BCjetta

My vet (and boss) has said in the past that in general antibiotics don't get into anal glands very well so it can be difficult to clear up infections. When we get dogs with infected ones we sedate and flush the glands out, then put them on a month of baytril (enrofloxacin). Then recheck the glands a few days after the antibiotics end for any signs of infection (we do a swab and look for neutrophils and a high number of 1 type of bacteria) and extend antibiotics if needed. That being said there are some dogs who have recurrent ones which we do recommend removal of the glands. The one vet I work for removes a fair number of them and so far we have not had any patients with any lasting complications (fecal incontinence is a possible complication).

We started her on 45 days of baytril and clavaseptin together. Havent had a chance to ultrasound her yet as I just went off off on maternity leave and could pop any day, and work is fairly busy itself. I'm planning on rechecking kidney enzymes before she's off antibiotics to see what they're doing.

Yup we do. Have looked at the bladder multiple times....no evidence of stones. The bladder wall doesn't even appear thickened. Got the culture and blood results back and its E. Coli - now just waiting for the sensitivity. Also her kidney enzymes (creat and SDMA) are slightly elevated now (at the first bladder infection creat was higher end of normal). Both times her TP and ALB were a point or two below normal. CBC all normal. USG is generally high (1.040-1.044), although got down to 1.018 when I made her drink more. Next boss wants to look at her kidneys and the bladder wall with the linear probe on the ultrasound since it is more detailed.

I am now dealing with this issue as well! My 5yr old female has had 3 bladder infections since April 21st. First time treated with 2 weeks cephalexin. Then May 22 it came back (of course noticed on a friday afternoon so too late to send a sample to culture) so treated with 15 days clavamox. Been off the clavamox for a week or so and I decided to just check the urine monday afternoon and it was full of bacteria and white cells. So I think great, get a new sample tomorrow for culture. Tues am got more urine and only fat droplets in it...WTF?? Tues afternoon got another sample and there were some white cells but not really bacteria. I thought back to the first infection and it was after she ingested a lot more water than normal so Wed am I played with the hose with her and 3 hours later she peed in her kennel - urine stank, so got another cysto sample and full of bacteria and white cells. In my dog's case her teeth appear ok and she is otherwise healthy. Boss thinks she may have an abscess somewhere that drains into the bladder - either in the bladder wall or in the kidney - and that can be hard to get rid of. Culture results should be back tomorrow, sensitivity probably not until Monday. Anyone ever hear of that happening?

I was worried about my dogs when I got pregnant as well. I had a 14.5yr old border collie who was possessive of me, an 8 year old aussie who is protective/possessive of hubby, and a 2 year old border collie who was terrified of kids. The old dog passed away when I was 5 months pregnant so never had to worry about her. The aussie wasn't scared of kids but I was worried he would be possessive of hubby around the baby like he is with me. With my young dog I was worried about her being freaky and stressed out as she is sound sensitive and generally fearful. Overall the dogs have been great. I think because the baby doesn't really move at first it didn't scare them that she was just there. They seemed curious but not too interested. My young dog is now ok with kids as she was with my daughter from the beginning so slowly got used to the movement, crawling etc. She didn't like if the baby tried to grab at her back or lean over her when she first started walking (only happened once or twice that I didn't catch the baby quick enough). Yet now my daughter can pat her etc and she doesn't shy away at all. I never let either dog get crawled all over or let my daughter get in their faces - it helps that she doesn't like the dogs licking her face or touching her with their noses). There were 2 instances where the aussie snapped at the baby (neither time when I was home - hubby was "watching" ie laying on the couch with the dog laying on the floor beside him and the baby tried to get to him - not sure if she stepped on him or if he was just being possessive but for sure the second time was when he was sore on a front shoulder). Suprisingly my young dog has not gotten "nippy" herdy with my daughter when she runs around the yard unless she is holding a toy in which case the dog jumps at her a bit wanting the toy. In the past with other kids that ran she would get a little "herdy" and I worried she may nip at them however she never did. She does do the same herdy type behaviour if I run and she's wound up - circles in at me and jumps at me - I've had to do some work with her on a leash and correcting her for jumping at me - so maybe thats why she's better with my kid now?

The drug has been around for a while but only as an injectable. It was new back in 99-2000 as an injectable heavy sedative (domitor). We use it in combination with an opioid pain killer all the time at my work for sedation to do rads, wound repairs etc. I'm curious to see how it works for the noise phobia.

Yeah....at 16 and with iffy kidneys I wouldn't want to anesthetize either (and I didn't with either of mine who had iffy kidneys and heart murmurs). We haven't always had the greatest luck with convenia. Hopefully the zenequin works better! He may just need antibiotics every few months if the teeth are potentially passing bacteria into his bloodstream and then to his bladder.

How are his teeth? If he keeps getting UTI's then something could be introducing the bacteria to his blood stream (ie bad teeth, bad skin etc). Or, he could have a bladder stone or crystals that predispose him to getting a UTI. My 5 year old female has never had an issue and then exactly a month ago got one, antibiotics for 2 weeks and now after she was done that for 2 weeks another UTI. Vet suggested we culture the urine to see exactly what type of bacteria it is and what is the best antibiotic for it however it was friday afternoon of a long weekend so we would have had to wait until tomorrow to do the culture and I wasn't going to make her suffer all weekend without antibiotics. We get the odd dog that we treat for a longer time if they are prone to it (4 weeks instead of 2). We had 1 patient where I work (however it was a cat), that kept getting recurrent UTI's. Treated it and it would go away and then just come back. We did a culture and it ended up being MRSA and there was essentially no antibiotic that it was entirely sensitive to that was safe to use in a cat. We would just cut down the numbers every time we treated and then it would come right back. In the end the owner euthanized the cat (partly because she was concerned about the MRSA and her kids, and also because the cat was partially paralysed in the back end so didn't have the greatest quality of life).

They can get meibomian gland tumors which look like this - generally benign but can get bigger and if they rub against the eye they can cause tearing and irritation. It all depends on if the side of it touching the eye is rough or smooth. Quite often they need to be surgically removed if they are causing irritation.

My 11yr old aussie is like this. He will sometimes get lame on a front leg when he overdoes it - markedly lame at home. I try different flexion/extension and he is so stoic he doesn't really react to anything. I also work for a vet and same thing when we try at work. The ONLY thing he's ever reacted to at work was the vet doing shoulder extension forward which puts pressure on the spine - he actually yelped one time and a few of the other times started twitching the skin on his back. X-rays don't show anything much (however I do know he has some degree of arthritis in his carpus and toes based on ROM of these joints). The odd time he's limped its been soreness down in a toe itself - also hard to isolate but he will pull back slightly more on the sore one than the other ones. His gait is also different if its down in the toe - he walks with his weight as far back as he can on his big pad so he's got less weight and pressure on the toes themselves. Ideally a rehab type vet would be who I would see for my guy however there is no one around here that does it (and the aussie is technically hubby's dog and he's not willing to pay for a specialist). If it were my border collie I would have seen someone by now because I'm one of those people who wants to know the exact problem.

My last puppy was the same! She would not stop or calm down in the house unless I put her in her x-pen. Its like she wasn't capable of relaxing if she could be doing something wheras my first one would lay down and sleep in the house when she got tired after playing. She actually spent a lot of time in the x-pen for the first 4-5 months because my oldest dog would randomly attack the puppy or the cats if they came within 5 feet of where she was laying at times - and my old dog was there first so she got priority. So, if I wasn't actively engaging the puppy then she was in the pen so she wouldn't get bitten in the face and wouldn't get into trouble. She had a bunch of toys in there and really didn't mind being in there. She'd entertain herself for a bit and then sleep. We spent a lot of time outside as well. At night she was in a crate in the bedroom to keep her contained (and the old dog slept beside my side of the bed). I'd say it probably took until she was 1.5 before she would actually lay down in the house if she was loose (instead of pestering or playing). She's 5 now and is only ever crated if no one is home. She was also a brush biter. All my dogs have been as puppies. I generally don't do it often when they're quite young and start brushing more when they're a little more mature.

Mine was like this a bit as a pup...only if cars were coming at her. I would tell her quite firmly to leave it and turn the other way with her to try and get her attention on me instead of it. I would have her on a collar, not a harness because I needed more control of her head. She also showed some "herding" fixation on the ATV. When she was about 8 months the brother in law brought it out onto the ice at the lake and the dogs were already out loose. She took off after it circling it and trying to dive in and grab at the tires. After I got him to stop so I could get her, we worked on moving it slower and me with her on a leash behind it jogging and again really firmly telling her to leave it every time she started eyeing the tires. Did that again in the spring on the dirt roads and also had her ride in it with us. Finally tried her loose outside of it slow and only needed a few leave it's and now she will leave it completely alone.

The vet I work for has said that low thyroid can sometimes cause seizures or at least make a dog more prone to it. If the seizures aren't too bad or frequent, I'd try correcting the thyroid first and see if the seizures decrease. My vet also has said if they are mild seizures and its once a month or less than it may be better to not medicate as the meds can be hard on the liver.

Not a border collie....but Hairy mat forming, snowball sticking fuzzy feet - and thats not even as bad as they would get Nice clean feet

I have to use the harder plastic cones. The soft ones he can bend and get to his feet.