sanity check

My almost 7yr old female Doberman was having urine accidents so I called my regular vet, where I've been taking her since I got her.  They fit me in their schedule 24 hours latter.  After testing, which took 15 min, they determined that she had a 'raging urinary infection' and prescribed an antibiotic.  Vet said to have her tested after 7 days because 'we don't want to have her on an antibiotic any longer than needed.  Should also say that this was the second urinary infection almost 1 year to date.  My question, wouldn't  it be more proper for the vet to request a urinary sample asap rather than wait 24 hrs while my dog is in pain? Or, at least say ' we are too busy to test your dog, given her history you should take her to emergency?  Especially as the vet examined her she commented that the dog was likely in pain.  Also, after 7 days I had her tested and the infection was resolved but the vet said to keep her on the antibiotic anyway.   The vet also took 24 hours to provide results. I feel like the vet did not act in the best interest of my dog but, I'd like a sanity check to see if I'm over reacting and the lack of urgency was proper.  Thanks!

Hello -  of course it is less than ideal for a dog with a urine infection to wait 24 hours for treatment, but I suspect that it is not uncommon.  However, I don't have any official figures regarding how long a dog - or indeed, a human - with a urine infection waits to receive treatment on average.  I suspect that it may be longer than 24 hours, but have no back-up data.  Nor do I know at what stage in proceedings the vet became aware of your phone call, or what they were doing when you called, or what they had been doing all morning or indeed whether they had had time for a five minute break, let alone whatever the minimum is that workers are entitled to (normal vet hours are around 8.30am-7.00pm) that day.  What I do know, having worked in a lot of practices over the years, is that most individuals within the industry are doing the best they can with the resources they have - but that the veterinary profession has recently lost a lot of EU workers and a lot of burned-out workers post-Covid.  This is not an excuse and nor is it an answer to your dogs' concerns, but it is important that you appreciate the background against which this question is being asked; that any problem with waiting times may be a wider, systemic one and not the fault of an individual vet who was trying to get through their day.  Does this mean that you shouldn't raise these concerns?  Of course it doesn't - and given that you thoughtfully asked this question, you probably don't need me to suggest that you do so sensitively.  Unfortunately, most vets don't have a handy A&E department they can send emergencies to during the day;  when I was an emergency vet, we worked 6.30pm through to 8am and the building was used by a very busy charity clinic during daylight hours.  Vets work in a constant state of triage - trying to see then most important case in front of them, while also trying to honour routine appointments.

How was your dogs' urinary sample collected?  I ask this because I have received samples before that have been caught in non-sterile containers or even sucked up from the floor with a syringe, or even free-catch that have run over the dogs' skin first - and of course these samples are indeed likely to have heavy bacterial loads in them.  Many a false diagnosis of a urine infection has been made off the back of one of these.  In modern times, a lot of good vets are trying to reduce the liklihood of false +ves, preferring to catch and test their own samples in a short time-frame.  This can cause delays, but if done properly can reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, which can only be good for the patient. Besides urine infection, there are obviously many reasons for dogs to produce frequent small urinations, including kidney disease, sterile cystitis and diabetes, so it is always a good idea to rule these out before giving antibiotics.

I should add bladder stones to that list.  More to come....

Back when I was a student, we were told that where antibiotics were needed for cystitis in dogs, 28 days was a minimum.  I checked a recent (2018) article by Dr. Emi Barker in the Veterinary Times; she says that the evidence supporting this is less certain and that the length of course should be based on the particular dogs' case.  Ideally, the urine would be sampled again while the dog is still receiving antibiotics.  She also brings up the possibility that to "get" cystitis, dogs often have an underlying complaint affecting their immune system, suggesting that a urine infection can be the first sign of a different issue.   I hope that something here is helpful for you.

Thanks for all the great replies. The one question about how the sample was collected, in a gator aid bottle that I washed. The Vet said there were white blood cells shown in the analysis,  hopefully that provides some confidence there was an issue.  I understand everyone is busy, I get it. I just wanted to understand if this was acceptable normal practice. I think from the great feedback that I need to manage the situation better from my side.  For example, if I feel uncomfortable about my vet's response then I should take a different route, such as taking my dog to the emergency Vet.  If I were in pain, that's likely what I would do for myself... but human emergency center ;-). Thank you all again.