it in the future too or why he would have gotten it in the first place. She did make a note to ask what I fed my dog, so I think what you feed him is important as well. I told her I fed him Orijen and she didn't pursue the topic further. Must be a good thing

Cheers!

They have cultured it before and I believe e coli was present, he is feeling better. I've been giving him cranberry juice and I am waiting for the Cranimals to come in. He has a very appointment today so we will see! We're currently switching his food to Blue Buffalo.

I will update with vet news

There is a lot of information about blue if you do a search for it on the forum. It's been a bit of controversy this last year with some things. You may want to look into it before you nail down that it is what you are comfortable feeding.

We're just trying it, the food the breeder made us buy with him is iffy. He has very loose stool most of the time.

Loose stool doesn't necessarily mean it's the fault of the food. Antibiotics mess with the stomach quite a bit and cause issues with the stool even after the antibiotics are finished. The sticks and leaves he munches on could also contribute, unless it's a really bad food, I don't know I'd switch just yet. Having said that, the brand name of the food has less to do with UTI than the ingredients in the food. The food I was feeding was salmon and sweet potatoe, and between the peas, potato, etc, there were just a lot of carbs and high carbs make the kidneys work harder. Even the very best of brands of dog food , had varieties in the line that had even more carbs than the food I was feeding. It's tricky though finding just the right food

Jenna, I agree with Jenn, Blue has had 2 recalls so far this year as well as their legal trouble. That aside, many huskies have not done well on Blue. Personally I would choose something less carb heavy, and a cleaner meat source, Acana, would be a good pick if you need to stay on kibble. As far as UTI's in what I have read it is more common in male animals vs female, it just is. In the cat world males are predominately the ones who have UTI's and is highly recommended any more to not feed kibble only to cats to lower the risk of stones, crystals and frequent UTI's. Beyond food related, diseases can contribute to UTI's such as diabetes, and lepto. Starting with knowing what the issue is as to why there are frequent UTI's, meaning 3-4 in 6 months and 4 or more in a year, vet needs to figure this out, something is causing the issue. After that, if it is food related, I would feed a low carb kibble that is wet down (soaked minimum of 20 minutes), feed a partial raw diet, feed any of the numerous dehydrated, frozen, freeze dried or completely raw food, should show improvement in the frequency of the UTI's. And yes agree with Jimmy, foods like Solid Gold High Protein line, or the bark at the moon flavor, All of EVO's lines, there is 1 flavor in the Victor line, can look it up if you need it, are all low carb foods. Orijen, and some of the Acana lines are as well. If money is not an issue I can give more choices.

The vet had us get prescription dog food, wet and dry. He's on 2 antibiotics, and they gave us a cranberry pill. And we're cutting out all treats and peanut butter and such until his poop is solid. Then well talk about re introducing stuff.

Have you tried giving him a little pumpkin in his food, Jenna? It helps firm up the poop, it's canned pure pumpkin (not pie filler) and my two LOVE it actually, haha. I'd add it to some Greek yogurt (yogurt is good anyways but it's especially good for them when they're on antibiotics)

I hope he gets better now and this is the end of his UTI's. Poor guy

Jenna, I hate to be the one who phrases this this way I would anticipate that there will be more UTI's until you (your vet) determines their cause.

I had one girl who was getting UTI's fairly consistently - but then I drove a garbage truck and lived in the yard where the trucks were kept - she had 'snacks' of all kinds and trying to keep her away from the trucks took a long line and an act of god!

In your case, I haven't a clue. It's been noted here that Pumpkin works nicely for normalizing feces, but even though it's a simple natural source I'd consult with my vet before adding it to his diet. The last thing you want from your vet is "My, my, everything is looking good!" when you've added cranberries and pumpkin and removed all treats, etc - without your vets knowledge, your actions may be doing nothing more than concealing symptoms not curing the cause.

Amy or Renee could probably address this better than I can but I'll give my thoughts on adding the pumpkin. With Mishka, I had asked the vet if I can because of several issues...the uti itself, the antibiotics she was on, and the more than likely side affect of UTI's that can happen, and to Mishka it did, the gastroenteritis. To me, soft poop is moisture being taken away from the body and in dogs with UTI's, they need that moisture to stay where it is.

So, in Meeko's case, here is what I see. A new food for him to adjust to (just not sure if prescription food causes the same upset that regular food would when changed), then he is on not one, but two antibiotics, and from what I understood when Mishka was going thru this, I think it was Amy that mentioned it, the stomach won't stabilize for up to two weeks after antibiotics are finished. (I remember posting something about changing Mishka's food and was advised not to for atleast two weeks after her antibiotics were done. And...Meeko already has soft poop. And I don't see the poop getting better for say, the next month (the 10 or so days of antibiotics and then that two weeks afterwards) So that is why I suggested pumpkin, not to cover symptoms, but to help the body conserve all the moisture it can while he is getting better. Again, I hope Amy or Renee can advise here because if I am wrong, I'd like to know that too!!! and Jenna, if you ask your vet, could you please tell us what he said?

I'm going to agree Jimmy, the loose poop is a different issue, probably antibiotics, and altho different issue, when Sofie and Miya had that bad bout with diarrhea last year I asked about the pumpkin and yogurt and vet agreed it helps. In this instance it should help as well, pumpkin is a natural form of fiber for dogs, it is also on the liquid side so a plus, and remember that Meeko is a puppy you must prevent dehydration, so a tablespoon of pumpkin once or twice a day shouldn't hurt, it should help. I also agree with the yogurt, or kefiir, of raw goats milk or a probiotic, vet can give probiotics. The three items I mentioned will add liquid to the diet, but also help keep good gut flora going while on antibiotics, again a tablespoon or two a day, or if raw goats milk or kefiir let me know can give more specifics. If you do not chose those items and prefer a probiotic from the vet that is also fine, and really giving antibiotics you really should add probiotics, if using probiotics from vet give 2-3 hours away from the antibiotic in order to work properly. I would let the vet know you are doing those items, simply so they know Meeko is having more issues than just the UTI and you would like him to feel better, and those items will help. As a puppy you run a much higher risk of dehydration from the diarrhea along with the UTI, adult dogs can go longer.

P.S. I do agree with Al that your vet needs to figure out why the UTI's this plays havoc on a young developing body, if they can not give you an answer, you may need to seek a second opinion.Also, let your vet know that you will be adding the pumpkin to help the diarrhea, and that you will also be adding the yogurt or request the probiotics. That way the vet is aware that you are adding this into the diet.

We noticed last night that he had green stuff coming out of his penis. So I called about that, they're gonna get back to me today. He has a vet appointment next Monday for shots and whatnot so I'll ask about the pumpkin then, or when I talk to them today! Thank you all this is really helpful, his poop was completely solid this morning so that's something!

My husky boy is almost 4 months and is on his 3rd UTI as well! I ordered cranberry and vitamin c supplements which seem to be helping, as well as adding water too his food. I am also measuring out the exact minimum amount of water he needs so I'm making sure he is getting enough (I had a bowl that him and my other dog shared so I wasn't completely sure how much he was drinking vs the other dog)

My boy also had green stuff coming out of his penis, but my vet said thats just a boy dog thing. It's crazy that we have almost the same issues

Koda has urinary crystals that the bacteria is hanging on to so we switched him to a food to dissolve the crystals and I'm testing his PH every day. You may want to see if thats whats going on with your pup.

I would also recommend checking for previous recalls and really looking into the food you decide to switch to (if you decide to switch).