Hank Brady. Photo by Joan Brady
Did you notice a masked woman scurrying after her beagle with a restaurant food container, trying to catch his pee in Clarendon last week? That was me.
For the past week or so, Hank has been drinking and going to the bathroom more and has had a few accidents. In addition, how to say this delicately, he has been well … licking his junk. Bacterial urinary tract infections are apparently very common for dogs. According to the AKC, 14 percent of dogs will have a UTI at some point in their life. And his symptoms lined up.
So rather than take 17-year-old Hank to the vet so they could collect the sample, I decided to save him the stress of a coronavirus vet visit and collected it myself. While I'm sure we were quite the spectacle, I did get enough for testing.
A quick dropoff and our vet had results the next morning. The good news is that Hank is UTI-free. The bad news is his symptoms might be an indication of a more serious issue, Cushing's Disease.
More tests are on the horizon for sweet Hank, but, thankfully, none that will require me to collect urine samples on the streets of Arlington.
ArPets (Our Pets) is a new weekly feature for highlighting the well-loved pets of Arlington. We will also feature some adoptable pets. If you or your dog, cat, iguana, bunny or any other pet has an interesting pet story to tell, please email me at joan@joanbradyphotography.com