Not an UTI but presents as one

Took my frenchie into vets for what seemed like the start of a uti. She would go outside and pee and it would come out normal to start and then start dribbling out. The weird part is she keeps trying to go ( keep squatting) for a long long time. No blood no smell. She can hold it and is not having accidents inside the house. Still eating and drinking, no temp either. Vet took urine sample and ran it for bacteria. She completed 5 days of enrofloxacin 68mg and 10 days of amoxi-clav 125mg. Urine came back not showing any crystals or blood or bacteria. Urine was a dark dark dark copper cloudy color. He felt that it using that covered almost all our bases. Started meds 8-30-23 and finished 9-8-23 with not missing a dose.   During all of this I have been giving her cranberry supplements for dogs and she has a couple tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt daily w her kibble. She does not get people food. Ever.   Finished meds and saw NO improvements. Went to urgent care (different vet) for her 9-11-23 because I could tell she was not feeling well and was still peeing for a looooong amount of time every-time she goes outside. He ran a CBC, X-rays, ultra sound and grew a culture. His findings were….   “Sugar's culture is final. It's a bit of a strange one. First, I was correct when I showed you the cocci bacteria on my phone. Although the lab called it rods, the final culture shows staph (cocci). What is challenging is that it's multidrug resistant. I contacted the lab and spoke with the specialist (internist). Of the 4 viable options (2 of which are not ideal), she recommends TMS (trimeth-sulfa). I also researched the current UTI consensus guidelines and they recommend the same. The duration could be anywhere from 3 to 14 days depending on opinion and patient response. I was going to recommend TMS for 10 days and then recheck urine 7 days after the last dose.”   We finish the TMS tomorrow am and I have seen no improvement. I have reached out for our next steps, however I am very concerned and trying to be proactive and hoping to pick someone’s brain.   Thank you, Concerned frenchie mama.

Hello!  For any suspected bladder infection, it helps to consider where these bacteria +ve samples are coming from;  whether they were sterile, perhaps directly from the bladder, or whether the urine might have touched dog hair or another object (eg a collection tray) first and therefore may have washed bacteria straight from an external source (and also whether the antibiotics given are penetrating the bladder).  However, this is one for your vets, in tandem with their pathology / microbiology team.  Putting infection to one side, the sort of presentation you describe can and does happen in male dogs without bacterial infection eg in the event of an enlarged prostate affecting the outflow of urine, or cysts / inflammation / tumours / polyps etc. of the urethra.  It also may be possible that the patency of the tube / integrity of the smooth muscle / nerves may be up for investigation?  Good questions for your vet include:  what could still be the problem / what havent we ruled out yet?  How would we find out if that was the problem / how can we tackle it?  Wishing you the best of luck in getting to the bottom of this case.  In general, I wouldnt expect cranberry juice or Greek yogurt to have much bearing on the problems I have mentioned.  Your vet may reccommend a high volume of fluid intake, however - thats another question for them.  Please will you let us know what is found in the end?