Buddy was placed on antibiotics to help clear the infection. A concurrent UTI was confirmed with Urinalysis and culture. Once the infection was cleared, surgery was opted to remove the stones from Buddy’s bladder. The stones were sent to the laboratory to be analyzed and were found to be consistent with a common stone in dogs called Struvite. Buddy was placed on a specific diet that is used to prevent the stones from forming again and will be maintained for the rest of his life.
Certain dogs may be predisposed to developing urinary tract infections, however incomplete cure and consistent recurrent infections are of some concern. One of the more common causes of a complicated urinary tract infection is bladder stones. For this reason, it is very important to pursue further diagnostics when UTI’s seem to keep occurring. The treatment of choice is surgical removal of the stone for many reasons. Although some types of stones can be dissolved, a majority of bladder stones are made of multiple different types of crystals and not all will be dissolved. When a male dog has urinary calculi, if dissolution is tried the stone may become small enough to start to make its way through the urinary tract. When this occurs it can become lodged which will lead to severe complications.