frequent wetting in the house

This problem started in mid July after having her annual shots. After getting home she started shaking her right front paw. This continued the next  day. Then she started licking the paw continously for a week or more. A couple weeks later she began to be picky about eating and then wetting in the house frequently. I took her to the vet and he found elevated white blood cells and gave us Clavamax. This seemed to stop the wetting but not the finicky eating. Soon she was wetting again and still finicky with her food. She was eating Alpo before this started. I've tried WD. She ate this a couple times but not now. Now she eats soda crackers and Natural Balance that comes in a sausage type. Now she's had another bout with the wetting and more Clavamax. It helped again. It's been two weeks and now the wetting has returned. She must have an infection that needs stronger medicine. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks

[Jim Humphries, B.S., D.V.M.]

Sounds like a bladder infection that, while responsive to Clavamox initially, remains and is persistent.  When we see this, then we must move to a culture and sensitivity check.  This helps the veterinarian determine the exact cause of the infection and which exact antibiotic to use.  The antibiotic may need to be used for a long time to clear a persistent infection.  

Work with your veterinarian to get this special test done and highly specific treatments.  

[Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM]

Hello,
In addition to Dr. Humphies comments, with which I agree, I wanted to mention that the majority of urinary tract infections in dogs are due to gram negative bacteria which respond best in general to antibiotics specifically geared to kill gram negative bacteria.

Baytril and Orbax are both the same antibiotic. The difference is that Baytril is given twice daily and Orbax is given once daily. Both are specific for gram negative bacteria and in most cases are effective to clear up urinary tract infections.

Clavamox is an antibiotic effective against gram positive bacteria like Staph, often responsible for skin infections.

I agree that having your vet send in the urine for  a culture and sensitivity is wise as this will tell the the exact bacteria(s) responsible and indicate the specific antibiotics, best to clear this up.

Thank you,
Dr. Carol Osborne, DVM.