So another inspection of dog pee, now that Ruby has been off the antibiotic for some days, revealed NO crystals(!), no white blood cells, and no bacteria. Dr. Bracken said he did see a few red blood cells, but he thinks that could be an aftermath that should dissipate in the near future. He doesn't want to prescribe another round of antibiotics, because he's pretty sure the thing is clearing up. He does want to keep her on the S/O dog food for another few weeks, though.

That she now can go several hours without needing to pee is, obviously, a good sign, and he also thought Lake Michigan was a sign of improvement -- he agreed that the much more dilute urine is to be desired.

Meanwhile...the problem is, this little dog doesn't give out the usual "when ya gotta go" signs one relies on to help house-train. She doesn't sniff around in search of The Place, and she doesn't circle around anxiously. Often, she just suddenly out of the blue emits a puddle. This morning while we were sitting in the vet's waiting room, she climbed onto their floor scale and peed all over it! And on the way home, she peed in her crate. That was a fine mess to clean up!  Ruby wasn't pleased at the shower in the backyard hose, either.

She has peed in her X-pen, too. It's as though she doesn't really know she's about to widdle. Sometimes she seems to, because she will signal that she needs to go outside; but sometimes she just seems to...well, splash out unexpectedly.

This morning, she wanted out at three. At 6:30, when it was time to get up and run around, I wanted to collect the proposed urine sample, and she would NOT pee. That's three and a half hours later. She didn't pee for another hour, and even then, not very much. But then when I get her to the vet, she floods the place!

Leaves me wondering if there's not a congenital issue. I've never had a dog that didn't make it pretty obvious when it was time to go out. If she doesn't know she needs to pee...that would explain quite a lot, wouldn't it?

LOL! Every time I describe this predicament to someone new, they give me a patronizing lecture on how to house-train a puppy. :roll: You know, I am almost 70 years old. During my adult lifetime -- since I was about 20 -- I have had the privilege of house-training EIGHT puppies, none of whom (uhm, except for Ruby) caused any difficulties. Several of those pups were house-trained long before crate-training became stylish. With or without crate, it's just not very hard to house-train a healthy pup.

That's why I think the operative term here is "healthy": something is wrong, and I have a nagging feeling that the UTI is not the cause but rather an effect of an underlying problem.

Drawings of common urinary crystal from Urinalysis Tutorial.