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  1. #1
    House Broken kaialeena's Avatar
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    Doctor Check Up With Senior Blood Panel

    I took Sierra for her wellness check and the doctor suggested that due to her age (10), that I might want to think of having a senior blood panel and urine test for her. I went with it and I got a call back from the doctor today. Said that the bacteria levels in her urine was extremely high and so high to the point where they did a recheck because of how high it was and if left untreated any longer, she could possibly develop kidney stones. So she is going to be on antibiotics for a week or so. But I am surprised that with the levels being that high that she didn't seem to have to pee more frequently? It just really worried me because I didn't see any signs at all. What do I even start to look for in the event this happens again?

  2. #2
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    No idea on the diagnosis but I'm surprised this was the first time a vet suggested that your young dog might be a senior.

    The vets around here start recommending senior panels at the age of seven. I agree with seven for larger dogs, and I agreed for Sunnie because I really had no idea just how old she was, but I'm going to stall on 35 lb. Dan for another year (he'll be eight the last day of this month). Senior checkups are much more costly than regular wellness checks and I have no reason based on Dan's history to suspect that he needs more. Urine and blood are already part of the regular exam.

    Good luck with Sierra.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by SunDance View Post
    No idea on the diagnosis but I'm surprised this was the first time a vet suggested that your young dog might be a senior.

    The vets around here start recommending senior panels at the age of seven. I agree with seven for larger dogs, and I agreed for Sunnie because I really had no idea just how old she was, but I'm going to stall on 35 lb. Dan for another year (he'll be eight the last day of this month). Senior checkups are much more costly than regular wellness checks and I have no reason based on Dan's history to suspect that he needs more. Urine and blood are already part of the regular exam.

    Good luck with Sierra.
    And my vets have never suggested special treatment/tests for my guys, even when they were 14 or 15. If something was off, of course they would run tests, but not simply because of age. I think every practice is different.
    Annette

    Cookie (HIT HC Jamrah's Legally Blonde, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015
    Sassy (HIT Jamrah's Blonde Ambition, UDX, OM2, BN) 6/4/2015

    Chloe (HIT HC OTCH Windsong's Femme Fatale, UDX4, OM6, RE) 6/7/2009

    And remembering:

    Scully (HC Coventry's Truth Is Out There, UD, TD, RN) 4/14/1996 - 6/30/2011
    Mulder (Coventry's I Want To Believe, UD, RN, WC) 5/26/1999 - 4/22/2015

    And our foster Jolie (Windsong's Genuine Risk, CDX) 5/26/1999 - 3/16/2014

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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Annette47 View Post
    And my vets have never suggested special treatment/tests for my guys, even when they were 14 or 15. If something was off, of course they would run tests, but not simply because of age. I think every practice is different.
    Our clinic used to be privately owned and I don't remember this being a "thing". Then the son/vet became part of a big franchise and everything skyrocketed....and this, I'm pretty sure, is part of that $$$ thing.

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  6. #5
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Been doing senior check ups on all our dogs, except Archie. They all qualified due to age and since they joined us as seniors I wanted a good baseline on their health.

    Don't know what to suggest about the UTI. Any of ours who have had an infection did show signs. Labs are so stoic that the frequent urination was a real telling sign.
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  7. #6
    House Broken kaialeena's Avatar
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    I just picked up the prescription from the vet. 750mg per dose, twice a day for 7 days. It has to be two separate pills, a 500mg and a 250mg. It really seems like a lot.

    She also wants me to pick up crananidin from Nutramax.

    It is so strange that for her bacteria levels being so high, she acts the same. I am hoping that this is all it is. After the 7 days, I will be taking her back in to get rechecked.

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    Hmmm. I have problem treating a pet for a problem without clinical symptoms. In 35 years of practice, I don't know if I have ever seen a dog with a UTI that didn't show symptoms of squatting, straining, etc. How did the vet collect the urine? If you took it into the clinic or they collected it when she squatted to urinate, then you might not be dealing with a UTI. When a dog (cat, person, etc) urinates, the initial urine stream will flush out the lower urinary tract. This means that the urine coming from the bladder will collect any material (bacteria, cells, debris, etc) from the urethra, vestibule, vaginal vault and even some of the skin along the mucous membrane near the vaginal vault. This is obviously a contaminated sample and is in no way indicative of a urinary tract (bladder) infection. To correctly diagnose a UTI, the vet should collect the urine directly from the urinary bladder using a needle inserted into the bladder (cystocentesis). This is the only way to collect a urine sample that will truly give an indication of an infection or other disease associated with the bladder. You might want to re-think this if the urine was collected free catch. If you will let me know how it was collected and the results of the urinalysis (urine specific gravity, urine ph, sedimentation), I will be happy to give you my opinion. You can get this info from your vet. If you do decide to use the antibiotics, please don't forget to use probiotics to offset the damage that will occur to the gut microflora.

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  10. #8
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    As far as a senior blood panel, I just get one around age 6 or 7 or 8, just so we have a baseline on blood values to have something to compare to later. Sometimes subtle changes can mean advancing disease, but you may not pick up on it, if the values seem otherwise normal, but not normal for your individual dog.

  11. #9
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    Years ago, many veterinarians started doing senior exams (plus lab work) as a method of getting the dog caretaker to come to the clinic more frequently, noting that the intent was to pick up early changes before they became a significant illness. The seven year senior designation correlated with Science Diet's determination that dogs needed to go on senior pet food at around seven years of age. Obviously, this was a great generality since breed played a significant role in defining a senior dog. One thing that has been disturbing to me lately, is that the intent has seemed to shift to being a money maker instead of the original intent. If you do decide to have a senior profile done on your pet, please do a 12 hour fast before the blood is taken. I see pets come into my office each week with blood work taken at their regular vets office that results were invalid do to the fact that the pet was not fasted.

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