Hey everyone!
I have a 6 1/2 month old (63 Lbs) male red and rust, I got him from a very reputable breeder, and he is AKC registered. Since he was about 2.5-3 months old he has been getting a UTI every 2-3 weeks and no amount of or different antibiotics will take it away for an extended period of time, tomorrow will be our 8th vet visit about this problem. So far the urinalysis's shows bacteria and sediment but the urine cultures (we have done four) come back negative. The vet thinks it may be congenital, due to him being so young. I've done ALOT of research which have led me to two different avenues, A) kidney disease; its possible one of his kidneys did not form correctly in the womb and B) "Benign prostatic hypertrophy & Prostatitis (prostate infection) which would cause reoccurring UTI's; the only fix to this would be getting him neutered. Ive also read about waiting 18-24 months before neutering dobermans, haven't found information on why but I assume it has to do with growth hormones and overall development. I guess my question is what would be the better of two evils? getting him fixed at 7 months old or riding this out until he is at least 13 months old? his current symptoms are occasional blood in the urine, incontinence, FOUL breath, very frequent licking, and more recently has wanted to sleep on the couch versus in bed with me. Thank you so much for reading, any ideas or thoughts?
I have a 6 1/2 month old (63 Lbs) male red and rust, I got him from a very reputable breeder, and he is AKC registered. Since he was about 2.5-3 months old he has been getting a UTI every 2-3 weeks and no amount of or different antibiotics will take it away for an extended period of time, tomorrow will be our 8th vet visit about this problem. So far the urinalysis's shows bacteria and sediment but the urine cultures (we have done four) come back negative. The vet thinks it may be congenital, due to him being so young. I've done ALOT of research which have led me to two different avenues, A) kidney disease; its possible one of his kidneys did not form correctly in the womb and B) "Benign prostatic hypertrophy & Prostatitis (prostate infection) which would cause reoccurring UTI's; the only fix to this would be getting him neutered. Ive also read about waiting 18-24 months before neutering dobermans, haven't found information on why but I assume it has to do with growth hormones and overall development. I guess my question is what would be the better of two evils? getting him fixed at 7 months old or riding this out until he is at least 13 months old? his current symptoms are occasional blood in the urine, incontinence, FOUL breath, very frequent licking, and more recently has wanted to sleep on the couch versus in bed with me. Thank you so much for reading, any ideas or thoughts?