Hi Shelley,

I have great concern when I read your question.

Clearly everyone is thinking there is an infection going on. So you’re using antibiotics and it’s coming back. But what is extremely disturbing is when you say ‘you collected the sample’ and that you collected ‘enough to culture’. These statements have so much wrong with them. If you perform an actual urine culture and not just a urinalysis, why are you collecting the sample? If you collect the sample, you are obviously catching it in a container which shouldn’t be done because that urine will have flowed out of your dog, passing over skin that has bacteria on it and being collected in a container with bacteria in it. No matter what, this is now a contaminated sample. So it further makes me think that you may not even be running a urine culture but a simple urinalysis which cannot identify the bacteria, which may be the reason the infection is not going away on these short and simple courses of antibiotics.

Here’s what you should discuss with your veterinarian…

• Have them collect a sample of urine by cystocentesis (which collects it by needle right from the bladder so it’s not contaminated).
• Send it for an actual ‘culture and sensitivity test’. This test requires swabbing the urine with a sterile q-tip-like collection device that is then inserted into a tube with a transport medium that preserves the bacteria. I question whether you are actually doing this test because it can be done with a drop of urine, there’s no need to collect a significant amount.
• Stop thinking that her licking is doing anything. Just do the test and confirm once and for all whether there is an infection first.

If the tests are negative after being collected, handled and submitted the correct way, then start to consider other possible causes. Since the ultrasound was negative, that would eliminate things like stones in the bladder, polyps or masses of concern.

I hope this helps,

Dr. Clayton Greenway