My 9 week old Labrador has been urinating more frequently for the last two days, with most instances involving a time of

Hello, I'm Dr. Kara. I have over 20 years of experience as a veterinarian and I'd like to help. Please give me a moment to review your concerns.

I am very sorry that Trouble has blood in her urine, frequent urination and straining.

There are many reasons for these symptoms.

We often think of an infection but also crystals or stones in the urinary tract, masses in the vagina, or in the urinary or reproductive tract or clotting disorders are possible causes.

Rarely puppies are born with urinary tract abnormalities that predispose to infections (ectopic ureter for example).

Are her gums and tongue white, pale pink or bubble gum pink? If they are nice and pink then she likely hasn't lost enough blood to make her anemic and that is a good sign.

She does need to see her veterinarian.

In a young puppy these symptoms are almost always due to an infection, as their immune system isn't as strong as an adults and puppies that aren't yet housebroken are exposed to more bacteria from stools passed in their pen.

If she were my patient I'd start with a urinalysis and base treatment upon that usually a short course of antibiotics is enough.

If she didn't respond I'd check another urinalysis but add a culture and radiographs of her abdomen to look at her kidneys and bladder for signs of stones and the size and shape of her reproductive tract and her urinary tract.

We may need an abdominal ultrasound to identify some urinary calculi and abnormalities in her bladder, kidneys ureters or reproductive tract. If she had pale gums signifying significant blood loss then I would want to check her clotting function too.

But initially an antibiotic prescription for 10 to 14 days would be reasonable to start.

If I saw lots of crystals or abnormal looking cells on the urinalysis I'd warn the owner that things may be more serious.

And I'd recommend a recheck of her urine at the end of the antibiotic therapy. If there was still blood then radiographs or an ultrasound of her bladder/kidneys is needed for he reasons listed above.

All you can do for her at home is encourage fluid intake to flush out her urinary tract. Add water or low salt beef or chicken broth to her food or feed her canned food to encourage eating and increase her fluid intake.

Give her ice cubes. Offer her fresh water frequently.

And make sure she gets out frequently to urinate.

If she is straining but unable to pass any urine, is vomiting, runs a fever (more than 103F rectally), has a tense, painful abdomen with gentle pressure, or her gums become very pale it is time for emergency veterinary care.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Hello, I wanted to make sure that you didn't have any further questions for me, and I'd like to know how things turned out for your pup. If you could give me an update that would be great, thank you, ***** *****