Puddles is a happy 8-year-old spayed Cocker Spaniel. During their initial visit to my office, her owners told me Puddles had been diagnosed with several urinary-tract infections during the past year. To them, it seemed like Puddles was always on antibiotics, and they hoped a more natural approach would solve her problem. I told them I see a lot of dogs with urinary problems that can usually be solved using a natural approach.
I reviewed Puddles’ medical records and saw that, fortunately, her veterinarian had not indiscriminately prescribed antibiotics, as veterinarians often do with dogs experiencing urinary-tract problems. Instead, he had prescribed antibiotics based upon culture and sensitivity testing of the dog’s urine. Each time a culture was done, however, it revealed the same bacterial organism, E. coli, suggesting that although the correct antibiotic had been given to Puddles, it was not prescribed long enough to eliminate the bacteria.
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