September 10, 2024 • 9 mins
The Dog Professor, Robb Lust from the Edgefield Animal Care Center, takes a look at urinary issues your dog may develop and how to spot a potential health problem before it gets dangerously out of control.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me in studio is the dog professor Rob Lass
from the Edgefield to Animal Care Center. And today we're
gonna be talking about urinary issues that you have with
your dogs and probably more common than.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Most people think. Yeah, very common. In fact, you know,
it's not just common to dogs as we just talked about.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yeah, yeah, the cats are the dogs cats, you and I.
I mean, it's just it's a common thing.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, So it's important to always be on the lookout
for it. And we get questions about this all the time,
you know, and it usually comes from people when they
take their dogs outside and the the dog seems to
be trying to urinate, but they're just drops of urine
or or they're just massive amounts of urine okay the
(00:44):
other or in the urine you'll see some blood. Whatever
these are. These tend to be symptoms of a urinary
system issue. Whether it be a urinary tract issue, whether
it be bladder issue, they're all kind of bundled into
the same thing. So it's important to be aware of that.
And it's tough. You know, very few people, once they
(01:06):
have their dog house trained, if they're not taking it
out on a leash, they're not observing their dog urinate
in the yark or if they have multiple dogs, they
might see some blood and some urine, but you know
which dog is it. That type of thing, so it's
important to be aware of that, you know, and a
lot of times you can see it. Sometimes your dogs
will start to drink larger amounts of water than they
(01:27):
used to. Now that's also a seasonal thing, Okay, so
that's not necessarily instantly a urinary tract issue, but it's
important to pay attention to that, and a lot of
times as a boarding facility, we catch a dog's urinary
tract issue that the owners don't even know about because
(01:47):
we monitor that stuff every day, So it's important to
always be aware of that. It's pretty common. Urinary tract
infections and bladder infections are somewhat of a common issue,
so it's important to pay attention to that as you
go along for symptoms. So urinary tract infections basically it's
(02:09):
in the same ballpark as human urinary tract infections caused
by a bacteria. Oftentimes that's taken care of by antibiotics,
medication from your veterinarian bladder infections kind of in the
same ballpark. But a lot of times bladder infections can
be a sign of other issues going on, such as
(02:29):
bladder stones. And when I say bladder stones, it's it's
like in the human world. Okay, they're actual stones, usually
due to a build up of certain calcium, sodium, other
chemical deposits in your in your dog's urinary stream that
(02:51):
build up in the bladder and they just continue to
build and it's a lot of times impossible for your
dog to pass them. So we have on in multiple
times and surgically had to remove those bladderstones. Otherwise your
dog will just poison itself to death. If you can't
urinate the toxins built up in the bladder to the
point where they're almost about bladder can burst, and then
(03:13):
then then we got real problems. So bladderstones are urinary.
Bladderstones are a very common thing. And and so when
you're see the symptoms of a urinary issue in your dog,
like with the bladderstones, urinary incontinence is common thing also,
(03:35):
But that's where they're urinating while they're sleeping, right, Okay,
my French bulldog has that issue. Not necessarily a sign
of bladderstones, more of a muscle muscle issue, but the
actual straining. When you see your dog trying to urinate
or blood in the urine, those are signs of serious
issues with the urinary tract and it's important to get
(03:58):
that checked out. So then you go to vet and say, hey,
this is going on, and the first thing your vet
does is hand you this little cup and says, I
need a urine sample. And then everybody kind of looks
at us with the blank stare like, how how does
this occur? I have a doxin? How am I going
to get that underneath the doxy to get a urinary sample,
And at the same time go go yeah exactly. So
(04:18):
sometimes I know at our hospital we keep little plastic
trays that we keep the vaccine in and they're low
to the ground and you can usually get them under
short dogs. But a lot of times a little little
aluminum pie plate works well, or a frisbee or something
like that to get that urinary sample that we can
we can test and see and pinpoint exactly what the
(04:41):
problem is and why your dog is having this your
urinary issue. But it does usually require a urinary sample
in cases like that when we find the problem of
why this is occurring, whether it be an infection or
whether it be a stone issue. Stones are usually the
you know, stones are usually due to diet, okay, and
(05:03):
and help overall health of the dog. So if your
dog has a stone issue or the urine is set
at a certain pH level, uh, your doctor's going to
recommend a certain diet for your dog to help level
out that pH in the urine and either keep those
stones from growing or actually help to break down those
(05:23):
stones a little bit before they become a problem. A
lot of times we can see crystals in the urine,
which are the seeds basically for stones, and if we
catch those, then it's easier to change diet, change routine,
offer more water and and head head those stones issues
off before they occur. But that's something that we have
(05:45):
to see within the in the urine in that case,
So pieann uh, little saucer uh, anything can be used
to catch urine a lot of times, and it's not
as daunting as most people think it is once we
get some examples, but it is an important thing to do.
And when your doctor recommends that diet, unless your cat
(06:06):
is one hundred and seventeen years old, yeah or whatever,
then it's important for you to keep that animal on
that diet because it does take time to change the
chemical makeup within your dog's body and head off those
stones at an issue, and so they're not going to
prescribe that diet unless that's what they're going to use
(06:27):
to help keep that from becoming a problem. So usually
medication diet changes and that pretty much takes care of
most urinary issues. But the hardest thing in the cases
with urinary infections and stones and everything else is actually
catching the symptoms when your dog is showing them.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's really really hard to catch those symptoms because you
really have to be paying attention.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, Usually it begins with what most people consider to
be a house breaking issue. You know, there's little spots
throughout the yard, or maybe they take their dog out
and instead of stopping in one spot and just avoiding
their bladder in one spot, they become kind of like
my male dog does when he marks everything. But they
become a dog that just goes a little bit in
(07:11):
this spot and a little bit in this spot, a
little bit of this spot, and it's not really a
urine stream. It becomes more of like a spotty issue, right, Okay,
So it's and then sometimes you can see some clotted
blood within the urine if if it's a bigger dog,
if it's a small dog, you're going to be hard
pressed to see that until we actually get a urine sample.
(07:32):
So if you have the least least bit of an
idea that your dog is behaving out of the ordinary
with their outside routine, then that's something we want to
think about right away and talk to your bed about
right away. And you need to get on that quickly.
Like you said, yeah, yeah, it doesn't get any better,
it just gets worse. Okay, So it's you know your
(07:55):
dog's routine, know that. Okay, my dog's normal behavior. I
know when I take my mail dog out, he's going
to pee at every possible spot in the yard. Does
he having a urinarya issue? No, because that's his normal routine. Okay.
If I usually go out take my dog outside and
it goes in one spot and then we're all done
for the day. But now I've taken that dog out
(08:17):
and it's got accent like it's got to go a
little bit here, and then it strains and or keeps
pre you know, the body keeps telling it it's got
to go. Then and I know something's wrong and I
need to go get that checked out. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And if folks are looking in this area for a veterinarian,
you know a couple that are pretty good. Yeah, I
think they're all right. You know Edgefield Animal Care Center.
We're in the Central Ohio area, Marion, Ohio. We're a
full service veterinary hospital, boarding facility, training facility. We've been
operating in the marine area for fifty some years. So
(08:51):
if you're you need any of that information, if you
need any of those pet services, you can get online.
Get on our website Edgefieldanimalcare dot com and find out
all about us. And don't forget we have what one
hundred and thirty some odd episodes of the Dog Professor
podcast out there. You'll find it on the iHeart app
or wherever you find your podcast. Check that out for
(09:12):
some great advice on how to take care of every
one of the animals in your house.
Joining me in studio is the dog professor Rob Lass
from the Edgefield to Animal Care Center. And today we're
gonna be talking about urinary issues that you have with
your dogs and probably more common than.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Most people think. Yeah, very common. In fact, you know,
it's not just common to dogs as we just talked about.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Yeah, yeah, the cats are the dogs cats, you and I.
I mean, it's just it's a common thing.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Yeah, So it's important to always be on the lookout
for it. And we get questions about this all the time,
you know, and it usually comes from people when they
take their dogs outside and the the dog seems to
be trying to urinate, but they're just drops of urine
or or they're just massive amounts of urine okay the
(00:44):
other or in the urine you'll see some blood. Whatever
these are. These tend to be symptoms of a urinary
system issue. Whether it be a urinary tract issue, whether
it be bladder issue, they're all kind of bundled into
the same thing. So it's important to be aware of that.
And it's tough. You know, very few people, once they
(01:06):
have their dog house trained, if they're not taking it
out on a leash, they're not observing their dog urinate
in the yark or if they have multiple dogs, they
might see some blood and some urine, but you know
which dog is it. That type of thing, so it's
important to be aware of that, you know, and a
lot of times you can see it. Sometimes your dogs
will start to drink larger amounts of water than they
(01:27):
used to. Now that's also a seasonal thing, Okay, so
that's not necessarily instantly a urinary tract issue, but it's
important to pay attention to that, and a lot of
times as a boarding facility, we catch a dog's urinary
tract issue that the owners don't even know about because
(01:47):
we monitor that stuff every day, So it's important to
always be aware of that. It's pretty common. Urinary tract
infections and bladder infections are somewhat of a common issue,
so it's important to pay attention to that as you
go along for symptoms. So urinary tract infections basically it's
(02:09):
in the same ballpark as human urinary tract infections caused
by a bacteria. Oftentimes that's taken care of by antibiotics,
medication from your veterinarian bladder infections kind of in the
same ballpark. But a lot of times bladder infections can
be a sign of other issues going on, such as
(02:29):
bladder stones. And when I say bladder stones, it's it's
like in the human world. Okay, they're actual stones, usually
due to a build up of certain calcium, sodium, other
chemical deposits in your in your dog's urinary stream that
(02:51):
build up in the bladder and they just continue to
build and it's a lot of times impossible for your
dog to pass them. So we have on in multiple
times and surgically had to remove those bladderstones. Otherwise your
dog will just poison itself to death. If you can't
urinate the toxins built up in the bladder to the
point where they're almost about bladder can burst, and then
(03:13):
then then we got real problems. So bladderstones are urinary.
Bladderstones are a very common thing. And and so when
you're see the symptoms of a urinary issue in your dog,
like with the bladderstones, urinary incontinence is common thing also,
(03:35):
But that's where they're urinating while they're sleeping, right, Okay,
my French bulldog has that issue. Not necessarily a sign
of bladderstones, more of a muscle muscle issue, but the
actual straining. When you see your dog trying to urinate
or blood in the urine, those are signs of serious
issues with the urinary tract and it's important to get
(03:58):
that checked out. So then you go to vet and say, hey,
this is going on, and the first thing your vet
does is hand you this little cup and says, I
need a urine sample. And then everybody kind of looks
at us with the blank stare like, how how does
this occur? I have a doxin? How am I going
to get that underneath the doxy to get a urinary sample,
And at the same time go go yeah exactly. So
(04:18):
sometimes I know at our hospital we keep little plastic
trays that we keep the vaccine in and they're low
to the ground and you can usually get them under
short dogs. But a lot of times a little little
aluminum pie plate works well, or a frisbee or something
like that to get that urinary sample that we can
we can test and see and pinpoint exactly what the
(04:41):
problem is and why your dog is having this your
urinary issue. But it does usually require a urinary sample
in cases like that when we find the problem of
why this is occurring, whether it be an infection or
whether it be a stone issue. Stones are usually the
you know, stones are usually due to diet, okay, and
(05:03):
and help overall health of the dog. So if your
dog has a stone issue or the urine is set
at a certain pH level, uh, your doctor's going to
recommend a certain diet for your dog to help level
out that pH in the urine and either keep those
stones from growing or actually help to break down those
(05:23):
stones a little bit before they become a problem. A
lot of times we can see crystals in the urine,
which are the seeds basically for stones, and if we
catch those, then it's easier to change diet, change routine,
offer more water and and head head those stones issues
off before they occur. But that's something that we have
(05:45):
to see within the in the urine in that case,
So pieann uh, little saucer uh, anything can be used
to catch urine a lot of times, and it's not
as daunting as most people think it is once we
get some examples, but it is an important thing to do.
And when your doctor recommends that diet, unless your cat
(06:06):
is one hundred and seventeen years old, yeah or whatever,
then it's important for you to keep that animal on
that diet because it does take time to change the
chemical makeup within your dog's body and head off those
stones at an issue, and so they're not going to
prescribe that diet unless that's what they're going to use
(06:27):
to help keep that from becoming a problem. So usually
medication diet changes and that pretty much takes care of
most urinary issues. But the hardest thing in the cases
with urinary infections and stones and everything else is actually
catching the symptoms when your dog is showing them.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It's really really hard to catch those symptoms because you
really have to be paying attention.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, Usually it begins with what most people consider to
be a house breaking issue. You know, there's little spots
throughout the yard, or maybe they take their dog out
and instead of stopping in one spot and just avoiding
their bladder in one spot, they become kind of like
my male dog does when he marks everything. But they
become a dog that just goes a little bit in
(07:11):
this spot and a little bit in this spot, a
little bit of this spot, and it's not really a
urine stream. It becomes more of like a spotty issue, right, Okay,
So it's and then sometimes you can see some clotted
blood within the urine if if it's a bigger dog,
if it's a small dog, you're going to be hard
pressed to see that until we actually get a urine sample.
(07:32):
So if you have the least least bit of an
idea that your dog is behaving out of the ordinary
with their outside routine, then that's something we want to
think about right away and talk to your bed about
right away. And you need to get on that quickly.
Like you said, yeah, yeah, it doesn't get any better,
it just gets worse. Okay, So it's you know your
(07:55):
dog's routine, know that. Okay, my dog's normal behavior. I
know when I take my mail dog out, he's going
to pee at every possible spot in the yard. Does
he having a urinarya issue? No, because that's his normal routine. Okay.
If I usually go out take my dog outside and
it goes in one spot and then we're all done
for the day. But now I've taken that dog out
(08:17):
and it's got accent like it's got to go a
little bit here, and then it strains and or keeps
pre you know, the body keeps telling it it's got
to go. Then and I know something's wrong and I
need to go get that checked out. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
And if folks are looking in this area for a veterinarian,
you know a couple that are pretty good. Yeah, I
think they're all right. You know Edgefield Animal Care Center.
We're in the Central Ohio area, Marion, Ohio. We're a
full service veterinary hospital, boarding facility, training facility. We've been
operating in the marine area for fifty some years. So
(08:51):
if you're you need any of that information, if you
need any of those pet services, you can get online.
Get on our website Edgefieldanimalcare dot com and find out
all about us. And don't forget we have what one
hundred and thirty some odd episodes of the Dog Professor
podcast out there. You'll find it on the iHeart app
or wherever you find your podcast. Check that out for
(09:12):
some great advice on how to take care of every
one of the animals in your house.
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