As we enter August, Bailey has shown great improvement post-TPLO surgery. His 8 week check up is this week and we were told at his last check up that he was healing at an extraordinary rate.
Dr. Agrondia (who we love! Great veterinarian/surgeon) was very pleased that we were still using his harness on every walk and that we were regimental regarding his bathroom breaks. Outside of peeing and pooping Bailey was kept in his crate. This was not easy on an old black Labrador who had his rule over the roost, however we did not succumb to his whine, bark, or passive aggressive snubs; Bailey was in his crate for his own good.
We kept the crate floor layered with plush blankets, parked in front of the steady breeze of the Air Conditioner set at an electric bill killing 66 degrees full power. Treats, frosty paws and bones galore for our quarantined companion. Yet the barking, anxiety and crankiness did not subside.
Bailey was not eating and he made his pill taking a chore to say the least. Instead of his leisurely let-me-smell-and-pee-on-everything strolls, he would make a desperate dash out the door, eek out a foul smelling stream of urine then quickly retreat up the deck stairs to his crate and frantically lick himself. This was not like Bailey. The house began to smell like urine from little accidents in the crate. Something wasn’t right with Bailey
This change in attitude and the frequent urgent peeing was at about week 5 of his TPLO surgery. It was at the tail end of that week that we saw blood in Bailey’s urine. I got a call from Melissa while at our swimming hole with the kids and our yellow lab puppy and could tell Melissa was crying as she described how Bailey was peeing bright red blood. She was off to the emergency vet clinic in Portland.
After a series of blood work, X-rays, probing and whatever else could equate to a $900 bill we were told that Bailey had struvite crystals in his urine and that could be contributing to his blood in his urine. As far as the cause of the crystals he was being treated with antibiotics in case of a asymptomatic prostate/urinary tract infection. The discharge instructions also told us to ask our vet about special diet instructions on how to reduce the crystals.
We were surprised to learn that our high-end pet food Wolf King was the most likely culprit. Our vet said that a lot of the instances of struvite crystals involved dogs on boutique brands of alternative dog-foods (Blue Buffalo, Wellness,etc). Our vet recommended Purina One, Iams, Eukanuba, or Nutro to reduce the struvite crystals as these contain more balanced ingredients.
We have changed his food and have given him the antibiotics for a week now. He is no longer peeing blood and seems to be back to his good natured self again.
Maine Labs 