windchymes
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quote:
ORIGINAL: kajiramre
When was the last time you took him to the vet? Has he had recent bloodwork to determine the state of his kidneys? As another poster stated, withholding water will hasten renal failure, so that's not something that I would do. There are multiple veterinary drugs available that can help with incontinence. He could have a form of dementia and not even know that he is peeing. Again, there are veterinary drugs available to help with age associated dementia.
You said he doesn't like to go out if it is cold or damp, perhaps he has joint issues that are exacerbated by these conditions which, again, there are plenty of veterinary medications available to aid with the problem. The problem is the veterinarian can't help if they don't see the animal or know that there is a problem.
Honestly, I wouldn't suggest just walking into a veterinary clinic with a urine sample expecting them to run a urinalysis and then prescribe medication based off that sample. It's simply not that straightforward. There is no way to know where the bacteria in the urine came from. Bladder, urethra, prepuce, floor, sample container? Wouldn't do much good to give the dog antibiotics if the "infection" was from the container. Now, I'm not saying that urinalysis aren't useful, they are very useful, but there needs to be some quality controls in place to make them so.
My advice, take your pet to the vet as she/he is the expert, can examine the animal, and will be better able to help you than anyone here on collarme.
Begging to differ, it is perfectly acceptable to take a urine specimen in to the vet for urinalysis IF THE ANIMAL HAS BEEN SEEN REGULARLY, as I stated in my post. As you would know, had you ever done veterinary work as I have, many times an animal already at the vet needs to have a urinalysis done, but you can't make an animal pee on command. So it's a very common practice for the owner to obtain a urine specimen at home and take it back in later, sans (that means without) animal, for examination. And vets very routinely suggest the pie plate method for collecting some urine from the pet, that's where I learned it.
If the animal in question does have a bacterial infection, trust me, it's very easy to detect from a sample brought in in a non-sterile container. Wanna know why? It's because on the urinalysis dipstick, it will detect an abundance of white blood cells and red blood cells present in the urine in an infection. Those didn't come from an unsterile container. Also, the abundance of bacteria in the specimen will make the nitrite section on the dipstick turn bright pink if there is an infection present. So, those few little contaminating bacteria that might be on a pie plate make no difference whatsoever in the diagnosis of a bladder infection in an animal.
For good measure, though....when the urine in question is spun in a centrifuge and examined under a microscope, the overgrowth of one kind of bacteria causing an infection is very obvious to the trained medical professional. Once again, those few miscellaneous bacteria (we call them normal flora or mixed flora) aren't going to make any difference whatsoever.
No, I wouldn't suggest just walking in off the street to a strange vet and asking to have your dog's urine checked for an infection. But for a dog who has been under regular and recent care by his vet, there is nothing at all wrong with doing do. Same goes for a stool sample to check for parasites (worms). I'm not sure where you got your information but.....???
< Message edited by windchymes -- 2/3/2008 3:26:44 PM >
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