Why is my dog squatting a lot? What to Know

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Diagnosing a UTI in a Dog

Everything starts with a urine sample.

A urinalysis is the first step and gold standard in diagnosing a UTI in a dog.

If you notice any of the above signs that your dog might have a urinary tract infection or are at all concerned about your dog’s changes in urination, your veterinarian might ask you to bring in a urine sample when you come in for your appointment. Otherwise, they will get the sample at the hospital.

There are many vets who don’t want a urine specimen collected at home. The gold standard is for your vet to always get a sterile urine sample directly from the bladder. More on this later.

Many people balk at this idea, saying it’s impossible to take a urine sample from their dog.

It’s not. It’s easier than you think for most folks!

Try to get your sample during the first potty outing in the morning. Your dog will need to urinate and should have a fairly large volume. This makes collection easier. The first urine of the day may also be of higher diagnostic value to your vet.

Have a clean, dry (does not need to be sterile) container at the ready. Shallow containers work best for females so you can scoot it underneath. Disposable plastic containers work great. They are inexpensive and come with a lid.

Occasionally folks bring me a urine sample and ask for the container back. This is a bit of a nuisance.

Not only might the lab tech throw the container away as soon as she extracts the urine sample, but what are you going to use that container for after you associate it with a pee sample?

More tips:

  • Wear a glove while collecting if you have a low gross-out threshold.
  • Commandeer a family member to help. One person walks while the other person retrieves.
  • We don’t need a lot of urine. Even if you miss the beginning as your dog squats, chances are you will get enough — a tablespoon or so — if you catch any part of active urination.
  • A deeper container may help you with a male dog if he is a high leg-lifter with a fairly strong stream.

    • There is a subset of dogs that make getting a urine sample exasperating. If you have tried and tried and failed, chances are your vet staff will be able to help you.

    Don’t let your dog urinate on the way to the vet. You might even leave your dog in the car and go into the office and ask for a vet tech’s assistance.

    There are many smells at the vet, and your dog might deliver that cherished sample on the way in the door, missing another golden opportunity.

    If the vet tech is also unable to get a sample right away, there are a few options:

  • You can leave your dog a the office for a few hours until their bladder is full again.
  • Or your vet might suggest getting a sample directly from your dog’s bladder. This is called a cystocentesis.

    • The best urine sample is one that is collected directly from the bladder via a needle — a cystocentesis.

    Second best is a catheterized sample, which is fairly easy in male dogs but quite difficult in females. You can’t really catheterize a female dog without some kind of sedation.

    Inserting a needle directly into the bladder sounds horrible to some folks, but it is usually simple, nontraumatic and over in about 5 seconds. This is also the only way to get an absolutely sterile sample, which is needed for certain urinalyses.

    Your vet will do a basic urinalysis on the sample, and this will render a lot of information.

    Depending on the vet practice, this will either be done in-house and results will be ready very soon, or the sample will be sent out to a vet lab and results will be back the following day.

    A basic urinalysis is extremely informative. It includes the following tests:

  • The urine dipstick checks for various parameters such as the amount of glucose in the urine (diabetes), pH and protein, for example. These look like the dipsticks you might use in your pool or hot tub.
  • The urine specific gravity is a number that is measured with a refractometer. This number tells us how concentrated the urine is. A dilute urine means your dog is thirstier than usual and/or is not concentrating their urine due to a possible kidney function problem or other systemic disease such as Cushing’s syndrome.
  • The urine sediment gives us a bird’s-eye view into what cells and other elements are actually floating around in your dog’s urine. A small amount of urine is spun down in a centrifuge leaving the sediment at the bottom of the test tube. That sediment is stained and analyzed under a microscope.

    • The microscopic urine sediment reveals any red blood cells, white blood cells, bacteria, crystals and any abnormal cells from the bladder.

    The sediment tells us a great deal about whether or not an infection is present, what kind of crystals are present and whether something more sinister than a simple UTI might be going on.

    A urine culture tells us what specific bacteria are growing in the bladder when there is an infection. The sensitivity tells us which antibiotic(s) is the best choice to combat that bacteria.

    Getting the urine directly from the bladder via cystocentesis is required to get the best results for a urine culture.

    When the basic urinalysis indicates an infection, the culture can put an actual name on that infection, say E.coli, for example. The sensitivity tells us which antibiotic is the best choice to combat that particular E.coli bug.

    An uncomplicated UTI may go away with 1–2 courses of antibiotics and not return. If this is the case, no further testing is warranted.

    But if a UTI keeps coming back (refractory) or does not improve with antibiotics (resistant), further testing must be done. These could include radiographs, ultrasound or other advanced imaging of the bladder, cystoscopy, specific tests to measure protein in the urine, additional urinalyses and cultures.

    If a bladder tumor is suspected, biopsy and surgery are indicated.

    Here’s a quick video with some more information:

    Hi Dr. Debra – I have a seven-year-old female Basset Hound, recently I have noticed that she wants to go pee and nothing comes out. She drinks plenty of water then after a while she goes pee and goes plenty but after ten minutes from the time she went she seems to want to go again sometimes droplets.

    Why is my dog peeing every 5 minutes?

    Frequent urination in dogs sometimes signals a health problem. “Increases in frequency can indicate a bladder problem, bladder infection, kidney disease, bladder disease, liver disease or diabetes,” says Dr. Solomon.

    How to Tell if a Dog Has a Bladder Infection

    We mostly take it for granted that our dogs urinate, whether it is convenient for us or not. Anyone with a dog that frequently marks may even feel a sigh of relief when her dog decides not to spray the neighbor’s tires.

    As awkward as it is when our dog chooses to lift a leg where we’d rather he not, in the back of our minds is the knowledge that regular urination is a sign of a healthy dog. Difficulty urinating, on the other hand, is a dangerous symptom that necessitates a visit to your veterinarian.