German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America

abbyw · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 13

Hi. My husband and I recently got a female GWP. She is 12 weeks old and was just diagnosed with a bladder infection. We realized she had one due to her constant squatting and urinating. She would squat about 5 or 6 times in 15 minutes and not much was coming out! She was also urinating in the house right after we would bring her in from outside. The vet gave her an antibiotic to take for 10 days. She has been on it for 6 days now & she is much better but still seems to be squatting more than normal outside. Has anyone had any experiences with bladder infections in a puppy? It has also made housebreaking difficult! Also, she never went "#2" in the house before and the past 2 days she has gone twice after already going outside. Could the antibiotic be upsetting her stomach? Also, we are crate training her so she is usually crated for a few hours at at time during the day. She doesn't seem to be urinating her crate at all. Any info anyone could give would be helpful! Very Happy

cmmilach · Posted: 08/12/03, 1:37 pm Post subject: Bladder Infection

Hi,

I too had the same problem with my female GWP when she was a pup. She is now 1 yr old & I have had her on cranberry tablets since she was 12 weeks old after I got the infection under control. She has not had one since. I buy them at Wal-Mart & she gets two in the morning. It is better than keeping them on antibiotics.

Good Luck.

Cathy M. Wink

dualgwp · Posted: 08/12/03, 5:30 pm Post subject:

I think this is fairly common in gwp puppy bitches. They are short, their little vulva's are hairy and it "wicks" the bad stuff back up into the bladder. I don't think I am describing it very well, but you get the idea.

Many of my girl puppies have had this, and I don't get nuts about it. They seem to outgrow it when they grow up and get a bit taller. If your girl is going to be a hairy one, it will be good to keep the hair trimmed short "in that area". Blush, blush.......

Seriously... make sure she has plenty of fresh water available, and this does make housebreaking a bit of a pain, but stay with it, and this too will pass.
Bernee Brawn
Justa GWP's

abbyw · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 13

Thanks for the advice. I am glad to know that it is fairly common. I am just a paranoid new mommie I guess! I just want to make sure I am doing everything I can to get her better. She is done the antibiotic on Friday morning, so I will wait and see how she is then. I think maybe the bladder infection may have set back the potty training a bit. In regards to potty training, we take her out everytime she leaves the crate, after playing, meals, & napping. When she is out of the crate while we are home she goes out pretty much every 1/2 hour. We don't reprimand her when she goes in the house we just grab her and take her right outside. Is there anything else we can do to help her along?

cmmilach · Posted: 08/13/03, 9:56 am Post subject: Bladder Infection

Hi,

You are doing everything right as far as getting her housebroke. It just takes time and when they have an infection, they feel like they need to go all the time. Once the infection clears up, you should be back on schedule.

Good Luck!

Tony · Master Joined: 22 Oct 2002 Posts: 197 Location: Iowa

Anne · Junior Joined: 08 Nov 2002 Posts: 66 Location: Minneapolis

Sounds like you're doing the house training right. Just make sure all accidents are cleaned up with Nature's Miricle (or some product like that) so she doesn't smell the rug and have nature kick in. I promise once you're done and looking back on it, it won't seem that bad.
_________________
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

abbyw · Member Joined: 12 Aug 2003 Posts: 13

Hi. I thought Abby was doing much better, but today everything started up all over again. She has been off her antibiotic since last Friday and has been doing well. However today she started squatting a lot again, and she went to the bathroom in her crate. She also went to the bathroom in the house 3 times today. I thought we were making progress, but now I don't know what the problem is. I even left a message for her breeder last night saying she was doing better but after today I am not sure. She is the most wonderful puppy with such a loving personality. She basically wants to go up and lick every person/dog she meets! She definitely doesn't act "sick" so I am not sure what the problem is. If this is just something that she needs to outgrow I just need some reassurance. Otherwise, should I be talking to the vet more about this?

trackindog · Posted: 08/25/03, 12:06 pm Post subject:

We had the very same problem with our youngest male westie one year ago. We brought him home at 10 weeks and a few weeks later noticed he was going a little bit quite often. At times he would go three times in five minutes! Very hard to housebreak like that!

A trip to the vet showed a bladder infection. After one course of antibiotics he seemed fine for a few days then it would start up again. The vet said it was not uncommon to run through several courses of antibiotics.

The same problem occurred after the second course of antibiotics and then we became concerned about him being on them so long at such a young age. The vet at that point recommended neutering him as they found it to be successful in finally ending the infection.

We waited until he was 5 months old and had been on three courses of antibiotics and then went ahead and neutered him. It totally solved the problem! And the vet said they now have found they can neuter or spay dogs at a much younger age with no side effects. My westie is now 17 months old and not had a bladder infection since he was neutered.

Ann