What are safe and unsafe antibiotics in this situation? Culture showed e-coli, haven't gotten the sensitivity back yet, but my local vet is not a repro person at all and already recommended Baytril, which is listed on several websites as one that should not be used. It is now 13 days after first breeding. I'm worried I won't be able to give her anything that will get the UTI without hurting the pregnancy or puppies.
Have you thought about trying to use something more natural? Cranberry juice is excellent in humans for UTIs so might be worth trying to get some of that into her.
Yogurt and cranberries are not going to touch E-Coli, your vet is correct, take his/her advise and go with Baytril. Our highly respected repro vet does not hesitate prescribing this drug when it is called for.
To answer your question about the safety, this is from the Baytril website:
"Common to all quinolones is that they may produce cartilage lesions in weight-bearing joints of growing dogs. Safety studies have shown that puppies between 1 and 4 weeks of age tolerated treatment with Baytril for up to 10 days at maximum doses of 25 mg/kg b.w. without showing adverse effects. In young dogs above 6 weeks of age, however, cartilage was affected depending on the dose and duration of Baytril administration. By contrast, young cats dosed with Baytril at maximum doses of 25 mg/kg b.w. for up to 30 days did not develop cartilage lesions. Thus, as a matter of precaution, all growing dogs were excluded from treatment. However, no evidence exists that Baytril treatment of pregnant or nursing dogs would have a negative influence on the cartilage development of the offspring."
Re: Re: UTI antibiotic for possibly pregnant bitch
Cranberry is good to help prevent UTI's, but is useless in trying to cure a UTI. All I know is that if I had a UTI, and someone wanted me to cure it with yogurt and cranberry, I would probably punch them in the nose. UTI's are extremely painful, and should be treated with antibiotics immediately.
I agree that cranberry will do no good with E-coli.
But I have to disagree that it will not cure a UTI. I have cured a UTI that included struvite crystals with 2100mg a.m./p.m. daily of crancaps for 2 weeks. I did catch this infection early which makes a big difference.
Urine sample rechecked at the vet to confirm.
Sorry I have no advice on the Baytril with a pregnant bitch. Prayers you can get the infection cleared up.
Re: Re: UTI antibiotic for possibly pregnant bitch
I to have managed to cure UTI's with a good dose of Cranberry supplements and plain yogurt..fed for about a week and it was gone. Caught it in the early stages as well !!
If you don't catch it early on, you need to get antibiotics for sure..every dog is different in the way they respond to the natural remedies and need the " Real Meds " to get rid of the bacteria.
Re: Re: UTI antibiotic for possibly pregnant bitch
I am not sure if you have ever had a UTI yourself. But, if you have, then you should know that 2 weeks to a cure is a very long time to be in very severe pain. With antibiotics, the pain is usually gone in less than 24 hours. If there is blood in the urine, it too is gone in a day.
While it is true that a severe infection will need antibiotics, I also urine PH test at home which aids me in catching an infection early.
If you have ever had a pup with a RV and recurring UTIs - you would hate to dump antibiotic into that pup again and again and again. Reaks havoc on the system.
I have been there and now use the alternative holistic route whenever I can.
Cranberry can also ward off UTIs in RV pups until heat cycle can correct the RV.
