Roxy has both Struvite & Calcium Oxalate crystals in her urine

[TLC]

I just can't believe it

Sunday night she started to pee with blood in it. Started around 5:30pm and lasted until her last pee around 10pm.

Got up Monday morning, had her pee on the plastic side of the wee wee pad and brought her into the Vet. They did an ultra sound of her bladder and saw a bunch of "stuff" floating around in her bladder.

Vet just called. No white blood cells in her urine, meaning no infection, but doesn't mean 100% no infection. She has Struvite & Calcium Oxalate crystals in her urine. She has blood in her urine (trama from stone or stones).

Her pH is 6.0 - so he feels that her diet is not the cause. He feels it's genetic (along with her MVD).

She is on Clavamox for 10 days. Then we will retest her urine, do another u/s of her bladder and also an xray of her bladder to see if there are any stones

...I don't even know where to begin...

Anyone have experience or input? She is 6 years old and has MVD. We have tested her urine numerious times, never seen crystals, so I never really paid attention to posts about them, and now here I am, right in the middle of it

[gemy]

Canine Hyperuricosuria

I've posted a link to another thread where I taked about this genetic disorder, with reference to uric acid crystals. There is a great link in this thread to UC Davis, that you will want to follow.

They also talk about oxalate and struvite crystals. There if you go to the link I posted about treatment protocols they discuss this well.

Usually there is a diet plan to follow as well.

If you have problems with following the links let me know and I'll repost here.

It's always scarey when something new crops up.

[gemy]

Canine Struvite Stones - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company! Article on struvite ... read carefully the diet change Oxalate Bladder Stones (Canine) - VeterinaryPartner.com - a VIN company! Article for oxalate


Struvite according to the linked article is commonly associated with bladder infections

Oxalate is thought to be of a genetic origin although a different gene to the uric acid stone.

What might also complicate the treatment protocol is the MVD and the needs there.

It appears based on these articles that the prelim testing approach is what is recommended in the literature attached.

Your breeder should be advised of this diagnosis.

[TLC]

Thank you for the info. I am going to start reading it now

...my breeder could care less...they were a BYB-Puppymill up in Maine. Roxy is 6 and they were alerted when she had to have bi-laterial LP surgery and when she was dx with MVD. Thankfully they surrendered all their dogs and hopefully are no longer breeding...

[kjc]

Oh my! Hope she recovers quickly... keeping you both in my prayers...

[Ellie May]

How is she doing?

Kinda weird for those two types of crystals to be there at once because one requires a low pH and the other a higher pH (well, I thought so anyway).

[107barney]

Awww poor Roxy. Teddy has struvite crystals due to a bladder infection. He had it as a young pup, it was mistreated with Amoxicillin and lingered. I changed vets and got to the bottom of it and he had a small stone and struvite crystals. He was treated with clavamox, metacam, and was prescribed the Hill's S/D diet which dissolves struvite crystals. I objected to the S/D diet and at the suggestion of the vet nutritionist at Boston's angell memorial hospital, we tried a product called Uro-eze in lieu of the S/D diet. I added 1/8 tsp of Uro-Eze to Teddy's food 2x/day for about 6 weeks. It worked without side effects to dissolve the struvite crystals and the stone (confirmed by ultrasound). We have not had any return of symptoms.

As for calcium oxalate crystals/stones, diet cannot dissolve them but can help prevent the formation of new ones. So if Roxy has Calcium oxalate stones, she may need surgery to remove them. She should then go on a low oxalate diet (usually a meat and rice based diet supplemented with low oxalate vegetables are used if you are a home cooker and I think you are).

The other thing we did when using uro-eze is we added cranberry juice to Teddy's food to enable him to drink more and blush the bladder.

The uro-eze is not commonly prescribed - our vets learned about it from the vet nutritionist. Your vet nutritionist will know about it. I'd email him and ask his thoughts/consult on this.

It's a challening road but defintely not something to be in total despair over, it can be treated and cured!!

[TLC]

Originally Posted by Ellie May

How is she doing?

Kinda weird for those two types of crystals to be there at once because one requires a low pH and the other a higher pH (well, I thought so anyway).

Yes, that's what I thought...But my Vet said both. He said her ph was 6

Going back to some basics with her and adding Azodyl

[TLC]

Originally Posted by 107barney

Awww poor Roxy. Teddy has struvite crystals due to a bladder infection. He had it as a young pup, it was mistreated with Amoxicillin and lingered. I changed vets and got to the bottom of it and he had a small stone and struvite crystals. He was treated with clavamox, metacam, and was prescribed the Hill's S/D diet which dissolves struvite crystals. I objected to the S/D diet and at the suggestion of the vet nutritionist at Boston's angell memorial hospital, we tried a product called Uro-eze in lieu of the S/D diet. I added 1/8 tsp of Uro-Eze to Teddy's food 2x/day for about 6 weeks. It worked without side effects to dissolve the struvite crystals and the stone (confirmed by ultrasound). We have not had any return of symptoms.

As for calcium oxalate crystals/stones, diet cannot dissolve them but can help prevent the formation of new ones. So if Roxy has Calcium oxalate stones, she may need surgery to remove them. She should then go on a low oxalate diet (usually a meat and rice based diet supplemented with low oxalate vegetables are used if you are a home cooker and I think you are).

The other thing we did when using uro-eze is we added cranberry juice to Teddy's food to enable him to drink more and blush the bladder.

The uro-eze is not commonly prescribed - our vets learned about it from the vet nutritionist. Your vet nutritionist will know about it. I'd email him and ask his thoughts/consult on this.

It's a challening road but defintely not something to be in total despair over, it can be treated and cured!!

Thank you. The uro-eze sounds pretty good.
Once we test again next week, we will plan our route. I will discuss with both my Vet and Nutritionist...(not sure I can do the s/d either)

[audishere]

I noticed that the above posts are quite old. I just joined this forum because I am confused and frustrated about my Yorkshire Terrier's health issue. He was diagnosed 5 months ago with BOTH calcium oxalate and struvite bladder stones. It is very frustrating because I am trying to find an ideal diet that caters to both these issues. Scooter, my Yorkie, had his stones surgically removed. He recovered just fine. He is on W/D Hills Prescription diet--nothing else!! No treats--nothing!! He is starving all the time!! I feel awful!! I feed him his canned food whenever he begs in the kitchen. I do add low sodium chicken broth and a bit of pure pumpkin. I bake his food like snacks just so he feels like he is getting something special. He needs a low fat diet; therefore, he never feels full. He hasn't lost weight, but I'm concerned about proper nutrition! The food he is on is NOT AAFCO approved. I need a low fat, low sodium, gluten free diet to feed him. It's difficult to find a food that meets ALL of these requirements!! I research constantly! What works for struvite, doesn't always seem to work for the calcium oxalate!! I'm getting frustrated...and my poor little guy really needs a better diet!! Has anyone encountered this issue and have you been able to resolve this issue in an optimal way?? Please advise...thank you! By the way, Scooter is 10 years old and very active and healthy in every other way!

[Connie]

Originally Posted by audishere

I noticed that the above posts are quite old. I just joined this forum because I am confused and frustrated about my Yorkshire Terrier's health issue. He was diagnosed 5 months ago with BOTH calcium oxalate and struvite bladder stones. It is very frustrating because I am trying to find an ideal diet that caters to both these issues. Scooter, my Yorkie, had his stones surgically removed. He recovered just fine. He is on W/D Hills Prescription diet--nothing else!! No treats--nothing!! He is starving all the time!! I feel awful!! I feed him his canned food whenever he begs in the kitchen. I do add low sodium chicken broth and a bit of pure pumpkin. I bake his food like snacks just so he feels like he is getting something special. He needs a low fat diet; therefore, he never feels full. He hasn't lost weight, but I'm concerned about proper nutrition! The food he is on is NOT AAFCO approved. I need a low fat, low sodium, gluten free diet to feed him. It's difficult to find a food that meets ALL of these requirements!! I research constantly! What works for struvite, doesn't always seem to work for the calcium oxalate!! I'm getting frustrated...and my poor little guy really needs a better diet!! Has anyone encountered this issue and have you been able to resolve this issue in an optimal way?? Please advise...thank you! By the way, Scooter is 10 years old and very active and healthy in every other way!

Hello and welcome to YT! Sorry you haven't gotten responses, but I think that may be because you put your post on an older thread. Try starting a new thread under sick and injured and more people will see it! I hope you can get some suggestions and help!

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by audishere

I noticed that the above posts are quite old. I just joined this forum because I am confused and frustrated about my Yorkshire Terrier's health issue. He was diagnosed 5 months ago with BOTH calcium oxalate and struvite bladder stones. It is very frustrating because I am trying to find an ideal diet that caters to both these issues. Scooter, my Yorkie, had his stones surgically removed. He recovered just fine. He is on W/D Hills Prescription diet--nothing else!! No treats--nothing!! He is starving all the time!! I feel awful!! I feed him his canned food whenever he begs in the kitchen. I do add low sodium chicken broth and a bit of pure pumpkin. I bake his food like snacks just so he feels like he is getting something special. He needs a low fat diet; therefore, he never feels full. He hasn't lost weight, but I'm concerned about proper nutrition! The food he is on is NOT AAFCO approved. I need a low fat, low sodium, gluten free diet to feed him. It's difficult to find a food that meets ALL of these requirements!! I research constantly! What works for struvite, doesn't always seem to work for the calcium oxalate!! I'm getting frustrated...and my poor little guy really needs a better diet!! Has anyone encountered this issue and have you been able to resolve this issue in an optimal way?? Please advise...thank you! By the way, Scooter is 10 years old and very active and healthy in every other way!

I would suggest a consult with a vet nutritionist. He should not feel hungry all of the time! You might want to consider home cooking. I have done that with pups who have multiple issues that it is hard to find an RX food for. I have a pup with lymphangectasia who needed a low fat diet...she loves her home cooked diet and never is hungry. It ended up being more food than she had ever eaten and she maintains her weight on it. She is a happy girl and has done well now for two years on this diet. It was formulated by Dr. Catherine Lenox, a vet nutritionist in Houston. (you could do a tele consult with her)

Dr. Rebecca Remillard, a vet nutritionist, has a website PetDiets - VNC putting your pet's health first .. for more than 20 yrs! that has a lot of information. You could also do a consult with her for a home cooked diet.