yorkie with bladder stone problem
 

I have a 4 year old, 3 pound yorkie, and resently found out he has a bladder stone, that needs surgery to be removed.
And I was just wondering if anyone has any advise about diet etc.. for after surgery to prevent him getting other stones or crystals.
Someone suggested I add salt to his water so he will drink more, is this true?
Any advise is apreciated, I am very worried about my little darling.

Don't worry. Your baby will do just fine in surgery and recovery.

Ralphie, who's 5 yrs old, had bladder stone/crystal surgery about 2 months ago, plus they cleaned his teeth and neutered him. I was more worried about the anesthesia than the surgery. He came home the same day and was very groggy for 2 days. By Day 3 he was feeling better but he was obviously in pain because when he went to bark at the UPS and Fedex man at the door, he cried out in pain but he tried to be feisty. He healed fine.

As far as diet, they doctor put him on Hill's Science Diet Prescription U/D. I find him gaining weight now and I'm very concerned about the food. He is on medication now for a month for a staph infection, Lord knows, I hope it wasn't from the operation, and I'm wondering if that's contributing to the weight gain. :confused: I remember the vet said he could continue eating his Life's Abundance food if I wanted but he would have to stay on medication for the rest of his life if I went that route. I decided to switch his food. I'm not fond of permanent medication. He also said there is no guarantee that the stones won't form again but by keeping him on the special prescription diet, he has a much less chance of it recurring.

Follow your vet's advice and you'll all be fine.:aimeeyork :)

The stone/crystal HAS to be analyzed in order for you to know what type of diet to put him on. If the stone is ammonium urate or something like that and they put him on a food for struvite stones, this can really mess him up. I'm sure your vet is not stupid enough to do that. I'm just stressing the fact that you need to request that a lab analysis be done on the stone. If you don't address the issue with a change in diet, your dog may continue producing stones.
I don't know about adding salt to the water. I would consult your vet on that one, but for Miko's situation, we use distilled water.
Keep fresh water out for your doggie all day, and encourage him to drink lots of water. If you feed dry food, make sure he's getting equal parts water and food, so if you want, you can mix in water with his food. On top of that he needs to drink more water also.
Miko just had surgery less than 2 weeks ago to have bladder stones removed...They found one marble size stone, one lima bean size stone, and 60, yes 60 small stones!!! We just got the lab results back, and his are ammonium acid urate. So, we the vet just prescribed Hill's prescription diet u/d for him as well. We are going to feed him the canned kind(even though it's not good for his teeth-we brush his teeth though) because the moisture in it helps provide more water to the body. If you have any questions, please ask.

irbrenda,
Hill's prescription diet u/d is high in fat...That's probably why your dog is gaining weight. I'd rather have a little more weight on my dog than for him to have stones though. Stones are very painful :( What kind of stones did your vet say your baby has??

yorkieluv is correct. The type of food the dog is put on after surgery depends on what kind of stones are being produced. There is Hills U/D, C/D, C/D-s, S/D. There is also Royal Canine SO. you can ask your vet if he thinks the royal canine would be appropriate. I know we use it on some of our patients after cystotomies.

He had calcium oxalate, thus the Hill's U/D diet. I know it's higher in fat but that's the trade off. I'd rather a few extra ounces on him than to ever have to put him thru surgery ever again. I was feeding him all excellent foods before, i.e. the last was Life's Abundance for a long time, Natural Balance, Canidae, and the funny thing is he is livelier now than ever before and he no longer has gooey stuff in his eyes. The weight thing does bother me though...probably because I am fanatical about myself.

Royce has what the vet believes are calcium oxalate stones in his kidneys ( not bladder ) did anyone experience the same situation ?

Forgot to add that doing surgery on the kidneys to remove the stones is not an option as that will do more harm to the kidneys ...as for shockwave therapy ( destroythe stones ) most of the specialised centers in the US use this technique when the stones are located in the bladder ...my last option is to check wt Purdue university in Indiana someone told me they might do sockwave on kidneys ....im devastated

Yep, I'm leaving right now to buy the u/d our vet prescribed. Let's pray that he likes it because Miko is such a picky eater.

Oh gosh, I am sooo sorry to hear that...Keep your chin up, and hopefully they are able to get rid of those stones!!

tHANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS AND ADVISE. WE ARE GOING IN FOR SURGERY ON MONDAY MARCH 12TH I HOPE ALL GOES WELL FOR MY BABY.
I WILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT WENT.

Ralphie and I will say a prayer for you and Royce. So sorry to hear your troubles. I hope it all works out well for you. Keep us posted.

Ralphie and I will say a prayer for your baby too. I'm sure it will go fine.

Thank you for your support ....I doubt it that at Purdue University they will be able to remove kidney stones using shockwave ...usually it's done when the stones are in the bladder ..It's scary as I don't know what will happen in Royce's case if the stones don't go down to the bladder or if his kidneys keep on producing stones...he will probably go into kidney failure gradually and I can't accept that ...i;m already deeply depressed because of all this .

How did the surgery go?