BLADDER STONES IN PETS

Hello WPVC family. Did you know bladder stones can form in dogs just like they do in humans? We'd like to share a case of a bladder stones surgery.

>This lovely small dog didn't show any symptoms but mildly increased frequency of urination at home. See the multiple white stones inside of the bladder. Some patients with bladder stones show no symptoms of any kind and the stones are discovered incidentally. But there are some changes that might promote a search for stones, such as bloody urine, straining to urinate or an increase in the frequency of urination are the main signs.

A rare but life threatening consequence to stone formation in pets is the potential for partial or complete obstruction of the urinary tract. So if your pets can't urinate properly and are dribbling urine, please check with your veterinarian. Why do bladder stones form? There are multiple factors involved in the formation of bladder stones in pets, such as imbalanced urine pH level from improper diets, bladder infection and/or abnormal metabolism issues. Bladder stones can develop in a period of weeks to months.

How are bladder stones treated? "Special diet to dissolve stones ? or Surgical treatment ?" There are two options ( Medical / Surgical ) for treatment. The most common & effective treatment solution is to remove them surgically by opening the bladder through an abdominal incision like a spay.The bladder has a very fast healing process and incision and recovery's similar to a female spay. Following two to four days of recovery, most patients rapidly improve. The hematuria will often persist for a few days after surgery before resolving.

Based on our urine test for this puppy, we tried a month of special diet but agreed that surgical removal this time was appropriate. Not every bladder stone is dis-solvable and surgical correction is the common and efficient way to ease a pet's discomfort. >See the x-ray below after surgery. All white stones are gone on the 2 nd x-ray and it's very important to make sure there's no more stones left after surgery. Small left over stones, improper suture materials and the poor technique can cause bladder stones to re-occur in the future. So it's very important to check X-rays after surgery.

>And these are the small part of numerous bladder stones we removed from this pet.

See how sharp an edge the bladder stones have. Untreated bladder stones will cause severe irritation from its sharp edge.

We're very pleased to offer this dog the best outcome. If your pet has urinary problems , please don't wait too long and call us to make an appointment. We're happy to listen to your concerns and help you. Waterfront Park Veterinary Clinic.