My Dog Has (Another) UTI

It’s nothing new that Babe has a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). Really, it isn’t. She gets them 3-4 times each year.

Though, she does seem to be getting them a little more often since we moved to the city. And I have a sneaking suspicion that her (ahem) elimination method has something to do with that.

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A couple years ago, when we spent a summer with her in Pittsburgh, Babe saw a vet who endearingly referred to our dog as “the small babe child.” In any other situation, that would have been adorable. But at this particular visit, the vet’s use of the term made us somewhat uncomfortable as she explained that the small babe child’s recessed vulva was the cause of her many UTIs.

And, with that, we went on our merry way, antibiotics in hand and the direction to wipe the small babe child with a baby wipe to frequently clean her lady parts. Anything for our little girl.

Fast forward a couple years and Babe is still experiencing UTIs with some frequency. We have a doggy diaper that we use when she first gets her UTIs to save our furniture for the first few days of her antibiotic treatment before her little accidents subside.

Fortunately, she doesn’t particularly mind wearing any article of clothing, whether it’s a cute hoodie or a pink diaper.

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The last time Babe had a UTI, we discovered that we wouldn’t be able to supply the vet’s office with a sterile urine sample. The reason for that is the exact reason that she seems to be getting UTIs even more often in the city.

When Babe squats to pee, she gets a little… enthusiastic… with her flexible hips and presses her lady parts right against the (very filthy) concrete sidewalk. That means that we can’t collect a urine sample (once it hits the sidewalk, it’s no good).

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The vet ended up taking the urine directly from Babe’s bladder on her last visit (using a needle and syringe).

Thankfully, our vet was in no hurry to repeat that procedure this time and prescribed some Clavamox without a visit to the clinic. She also recommended that we begin giving Babe some Vetriscience Bladder Strength supplements.

Cool. No problem. Except that the bottle of pills was $48.90. That’s not a big deal since it will last 3 months and she did save us a ton of money by skipping the exam and urinalysis. So I won’t complain too terribly loudly.

But… that same bottle of pills is $14.50 on Chewy (where I order the dogs’ food). That means that the vet clinic has priced the supplement almost 340% more than another retailer. I don’t even want to know what the markup is from wholesale cost!

Ah, but I digress…

Babe, The Pig Dog, is already doing better. And Banjo has been her usual bouncy self, people watching out the window, checking herself out in the mirror and lounging with Babe.