In a healthy dog, the urine is usually light to dark yellow in colour. If there is blood in the dog's urine, however, it is often reddish. For dog owners, the shock in this case can be great.
Fortunately, in many cases the causes of the blood in the urine are harmless. Nevertheless, you should take your dog to a vet as soon as possible to determine the trigger of the blood in the urine.
Below you will find out what can cause your dog weeing blood and how so-called haematuria can be treated.
If your dog urinates blood, it can come from both the upper and the lower parts of the urinary system. The blood in the dog's urine can therefore come from the kidneys, ureters, bladder or urethra.
Apart from that, it is also possible that the blood originally comes from the genitals of the four-legged friend and mixes with the urine when weeing.
Most of the time, it is internal injuries caused for example by inflammation or by the friction of urinary stones that lead to the bleeding and thus to haematuria in dogs. Occasionally, however, there may also be a coagulation disorder, as such is the case in poisoning with rat poison.
The blood found in dogs' urine isn't necessarily bright red. Sometimes the bloody urine of the four-legged friend can also have a brown or almost black colour.
If your dog has blood in the urine, there are a number of different possible reasons. Some of them are generally harmless. Others, however, are serious dog diseases, some of which can even be potentially fatal.
Although this happens comparatively rarely, it should be mentioned at this point that in individual cases, colouring agents from the muscles, the blood or even certain foods can also be the cause of the red urine.
Haematuria is just a sign of an underlying health problem. Depending on the cause, various other symptoms can also occur. The dog may develop a fever, have painful urination, appear exhausted or suffer from vomiting and diarrhoea, just to mention a few.
In addition, there can be blood not only in the dog's urine but also in the dog's stool. Depending on the additional symptoms that arise, the reason for the bloody urine can often be narrowed down a bit.
You should always take bloody urine seriously. However, there is of course a difference whether there is only a small amount of blood towards the end of urinating or whether it almost appears as if the dog is weeing pure blood. In this context, you should also bear in mind that a heavy blood loss, regardless of the cause, brings additional risks and therefore rapid action is required.
The blood in the urine does not always indicate a serious illness. Unless it is a bitch in heat that seems otherwise healthy, you should still take your dog to the vet. They can thoroughly examine your four-legged friend and determine the cause of the bloody urine.
For this purpose, the first step is to analyse a urine sample from the dog. Depending on the results and the other symptoms, imaging tests and a blood test may also be required for a reliable diagnosis.
Given the many possible triggers for blood in the urine, it should come as no surprise that treating affected dogs can be vary considerably.
Tumours for example often require surgery. On the other hand, if the vet has diagnosed a bacterial cystitis in the dog, they will prescribe antibiotics for the four-legged friend. This is usually a good way to treat the inflammation of the bladder. However, despite antibiotics, the dog may still have blood in the urine for a while before the treatment finally has the desired effect.
Antibiotics are usually also given to dogs with smaller bladder stones. In addition, medication that dissolves the stones is often administered. If the bladder stones are too big, surgery may be necessary to remove them.
If your dog has blood in the urine due to urinary stones or a bladder infection, it is worth paying attention to the diet of your four-legged friend in addition to the veterinary treatment measures.
Switching to a high-quality wet food with a low pH value and adjusted mineral content can help counteract urinary tract problems as a possible cause of bloody urine in dogs.
For this purpose, we recommend our Bellfor Landgut-Menu. The hypoallergenic insect-based wet food is characterised by excellent digestibility, a low pH value of 5.5 and an adapted mineral content.
At the same time, thanks to carefully selected ingredients and easily digestible insect protein from the larvae of Hermetia illucens (black soldier flies), it provides your dog with all the nutrients it needs.
Get to know Bellfor Landgut-Menu in our Shop.
As you can see, the causes of bloody urine in dogs are varied. In any case, take it seriously and immediately consult a vet.
The sooner the reason for the blood in the dog's urine is determined and treated, the better the chances that your four-legged friend will recover and therefore no longer wee blood.
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