How to Tell If Your Dog Has a Urinary Tract Infection

We love our dogs! To most of us, they are part of the family. There's nothing more painful than watching our pet in distress. This article contains information on how to tell if your dog has a urinary tract infection and what to do about it.

Frequency of urination is one of the signs of a urinary tract infection. You may notice when walking your dog that he is trying to urinate much more frequently than normal, even though very little or no urine is actually coming out. Your dog may start to have accidents in the house even though he never did before. He may seem uneasy or anxious, not wanting to sit still or lay down. These are signs that your dog is in distress.

Additional signs that your dog may have a urinary tract infection are straining to urinate and discomfort while urinating. You may notice your dog straining to urinate or even whimpering in discomfort while urinating. Sometimes dogs will even have blood in their urine when they have an infection. Heed all of these warning signs as it's time to take your beloved pet to the vet to be checked.

In order to tell if your dog has an infection, the vet will most likely take a sample of your dog's urine and do a urinalysis. If the test is positive, the vet must then determine which kind of bacteria is causing the infection. To do this, he will perform a bacterial urine culture. Once the kind of bacteria is identified, the vet will prescribe the appropriate antibiotic for your dog.

There are things you can do to help prevent your dog from getting urinary tract infections. Always make sure that he has plenty of fresh, clean water to drink. Keep your dog clean by bathing him several times a month. This will help prevent the bacteria in his urine from traveling to his urethra, thus causing an infection. Also, it's very important to take your dog on frequent walks to allow him to urinate so he doesn't have to hold his urine for long periods of time. This will prevent the build up of bacteria in unreleased urine.

If you suspect that your dog might have a urinary tract infection, take him to the vet and get help. Don't let him suffer. These wonderful creatures rely on us to help them when they are not feeling well.