Hudson's having trouble peeing
Some of you may have read that Hudson is really itchy and lately has been scratching himself beyond raw. We've treated it a bunch of different ways, with no relief at all. Friday night he received his first dose of steriods. It was not something we wanted to do but with the horrible sores, and three nights of him scratching so badly that he didn't sleep at all (neither did we) we felt there was no choice. He had his first dose Friday night, with two more today (Sat). He's taking Vanectyl - P, and has three days of the prescribed dose only, then he's quickly on reducing doses. It worked great. He's finally stopped scratching. We took him out for a pee before bed, and noticed that the flow has slowed down a great deal. It's more like a slow trickle. I woke up at two and decided to take him out again. He's passing reasonable looking urine, and I soaked it up in a paper towel (it was on the deck...he couldn't wait) with no redness at all. (The vet said to look for blood...) But it's coming out very slowly. He does not appear to be straining. They said he could wait until our vet opens on Monday, but I have to say that it sure felt to me like they just didn't know what was wrong, rather than knowing it was something specific and that that something was not a huge concern. Hudson's playful and full of energy, eating well, etc, but has actually been less interested in water since this treatment started. Since we lost our ThePas to kidney failure six months ago, you can imagine what's going through my head right now. And I feel pretty alone, since the only emergency vet in the entire city has just told me it can wait. My husband has the ability to sleep even in the face of this, and Hudson has taken my spot on the bed. He seems happy enough. In an unrelated turn of events, I was trimming his, um, private areas in the hope that the problem was an indelicately placed clump of matted hair (no such luck), and a small black bug went running by along Hudson's skin. I caught it and put it in a pill bottle. It's pure black, long and skinny. Once in the bottle it started jumping around. We've had him checked for fleas several times, and it sure didn't look like the pictures I've seen online. Could all of this have been caused by a weird bug? (The itching I mean...) Even the vet went over him with a fine toothed comb earlier this week and found nothing, but, last Saturday my husband insisted he saw something bug-like and I pooh poohed him. I'd say it was about three mm long. Does this sound like a flea? And could he have one only? Assuming we saw the same thing, could one flea still be going strong a week later without having created seven million little associates? It's going to be a long night, and even a longer day... |
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| I work at a vet emergency practice, I actually just got home from a shift. Usually the calls go like this:
Q: Hi I have a question about my dog A: ok what seems to be the problem Q: well we noticed that he is peeing smaller streams than he usually does. There is no blood or anything though. A: Does he appear to be straining or difficulty going? Q: no he does strain and he seems comfortable to me. A: how is he eating and drinking Q: well he is eating ok but drinking a bit less than normal Etc.... If I were the one that received this phone call or something to this effect like Im sure you were telling them on the phone I would recommend to the owner to just watch the dog throughout the night. He doesnt seem in pain, isnt straining and there is no blood. I would recommend watching you pet and if you see any straining, discomfort or any blood I would bring him in. He is most likely urinating a smaller stream because he isnt drinking as much water. If his stream continues to get smaller or he has to go pee frequently but produces little to nothing then I would bring him in. The fact is no we dont know what could be going on specifically with him but we can tell from the conversation that A, he isnt blocked, B he isnt having bloody urine so no stones or kidney issues as of yet. To us we look at it for real emergencies ie not urinating at all, needs to be looked at now and xrays taken, bloody urine we need to take a look at the urine and the dog to see where the urine is coming from. If you really want to spend a couple hundred dollars in the middle of the night and put your conscience at ease then by all means take him in. We say that if he remains the same way as he is now then he can wait and he isnt declining in health drastically. I hopethis helps a little to get this view of things. Sorry if I rambled on a bit. On the other note, yes one flea can make some dogs so itchy they dont knwo what to do with themselves, its called flea dermatitis or just plain flea allergies. I dont know if you caught a flea or what it is since I cant see it but it could very well be that this one very elusive but could have been causing him all his troubles. |
| When our dog isn't drinking a lot of water, we put some fish oil type stuff in it because it makes her drink EVERYTHING in her bowl. Maybe you can find a way to get your dog to drink more? Good luck! Steroids terrified me b/c my dog was acting all kinds of weird. |
| I'm not a vet but the first things I'd think of are a reduced water intake, bladder stones, prostate problem (if unaltered) or possibly being bit by that bug causing inflammation resulting in a reduced the urine flow.
But again, I'm no vet. Fingers are crossed for an easy explanation. |
| Thanks for the responses.
I must admit that I'm much calmer now, in the light of day. He's romping around, still being evil, and appears to be drinking a little bit more than last night. When urinating, he's starting off with a somewhat more normalish flow, but the last half or so is still just a trickle. I'll definitely be talking with our vet first thing tomorrow morning. He just came back from an hour long walk with my husband and our older dog, Portage, and was covered from head to toe in mud and water, so obviously he's still feeling okay. He even had the time and energy to shred a fifty dollar leather belt. It's good to know he's not at all off his game. The good news....it wasn't MY fifty dollar leather belt. (I don't indulge in such luxuries.) I'm very eager to hear what the vet has to say about the urination change AND the odd little bug. (Which, incidentally, has since died in the pill bottle in which it was trapped. Ordinarily I am a friend to all living things, but in this case I'm kind of thinking he had it coming.) |
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