[Dailydrool] potty training

[icerchiaro]

Em 12/05/2010 10:25, icerchiaro < icerchiaro at uol.com.br > escreveu:

"Many basset slaves have felt that their basset would never be trained,  but most of them do get the idea eventually. If that does not  happen, it's time to visit the vet, because something could be  wrong. But the good news is that males rarely get urinary tract  infections, probably the most common cause of accidents in a hound  that seemed to get the idea of potty training, then lost it."

Rarely as it seems, male bassets can have urinary infections. And my poor baby was very unlucky! Poor Bertrand, who was 1 1/2 years old when we got him, took 6 months to do it right continuosly. After we had him for 3 months and he peeing right and wrong inside and outside the house, I noticed that he bled when he peed. We discovered that he had an urinary infection that, according to his vet, is not uncommon, mainly due to low quality food, caused by calcium oxalate crystal formation. Ok, got him on antibiotics, changed his food to royal canin renal. It didin't disapear. He still peed wherever he wanted. Back to the vet for another exam to control infection, we discovered that he still had an urinary infection. But, alas, a new one! In controling the calcium oxalate formation, we discovered that when his urine ph changed to (I really don't remember) control the oxalate, his kidney stopped to process protein and it started to precipitate the protein as crystals! After we mana
 ged to put poor Bertrand right, he never peed on the carpets again (well, except, when he thinks that it is taking tooooo long for us to take him out). We had another bout of infection again, when the vet said it was probably safe to go back to normal dog food. So, now, he is almost 6 years old, he is being fed a mixture of royal canin renal and Hill's U/D and we haven't had a bout in almost 4 years, but the food bill is moe than $100 a month.

Isabel and Bertrand
>From Brazil