Dog Bladder Stones Treatment, Help!?
My Sheltie was taken to the vet today after urinating several times on our belongings and bedding. I did witness blood in her urine and took her ASAP this morning.
Indeed, she has 3 to four bladder stones and a urinary infection. She was given an antibiotic to clear up the infection and "Hill’s PRESCRIPTION DIET s/d" to be eaten everyday for 2 to 5 months in hope of dissolving the stones.
The other option was surgery-$1,500. She’s 3 years old and the vet explained that this food can cause the stones to disolve to nothing or even be urinated out when small enough.
Has anyone had experience treating dog bladder stones or with this food? Any other suggestions?
Thanks so much!
Hill’s diets are good ones. They are unfortunately expensive. Often the diets for stones work in two ways-1) they change the pH of the urine depending on the stone type. This will help prevent stones (and I guess dissolve them too) in that some stones form at certain pHs. And 2) they often contain large amounts of salt which makes the dog drink more, making them urinate more. Urinating more often prevents urine from sitting around in the bladder letting the minerals that make up stones settle out.
Antibiotics are often called for because bladder stones predispose to infections and often it goes the other way around too.
Surgery often seems drastic and expensive. The price seems reasonable to me if it includes after care and medication for pain. Keeping your pet on a diet to prevent stones may be needed afterwards as well.
You should also keep in mind that the diet may be a lifelong thing though I think I would be willing to try it before surgery and use surgery as a second option. Esp. since your vet seems to think that the diet changes will work.
Good luck!
Your vet is doing everything correctly. Any changes, keep in touch with him.
References :
Vet assistant.
I did have a dog with bladder stones. She had 12 stones (still have them in a jar, the nurse in me loves to collect these things for show and tell…:)). With regard to the food: My vet has always been very honest and told me the food was an option but not one he often recommended. I do not know about this situation but I do know some vets will highly recommend a food based on the gifts they receive from the provider when they manage to "sell" a certain amount. I cannot say this is the case here. But I am naturally curious and am inclined to ask: WHY DO THEY NOT HAVE A MEDICINE TO GIVE THE DOG (that would work a whole lot faster) IF THEY KNOW SOMETHING IN THIS WONDER FOOD WILL DISSOLVE BLADDER STONES? Prevention and cure are two different things and this seems a little like giving a dog heart worm prevention, after the fact. Maybe not as dangerous … but I have had kidney stones and I cannot imagine being told to live with that pain while a food takes 5 months to "maybe" fix the problem.
Check around with some other vets if you do opt to have the surgery. Your dog is young and should do ok with surgery.
I do understand that surgery is invasive and, as a nurse, I always believe in doing the least invasive procedure that is necessary. However, on this problem, the stones are painful to the dog. As I said earlier, Josie had a lot more than three stones so I only have that to base my opinion on. Still, I would get another vets opinion. While surgery is invasive, I cannot imagine allowing Josie to go through 4 or 5 months of what I witnessed when she had the stones. There were times she could not make it outside to urinate, but would squat on the way to the door. She would whine while urinating and was able to void only small amounts at the time. Remember the stones take up room in the bladder so there is less room for urine.
Josie’s surgery was a lot less than the price you have quoted here. I do know the area one lives in determines what vets charge a lot of times, but I am having a large problem comprehending the difference here. While this was over 5 years ago, still… I checked my old "bill ledgers" and the vet bill for that procedure was $583. (This included meds and I also bought a pack of Heart Gard when I checked out).
I hope this helped and wish you luck. And please understand, this was my experience. Yours may be different.
References :
Hill’s diets are good ones. They are unfortunately expensive. Often the diets for stones work in two ways-1) they change the pH of the urine depending on the stone type. This will help prevent stones (and I guess dissolve them too) in that some stones form at certain pHs. And 2) they often contain large amounts of salt which makes the dog drink more, making them urinate more. Urinating more often prevents urine from sitting around in the bladder letting the minerals that make up stones settle out.
Antibiotics are often called for because bladder stones predispose to infections and often it goes the other way around too.
Surgery often seems drastic and expensive. The price seems reasonable to me if it includes after care and medication for pain. Keeping your pet on a diet to prevent stones may be needed afterwards as well.
You should also keep in mind that the diet may be a lifelong thing though I think I would be willing to try it before surgery and use surgery as a second option. Esp. since your vet seems to think that the diet changes will work.
Good luck!
References :
4th year vet student