11 year old great pyrenees help

Jiki is pretty much 12 and an amazing dog. Unfortunately he is old and having problems we don't know what to make of. He's leaking pee a lot which is a little cloudy and sometimes bloody. We did take him to the vet and there is no sign of a uti. They said maybe cancer If we wanted to do an ultrasound. They gave us antibiotics and we had him on them for 2 months. The pee drips did clear up to regular pee color. As soon as the prescription ran out his pee drips started getting cloudy again. I. Had noricillin and started giving him shots. I thought he was cured but then today his pee drips were bloody again. Any ideas or is this the end?

It could possibly be lyme disease. Our dog's first noticable symptom was pee leaking. Then she lost her appetite completely and went into kidney failure. Each breed handles lyme differently and ours was a more susceptible breed, yours might just need antibiotics for longer.

The vet should be able to test for lyme with some blood, you might ask that they take enough for blood work showing kidney function. I don't remember all the details, it was few years ago. Hope he comes around!

We've had Pyrenees and AnatolianxPyrenees cross dogs through the years.  About three as livestock guardians and two as pets (one at a time).  Probably not what you want to hear but we've never had one live that long.  Those are amazing dogs and I doubt we will ever be without one for long but there seems to be a downside with big dogs.
Good luck with yours!

Bryan Elliott wrote:We've had Pyrenees and AnatolianxPyrenees cross dogs through the years.  About three as livestock guardians and two as pets (one at a time).  Probably not what you want to hear but we've never had one live that long.  Those are amazing dogs and I doubt we will ever be without one for long but there seems to be a downside with big dogs.
Good luck with yours!

We are surprised he is still alive but we lost two dogs in August so if he dies on us it'll just be too much.

Bryan Elliott wrote:We've had Pyrenees and AnatolianxPyrenees cross dogs through the years.  About three as livestock guardians and two as pets (one at a time).  Probably not what you want to hear but we've never had one live that long.  Those are amazing dogs and I doubt we will ever be without one for long but there seems to be a downside with big dogs.
Good luck with yours!

Hmm. I don't want to discount this but I'm not sure how he would have come into contact with it. We live on the prairie. I've never seen a tick around us. Maybe he ate something that had it? But even that seems rather unlikely. Who knows though.

elle, Central Colorado has ticks and people with Lyme now so they can be anywhere. Maybe google Lyme symptoms in dogs and see if it fits. Best of luck.

elle sagenev wrote:
Hmm. I don't want to discount this but I'm not sure how he would have come into contact with it. We live on the prairie. I've never seen a tick around us. Maybe he ate something that had it? But even that seems rather unlikely. Who knows though.

Ticks and Lyme seem to be expanding their range as the climate becomes more mild. My dog contracted it in Vermont, a place where ticks and lyme were unheard of ten years ago. Our vet said that most dogs they test are positive, and that most aren't bothered by it at all. But ours had some miniature pincher in her that made her extra susceptible to kidney issues. Well that's the story we went with anyway.

More accurately, her leaky bladder was a symptom of her kidneys starting to fail. In her case, caused by the Lyme infecting her kidneys. Your mention that long term antibiotics helped is consistent with Lyme, but not conclusive of course. It might just be age related kidney issues.

It's tough dealing with our pets' health issues and being put in the position of making difficult decisions on their behalf. Sorry another pup is having trouble.