Thanks for the link! I read through it last night.

:) Layla's happily napping on not one, but TWO blankets. But she was not happy when her daddy brought her downstairs this morning to express her and feed her and give her a pill, and he left for work and her mommy was still upstairs trying to sleep for another 20 minutes :rolleyes: So her mommy did not get any extra sleep today.

Last night was actually an improvement. She drank one and a half bowls of water, and she held her pee in from 5:15 until about 10:45. No leaks at all! She was full, but not overflowing full.

The vet did not call us back last night, or maybe she did, but our phone line is not working!!! Someone will be coming to fix it today. I am a little less concerned now though with the change yesterday. If we can get someone to express her starting next week, that will be great. It turns out it is a girl, not a guy lol. I guess she must be emailing from her boyfriend's account.

Anyways, Scott told me a little more on our way home yesterday about his breif talk with the vet. She was talking about how we needed to do xrays in case there were already stones and she was going to ask her veterinary community online about how to deal with this in a paralyzed dog and stuff. Scott didn't know why we needed xrays all of a sudden. She thought that we were calling because we were having the opposite problem with Layla, that we couldn't get her to pee and/or she was peeing blood. Scott was like nooooo... she is peeing ALL THE TIME. The vet said "Oh, well I thought that was going to happen" So Scott said to me last night, she thought Layla was peeing blood and she still took TWO DAYS to call us back?!

When I get a chance today I am going to send an email to Layla's vet at the university where she had her surgery and rehab. She had done a nutritional study on Layla when I was wondering about giving her extra vitamins, so hopefully she will be able to tell me something about other possible options to avoid crystals, or maybe refer me to someone else about this bladder infection and the crystals. I think we need a second opinion.

This seems so hard. I'm so sorry. You're doing a great job. My only comment beyond that is yes, I think you do need a second opinion. You need to continue to advocate for Layla, and find the answers you need if you are not getting them from this vet. Hang in there on the sitter situation - when one door closes another one opens. Hugs.

Thank you. I'm a little less frantic than I was before. I feel much more calm being home with the pups today, because I'm in control of the situation. I just know I can't work from home EVERY day unfortunately! We should be meeting with this girl this weekend, and hopefully she will be okay with it and she'll come over a few times to learn how to express. I really hope we love her and that she's good with the dogs. We are both a little nervous about giving a stranger a key to our home.

I hope that things go well with this new girl.

I agree with you and with Cathy....second opinion seems to be in order. I know you will find an answer.

You and Layla are in my thoughts and prayers.

I emailed Layla's other vet and she replied saying it's not her area of expertise, but she knows these specialty foods would make her pee more often because they flush out the crystals. She's not sure how much more is normal though. She suggested we either get a referral from our vet if we feel comfortable with that, or just call reception and make another appointment, although it would be helpful for them to see Layla's records from this vet still. We have the information on the meds Layla has been on and we can tell them that, so maybe we will just make an appointment and let them run their own tests if they want and see if they come to the same conclusion.

I'm worried I scared away that girl. I emailed her this morning saying we would like to meet this weekend and if she's still up for it, maybe she could try expressing a few times to get the hang of it. I asked if she'd be willing to start coming over Monday, since I will have to be back at work. I have not had a reply all day. She always replies from her phone, and usually replies immediately. :(

I tried to imitate what would be a "normal" day today if that girl starts coming over. Layla was expressed this morning at 7:30, slept the morning, I expressed her again at 12:30 and then she slept most of the afternoon. At 5:30, the latest we'd be getting home from work, she had started dribbling on the floor already just as I was going to pick her up. I just don't think this food will work out unless we have someone coming over twice a day... and I just don't think that's feasible for the rest of Layla's life :(

I am not sure exactly what type of crystals these are but I am praying they are just struvite crystals from her bladder infection and when the infection is gone, that we can switch back to her regular diet.

The only thing that I can say is that when Gabby gets a UTI, she has that overflow. After that awful infection not so long ago she had stopped doing it. Then last week she started again...I took her in and sure enough she had another UTI. She was put on Primor and she is now fine...her urine came back yesterday clear as a bell! :) And, she is not overflowing again. I just have a sneaking suspicion that may be what is going on with Layla. Did your vet do a culture and sensitivity on her? It may be that her urine is just not clearing up.

Maybe they are right about the food causing it, but honestly I have not had it happen with Gabby.

I am really wondering if maybe Layla's UTI is simply not clearing up. It took a long time for us to get Gabby straightened out. She is still on the nightly dose of Nitrofurantoin...I really believe that is helping her as this recent UTI was not nearly as bad as the others.

It is Friday...maybe that girl is just busy. I do hope she contacts you!

When was the last diagnostic imaging done on her bladder (xray or even an ultrasound guided cystocentesis)? Did they tell you what type of crystals are present?

It is very possibly the food, but it seems you almost have to rule out a UTI by urinalysis and culture. There are other options to acidify the urine if these are struvites, but part of that is increased liquid intake. I think it will be important for you to find somebody that can express her every few hours.

Even if there are theoretically reasons why the UTIs and crystals keep coming back, stones still really should be ruled out.

If your vet knew there was blood in the urine for two days and didn't at least have somebody call you to tell you to bring her in, then yes, a second opinion is needed.

I'm sorry. This has got to be so hard. :(

I haven't really noticed any excess thirst or peeing since we started the Royal Canin SO food.

She was already peeing a LOT, I think from maybe a combination of the stones, infection, and surgery.

Thank Goodness she really likes the food; I just hope she continues to like it when I wean her off the Wellness 99% chicken that I normally top her dinner with. I give her the dry food in the morning - and put warm water on it to make a gravy. She loves it.

I haven't seen excessive thirst either; I still wish she would drink more.

Linz, hope you hear back from that babysitter!

All I can say is you are a fabulous mom to your fur kid. People like you remind me of how we can be better human beings and I wish you all the best with your baby xoxoxoxoxo

Thank you so much! I have to keep reminding myself to just take it one day at a time.

The sitter said she can come over tonight to learn how to express... I sure hope she learns fast! She said she's available to start tomorrow so I am praying this works out.

Last night, Scott and I won tickets to a comedy show and we asked his cousin and his wife to come with us. We drove to the city, went to the show and then went to their house to visit a bit. By the time we left we had been away from home for 7 hours, we completely lost track of time!!! :( I was so worried about Layla all the way home. We got home and Scott grabbed her immediately to express her and I checked for puddles - nothing. She was full but not THAT full. We went to bed immediately. This morning I tried to express her and she was almost empty :confused: I actually couldn't find her bladder at all. Scott tried and after about 5 minutes he was able to squeeze out a little bit. She barely drank any water overnight.

I wonder if it just took a week for her body to get used to the food? Would that make sense?

Hope things went well last night and the sitter is going to care for Layla today.

The sitter is coming over today. She tried last night but couldn't express Layla at all. I think she was a little nervous with Scott and I watching, and I think she will take a little more time today to figure it out on her own. We showed her what to do and told her what to feel for, and she seemed like she understood but just couldn't get it. Layla's bladder was pretty small though. Hopefully today she's a little more full and it will be easier. We gave her our numbers and she has my email so she can call/text/email if she's having any problems. Fingers crossed!

Yeah, she might do better without someone watching. It is a bit intimidating...and it is hard to feel the bladder, esp if it is not full.
Hopefully she will get it today! :)

Well I got an email, and she could not get anything out. I told her that's okay, because Layla wasn't drinking much this morning (or last night.. she barely had any pee in her this morning either) so maybe she just isn't very full. I asked if she wants to meet us back at our house when we get home from work tonight and she can try it again when Layla is actually full, and she said "yes please" so she's sitll eager to learn. I'm still keeping my hopes up!

That's good she wants to keep trying, I found it very hard at first...ended up going to the vet a couple of times.