[Rubydoo]

Little Ruby is sick!!!!

Trying to make a long story short, I took her to the vet yesterday because of bad skin infection, and liver and kidney blood tests for the rimadyl she's been on for 6 months and when the vet felt her stomach Ruby screamed in pain! They suggested an ultrasound to see why!!! I wanted to talk with Ruby's daddy first because it's real expensive.

Then very early this morning I brought her in for an emergency visit because she has another UTI...(she gets them very often), so she's been there since 6:40 a.m. and they'll do the ultrasound today. The house feels real weird without her here and I really don't know what to do with myself without her in the house. I was crying this a.m. too because our baby is getting old. She'll be 9 in Sept. The results of the blood work they took yesterday won't be back for a couple of days because they send it out. The vet will call me later on this afternooon with results of the ultrasound.

Janice and Ruby

 

[EccentricGirl42]

Oh, poor little Ruby. It sure is a scary thing when they get sick and you don't know what's wrong. I hope you hear some good news soon; I'll keep her in my thoughts.

 

[charvie]

We're all rooting for Ruby here too! I hope you hear back soon, and that it's something fairly minor and easily taken care of! *hugs and prayers*

 

[Scully]

Scully is always more than willing to sling some healing drool for the lovely Ruby! I hope that her bloodwork and ultrasound come back with good results, and that she's feeling better very soon!!

I can totally relate to your feelings about your baby getting old....I've shed some tears over that as well. It's hard to realize that these hounds we love so much are getting on in years.

 

[Jake's mum]

Jakehound and Harvey Hound send lots of drool and good wishes for a positive outcome.

 

[Sandy and Bo]

Bo and Moose are slinging drool as fast as they can to little Ruby. Get well soon!

Sandy

 

[FredMom]

Fred will sling some healing drool to Ruby. I hope she gets better!

 

[ra5146]

get well quickly Ruby

 

[murraysmom]

Please keep us posted- I hope she's back home soon!

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

Poor Rubydoo. I hope she's feeling better soon. Please do let us know what the problem was.

 

[2hounds]

Poor Ruby. I hope everything turns out okay. We'll all be thinking about ya'll.

~Heather

 

[Rubydoo]

Just got a call from the vet:

They haven't done the ultrasound yet.....when the vet felt Ruby's belly, she didn't flinch at all. She's thinking that maybe (?) it was refered pain from her bad hip (?) So we made a decision not to do the ultrasound as of yet,

Secondly, she does have rod shaped bacteria in her urine as well as microscopic blood in urine and small urine crystals. I told the vet that she gets UTI's a lot! And has done so for her entire life!

Thirdly, Ruby has yeast all around her vulva area which I use malaseb pledgettes for. I'm to use them now 3x per day (You should see me....I have to lay on the floor on my back and look under Ruby to get to that area....would make a funny picture I imagine). If the malaseb pledgettes don't get rid of that yeast, then I'm to get oral ketaconozole for her.

The vet suggested that because Ruby has such a large amount of baggy skin, that her UTI's might be caused by ascending infections. I asked what that means, she's thinking that the yeast from her vulva and Ruby chewing on that area because it bothers her....is moving bacteria up in her bladder. (?)

So, I'll be going to pick her up soon. She'll be on clavamox antibiotics for 3 weeks, I'm to use the malaseb pledgettes 3x day, we're to bathe her weekly with that malaseb shampoo, again (for that skin infection which is what she went to the vet for yesterday in the first place), and I'm to bring her back 18 days after today for her to have another urine culture. In between all these days, if I find that the yeast isn't gone from her vulva area, I'll go in and get the rx oral ketaconozole for Ruby to try.

Does any of this sound familiar to you folks? Also, do any of your bassets have yeast problems in the folds of skin around the vulva? If so, what do you use?

AND.....when she comes back for a recheck...they'll see if she's in pain in her belly area. And maybe then she'll have the ultrasound. Oh and in a few days, I'll get the results of her blood tests that were done yesterday to check on her liver and kidneys for the rimadyl.

Whew!

Janice and little Ruby ("MOMMY! Come get me RIGHT NOW!)

 

[daisy8869]

Poor Ruby!!! Jackie sends lots and lots of healing drool to Ruby!!! I hope everything turns out ok...please keep us posted!!!

 

[Betsy Iole]

Hope Ruby feels better soon.

From Pathogenesis and Management of Urinary Tract Infection

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is most commonly a consequence of ascending migration of bacteria through the genital tract and urethra to the bladder with further extension to the ureters and kidneys. While the proximal urethra, bladder, ureters, and kidneys are normally sterile, the distal urethra and external genitalia have a normal flora and are constantly exposed to potential colonization by enteric organisms. Cultures of the vaginal and preputial flora usually grow a wide variety of bacteria, some of which may be potential uropathogens. Occurrence of UTI is determined by the balance between two opposing forces: bacterial invasiveness and host defenses.[/b]

and

Diagnosis of recurrent UTI
Failure of an antimicrobial agent to sterilize the urine should alert the clinician to one or more of the following possibilities:

1. Inappropriate drug, dose, or duration of therapy. Owner compliance is very important in this respect.
2. Failure of the drug to reach sufficient concentrations in urine despite drug administration. e.g., Intestinal malabsorption of the drug, impaired renal concentrating capacity and therefore failure to concentrate the drug in urine to inhibitory concentrations, and development of antimicrobial resistance.
3. The presence of a nidus of infection which is capable of colonizing the urinary tract as soon as antimicrobial therapy is withdrawn. e.g., Pyelonephritis, prostatitis, neoplasia, infected urachal remnant and urolithiasis.
4. The presence of some defect in the anatomical or functional characteristics of the urinary tract that lowers resistance to bacterial colonization, but is undetectable by presently available clinical methods of diagnosis.
In male dogs a routine workup for prostatic disease should be performed including cytology and culture of a prostatic wash or ejaculate, ultrasonic examination and possibly prostatic aspiration or biopsy. Plain and contrast radiographic studies including IVP, double contrast cystography and retrograde and voiding urethrography should be sufficient to diagnose or rule out the presence of major anatomical defects. Urolithiasis is a frequent cause of recurrent signs of lower urinary tract inflammation in dogs and cats of any age while neoplasia of the bladder, urethra or prostate is often the underlying problem in older dogs.

Treatment of recurrent UTI
Identification of a specific anatomical abnormality should be addressed. Vulval involution should be corrected by episioplasty, vulvo-vaginal stricture should be resected. Infected urachal remnants should be resected. Uroliths should be eliminated either medically or surgically. Bladder polyps and tumors should be resected if possible. Hyperadrenocorticism and diabetes mellitus should be controlled. Intact male dogs should be treated for at least 30 days with antimicrobials that penetrate the prostate.

When an animal suffers frequent recurrences of UTI despite adequate treatment and in the absence of detectable or correctable anatomic and functional disturbances, long term management with antimicrobials may be necessary to prevent additional recurrences. A potentiated sulfa or amoxicillin-clavulanic acid given for 6 months at 25-30% of the total daily dose at night after the last void prevents recurrence. By giving the treatment after the last void at night, the urine concentration of antimicrobial will be high enough during the 8 to 10 hour period of sleeping to kill ascending susceptible pathogenic bacteria. A full course of antimicrobial treatment should be used first to eliminate the infection. Patients undergoing long-term low-dose antimicrobial treatment should always have urine culture and sensitivity tests repeated monthly throughout treatment. Follow-up specimens of urine taken from patients with a history of recurrent UTI should always be collected by cystocentesis. Urethral catheterization should be avoided in this circumstance because trauma to the urethral mucosa may facilitate re-infection.[/b]

 

[Bassets3]

Poor Ruby! Janice I have two girls that are from the same line as Ruby. My Shami had chronic UTI's I'm an expert at getting a sample. One vet did think some of the problem was the folds of the skin in the vulva area. We did the wiping when she came in but her's was never diagnosed as yeast. She did have crystals in her urine and is on Science Diet CD for that. She's been on different antibiotics, clean urine samples, cultures sent out. X-rays done. The whole nine yards! An ultra sound was about the only thing she didn't have done. She had a vaginoscopy done to see if the urine pooled in there somewhere. Nothing showed up. I finally asked for a maintainance antibiotic to try. The vet finally agreed it wouldn't hurt. I know he was reluctant but put her on amoxicillian. First she was on it daily then he cut her down to three days on three days off. 300mg twice a day. It will be TWO YEARS this October and I wouldn't be surprised if he cut her back. They can build up a resistance to the meds.
I would like to get her off the CD. One top ingredient is Pork Fat! We do have to watch her weight and every time I think of that pork fat I cringe. We go in Sept for her annual so I'll talk to the vet. Shami is eight as of yesterday.

Hopefully nothing will show in Ruby's bloodwork and you can run Shami's treatment by the vet and see what he says.

Karen

 

[Elvismom]

Poor Ruby! We're slinging lots of drool her way! Hope the blood work comes back looking good and that no ultrasound is needed.

Keep us posted!

 

[Nugget's_mama]

Nugget and I send best wishes to Rubydoo! I know she'll be glad to be back home...and you'll be glad to have her there!

 

[shallhb]

Sounds like you may have a very treatable condition. Sure hope so