Blood in urine

[Pomp]

Walked into my bathroom tonight and there was urine with some drops of blood in it on the floor. Urine was dark too. Obviously, I'm going to the vet in the morning.

Any ideas what it could be?

It's from my female beagle. Her diet is EVO Reduced Fat dry in the morning, and usually a frozen chicken drum stick or beef bone at night.

Thanks.

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

Probably a UTI ( Urinary tract infection) How is her water intake?

[GlassOnion]

Could be kidney problems as well.

[Pomp]

Originally Posted by Izzy's Valkyrie

Probably a UTI ( Urinary tract infection) How is her water intake?

Water intake doesn't seem any more or less than usual.

How does a UTI in a dog happen? Anything to do with her diet? Or does bacteria just find a way to creep up in there?

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

Probably much in the same way it happens in a human. Since I doubt your dog is having copious amounts of sex without bathing afterwards, it's possible she's going longer between pee breaks which lets the urine build up in her bladder and gives bacteria a chance to grow or she may have just gotten unlucky and gotten a random infection.

Water intake matters because reduced amounts of water in the system can lead to more concentrated urine that has the potential to more readily breed bacteria. If you have any cranberry juice at home, you could try giving her a little.

[Pomp]

Well, if she's have copious amounts of sex, then I'm certainly sex. Lord knows I'm not.

But no, she pretty much goes outside every 3 hours. And I've had her since Nov 2005 and never seen this before. And I'm pretty psycho about her diet. Just freaks me out a little.

[Izzy's Valkyrie]

Then I'd look into GO's suggestion about a possible kidney problem.

[Pomp]

Well, I just took her out. She had some troubles going (she did poop and it was fine), but there were droplets of blood again in her pee. Like I said, vet in the AM.

Kidney problem, as in a stone? If it is stone, what causes that? And what do I say when the vet probably recommends some crappy Prescription Diet kibble.

And wouldn't an increase in drinking be a sign of a kidney problem? She isn't drinking any more than normal.

[GlassOnion]

Stones can be caused by a lot of things. pH imbalances in that area, diet, etc. If she has trouble going, and has blood in the urine, it may very well be blockage.

That said:

And what do I say when the vet probably recommends some crappy Prescription Diet kibble.

I wouldn't sell the 'crappy Prescription Diet' so short. Sure it's shitty maintenance food but when formulated for a specific reason, it does do the job. We had a client who had the same view as you do and she refused to feed her cat u/d. Well 2 weeks later cat is back in to vets office again with blockage again and we got to do surgery and flush the stones out again, which made the client pay $400 again just because she wouldn't give the cat u/d for the time period we specified. After that second surgery she complied and boom, stones didn't reform. Once the urine pH got back to normal to where it could dissolve the fragments, she was able to go back to her normal food. But pH isn't always the problem as there's a remarkable amount of crystals that can be found in urine, most of which have differing causes.

Also do your vet a favor and when you take her out in the morning, try to capture some of the pee in a cup or what have you. The vet's going to want to do a urinalysis and if there's nothing in there, well not much can be done.

And wouldn't an increase in drinking be a sign of a kidney problem? She isn't drinking any more than normal.

Depends on the problem that the kidney is having. If it's not able to dilute the urine enough, then the body will want water. If it's just blocked up, then the body will remain in balance/demand less since it's not expelling as much.

[Barb04]

I've had luck getting a urine sample by taking a piece of aluminum foil, shaping it into a cup with a "v" at one end. When my dog goes pee, it's easier to slip underneath and get a sample.

Let us know what the vet says.