Bladder Stones in Canines

Buddy presented 1 month ago with a history of urinating around the house. The owner explained that Buddy appears to be urinating a lot more than normal and when he does only small amounts come out each time. The owner explained how Buddy always gets urinary tract infections and how well they clear up with antibiotics. In fact, Buddy had just come in for this issue about 1 month prior to coming in, and a short course of antibiotics helped make it better. There are some concerning trends that started to develop with Buddy’s Urinary tract infection issues. At this point to help diagnose the infection, a urine sample was taken as well as a urinary culture. A urinary culture will help us determine which bacteria is overgrown and what specific antibiotics can be used to treat it appropriately. A recommendation was also to take a radiograph of the bladder. The reason for the radiograph was to help determine if there was another reason for the recurrent urinary tract infections, such as bladder stones. Sure enough in Buddy’s case, multiple large stones were visualized in Buddy’s bladder.

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.