More Health Things

I was going to tell you all about how my December was but I have to tell you about my latest health problem. 

Sunday morning I went for a walk with my people and everything was fine.  I marked all the good sniffs like normal.   I was still marking all the sniffs even though there wasn't much pee left in me.  Then my people saw blood on my legs.  I wasn't acting like I had an infection but my woman called several emergency vets to see how long I would be waiting.  We ended up at one that wasn't very far from the Washington border because the ones closest to us were either full or up to a 12-hour wait once we were in the parking lot.

These people took me away from my people and said it would be a couple of hours before the vet saw me and put me in a cage!  I was really, really upset and so were my people because they knew it would make me have really bad health problems for a while.  One of the vets was talking to my man about giving me an injection to try to calm me down when I peed in the cage.  So my people said to test that even though it wasn't the best way to test for an infection.   So I was back in my car within 20 minutes of being taken!  I was having really bad breathing problems when I came out because of the stress of being caged.  My woman decided to back out of the vet's parking lot and park in the one next door.  My people thought I might need my rescue inhaler but my breathing got a lot better when we left the vet.

It took about 45 minutes to get the results, talk to the vet on the phone, and check out.  I spent the whole time eating treats and the Stella and Chewy's patty that my people brought.  If my man wasn't fast enough with the treats, I'd whack him a good one with my paw.

The Sunday vet didn't think it was an infection so Tuesday I went to my regular vet for an ultrasound of my bladder.   I was still having blood but still only when my bladder was empty and I was trying to mark things.  Because of this, my vet only did my bladder because I was able to be on my side instead of my back which is better for my trachea and esophagus.  If she checked my kidneys and stuff, I'd have to be on my back for a long time.  And both people got to come in with me to give me love while they did it!  My man carried me into the exam room because I wasn't supposed to pee before she did the scan and they knew I would probably pee on the sidewalk but I wouldn't want to pee in the building.  I shook a ton but my breathing never got bad the entire time!

My vet didn't see anything bad but said she saw stuff that could be crystals or bacteria so she stuck a needle in my bladder and stole my pee.  I also got weighed while I was there and I gained 0.4 lbs. since January 3 when I had my last x-rays.  Everyone was very happy.  I got to go out and pee and wait on my car while the vet looked at my pee under a microscope and they ran something called an "in-house urinalysis."  She said they couldn't tell if I had a urinary tract infection or not.  I didn't have any crystals and they couldn't tell if they saw any bacteria or not.  So the pee that she stole was sent to a place that will see if anything grows in it.  We all decided to give me antibiotics until the test results come back because there was a chance that I have a super mild infection that is causing me to pee blood sometimes but no other symptoms.

I took my 1st antibiotic after we got home Tuesday night and the 2nd one Wednesday morning before my walk.  I didn't have any blood when I peed on Wednesday.  I also didn't have any blood today!

We should know next week if I have a urinary tract infection.  If I don't, then I I have something called sterile or interstitial cystitis.  This is inflammation in the bladder but without any infection.  An infection is easier to treat.