Dog Urinary Tract Infection

Just like you nurture your child, you have to take care of your pet dog. Not only the diet and water, but you have to look after their health and vitality as well. Basically a pet dog is totally dependent upon you in every aspect of their life. For the purpose of health care, you need to have some basic knowledge about the common diseases of the dog can suffer; dog urinary infection is one of them.
Just like any other case, bacteria accumulate in the urinary tract of the dog from outside. And if this is not washed out through urination, they culminate into the urinary system and the full fledged infection shows up.

Symptoms

First you will see the irritable behavior of the dog. They will ask you to go outside more frequently than usual. The urination becomes troublesome and the dog can cry during the process. There will be less amount of urine and the frequency will surely be increased. The urine becomes foul smelling. As the infected urine makes the urinary passage inflamed, there is burning sensation during the process and the dog will lick their genitalia after urination for quite some time. They do it to get some respite.
In advanced cases, where the kidneys have become diseased, there may be dribbling of blood from the urethra.

What to do in a case of dog urinary infection

The dog needs some comfortable atmosphere. If possible, make an arrangement in the yard of you house, so that he can urinate whenever he feels so. Offer him plenty of water mixed with citrus drinks like lemon, Vitamin C powder. Avoid synthetic diet and meat for few days as the nitrogen content of these foods is high, which may hamper the healing process.

Take him for frequent walking so as to ease up the dog. The more he urinates, the better as every process of urination washes some amount of bacteria from the body.

If there is no relief from the symptom even after two days, you have to take the dog to a vet to treat the case of dog urinary infection. Firstly, the vet will send the urine specimen for culture of the bacteria. This will give the vet full control to the best antibiotic that may be prescribed. Do not give any kind of antibiotic without consulting the veterinary surgeon as it may jeopardize the life of the dog.

How to prevent dog urinary infection
• Encourage the dog to take plenty of water daily.
• Bathe your dog in regular basis.
• Help the dog to release the energy by playing with them and taking them for regular walk.

When you see your loving dog is too much irritable to go outside, you can make an assumption that he may be suffering from infection in the urinary tract.

Urinary tract infection is quite common in dogs due to lack of hygiene. Dog urinary tract infection symptoms are easy to find but difficult to treat as it can spread very fast. You need to be extra cautious to discover them early. Male dogs are somewhat less sufferer from urinary tract infection than female as the male urethra is few inches longer than the female urethra. Therefore, infection can not ascend easily.
Common dog urinary tract infection symptoms

If you are the master of the dog and usually take him outside for walking, the dog will ask you frequently for going out. The frequency of urination will be increased for four to six times than the normal rate. The urine will have a foul smell. The volume will be reduced. The dog may urinate in appropriate places like indoors, sofa, beds, kitchen etc. You will see that urine is dribbling from the urethra even after the dog finishes the urination. In some advanced cases of dog urinary tract infection, symptoms of blood coming out from genitalia can be noticed. The dog will cry at the time of urination as he feels burning sensation over the whole urinary passage. He will lick the genitalia for quite some time to get rid out of pain He may cry if you touch the abdomen. This especially is advanced cases of dog urinary tract infection symptoms. The dog will become fatigued and lethargic so much that he may refuse to take food.
He may have fever. The best symptom to recognize the fever is to feel the nose. If it is not moist, the dog is probably suffering from fever.

What to do in case you see any symptom of dog urinary tract infection

Do not waste time; take your dog to the nearest veterinary surgeon immediately as you see any dog urinary tract infection symptoms. Take him for frequent walking. With each frequency, some amount of bacteria will be cleared from the urinary bladder and the dog will feel comfortable. Add some citrus food like lemon to his diet. Lemon contains Vitamin C which is a good drug in a case of urinary tract infection. Medication has to given under strict medical supervision.

Some of the symptoms that you may notice if your pet dog has a urinary tract infection include:

• urinating a lot
• urinating a lot less/unable to urinate without straining
• Bloody Urine
• Unusually bad smell from the urine
• Changes in urinating patterns
• High Temperature
• Tirednes

Your dog may have one or many of these symptoms. If you suspect that your dog may suffer from urinary tract infection then you should contact your vet immediately.