|
bladder/kidney stones? Anyone had an experience with this? We have been battling what we thought was an infection with Katie and just found out she has a huge stone/crystal? and has to have surgery! I am so upset about this, the vet said it could have something to do with her diet and here I thought I was giving her good food! Any advice on this would be appreciated! Thanks everyone and please pray for Katie, I am very nervous about her having surgery. |
I'm sorry your baby has a big stone in her bladder. If it's large, the only way to get rid of it is probably through surgery. Make sure they test the stone and find out exactly what kind it is. The food that you give her will depend highly on what kind of stone it is. Was is seen on an x-ray or through ultrasound? If your vet gives you food for a struvite stone and it's actually calcium oxalate or urate, then your dog's health will suffer. Struvite stones occur in alkaline urine so urine needs to acidified by giving certain kinds of food. Calcium oxalate and ammonium urate stones occur in acidic urine and needs to be given alkalizing foods. I have more information for you for when you find out what kind it is... Praying for your baby!!! |
Thanks for the reply. They are sending the stone off to be tested but they said it will take 7-10 days to get the results back. I won't be picking her up until tomorrow but I'm not sure what food to give her in the meantime? Should I just continue with her normal diet? She has been eating some of the puppy's food, do you think that could have caused the stone? Also, should I worry about this being hereditary?? I know I can ask my vet about all of this but I like to have a few points of view from someone who knows about it. |
I'm not sure about those questions, but make sure you keep your baby drinking lots of water. Give treats that are high in moisture like watermelon. If you have the choice of feeding wet food, do that. Or homecooked. You want to keep her urine as diluted as possible for now. Make sure she has access to water and to a place to pee at all times. Because when they hold their pee in, it makes it worse on them. They need to be able to urinate whenever they want so that they can pass any stones that might be in there. That way, it doesn't stay in the bladder and then get caught up in there then other small stones catch on to that one forming a large stone that can't be passed. |
I had a Yorkie that had chronic Struvite stones, in fact he had to have 4 surgeries and they started when he was age 4. I am not trying to scare you but dont play around with this, I think the vets I took him too treated the symptoms and not the actual problem. After the 3rd surgery we all thought Chip we be ok but nope, he had another stone to develope a 4th time and the vet didnt know what to do so he tried something pretty radical. Chip was a boy dog and the vet thought it would help if he totally re-routed his internal plumbing the way a male dog urinates. The short of it was, Chip no longer had any use for his penis and the vet created an opening as if he was a girl dog to urinate that way. The reason the vet did this was to see if the stone would pass easier if it had a straight shot rather than the going thru a curve (cant remember the medical term) of the penis. Shortly after that surgery, during a check up about a month later the vet could tell it wasnt working, Chip was already accumulating sand like crystals around the new opening. I was sent to Texas A&M to see if they could help save my little Chip. Two days later I had to say a final goodbye to Chip because there was nothing that could be done for him even though he was a happy, playful dog until the very end - it ripped my heart out. Here is the part that makes me too mad to think about. The Tx A&M vet did a test and could tell right away the stones were developing because the liver wasnt doing its job - his liver was shot all to he!!. I have no idea why the other vets never thought to check his liver and I even suggested it could be ther results of a shunt but because Chip didnt show any of the classic shunt signs, the vet totally disregarded it. My point to this long message - ask the vet to run a test on her liver as well to make sure the enzyme levels are normal, Please save your self the grief on any possible stones later down the road again. |
PS - I forgot, during the 3 years of the chronic stones Chip had - he was on all kinds of medications and special diets per the vet. The vet will tell you what kind of food to buy or what you can make yourself. I am sure Chip would have responded to the meds and special diet if he would have been correctly treated from the get go. Also, be prepared to have her urine tested maybe once a month to make sure the special diet is keeping her urine either alkaline or acidic, depending on what kind of stone it turns out to be. I bought those PH strips and tested it myself - good luck getting a urine sample from you baby if testing her urnine is recommended by your vet - ask him to be sure. |
Quote:
After his surgery I was told to keep him on his regular food until the lab reports came back. It did take about 2 weeks. He has been fine on the crappy Hill's food. In fact, he had a bout of HGE this past weekend...hemorrhagic gastroenteritis...and the emergency vet put him on Hill's W/D food, which is for weight control. When I took him yesterday to be checked, his urine PH was not good again so he's back on the U/D diet food for now. You cannot alter or add your own conconctions once they start on that diet...no treats either. Seems mean but he has been wonderful. We're praying for Katie's quick recovery! |
Great info Cidney, my yorkie too has a liver problem and that's what causes his stones. Fortunately the surgery that they did to redo his "plumbing" did work, and he's able to pass most of his stones freely now through his new hole. My yorkie's liver condition is not repairable through surgery, so I've been tweaking his diet and think I have come up with a pretty good solution. His urine looks much better since then. My yorkie has ammonium urate stones though, not the struvite stones. I'm so sorry for the loss of your yorkie :( That's so sad. |
Im so sorry you and Katie are going through this, Its so hard on the little ones and on us too. I just went through this same thing with my little male Yorkie Mickey. He suffered a little over a month because even though I mentioned to the vet it may be stones he played the guessing game. Then Mickey got so bad he couldnt pee and they washed out his bladder 3 times and still he could not pass the stones and his was like sand, Its harder for a male to pass even the sand tyoe crystals because of the shape of the penis. Make sure they send her stones to the lab to find out the type they are , This is very importent because they need the correct prescription diet food for that stone. Thanks to many YT members that told me this I had them send his off to the lab, I also asked for a full blood panel kiney funtion test on Mickey, witch turned out very low function. I asked what the crystals was caused from , because I really believed it had to do with the recall foods. But the vet said its from infections. Mickeys came back as 80% Calcium Oxalate Dihydrate and 20% calcium oxalate monohdrate. he is now on U/D presciption food. dry and can. We got both But he wont touch the can, but is eating the dry. My vet told me after the surgery while hes regaining his strenith sense we wouldnt eat to feed him any thing that he would eat. because he was losing weight. but now he is better he is to stay on the presription food only. You will want to keep pedylite and fresh cold water at all times while shes healing. I also had to give Mickey nutrical a few times a day. and I did give him a drop of honey on his tongue 2 times. we also feed Mickey with a syringe a presription food called a/d with water added to get him built back up until he was able to eat on his own.Mickey just had his stitches out and is doing so much better now. I hope an dpray that katie has a easier time then what Mickey did. I will keep you an dher in my prayers. If you have any Questions please Pm me. |
Here is the links to Mickeys stones and surgery pictures. They might help in answering some questions you might have. Mickeys vet visit today May 21st his last apt http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80719 Here's Mickey / New Pictures http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80334 Monday 14/ Mickeys update with Pic's http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79852 CAUTION111 Mickeys incision pictures http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79433 My Little boys prayer thread. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79337 Mickey's pee has slowed down a bit today... http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79250 Mickey's Update http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78802 On My way to ER VET/ Pray for Mickey/ PLEASE http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78669 Wow I didnt know I had so many different threads on it. But theres a lot of info on these threads about what me and Mickey went through. |
I can make room on my prayer list for your Katie...This seems to be a very common problem, is it just yorkies or are all dogs susceptible to these crystals? I know Mickey has been thru an awful lot lately, I hope your baby, Katie recovers quickly and gets on the right track soon. Get well wishes being sent to her from Winston and I. And hugs!!! |
Get well wishes being sent to her from Mickey and Minnie and (Debbie )Yorkieshadow too. Please keep us updated, We will keep her in our prayers. |
[QUOTE=YorkieShadow;1140823] Mickeys came back as 80% Calcium Oxalate Dihydrate and 20% calcium oxalate monohdrate. he is now on U/D presciption food. dry and can. We got both But he wont touch the can, but is eating the dry. My vet told me after the surgery while hes regaining his strenith sense we wouldnt eat to feed him any thing that he would eat. because he was losing weight. but now he is better he is to stay on the presription food only.QUOTE] I sure hope your little one recovers quickly too! I've been there myself and it's heartbreaking. The recovery after surgery was tough for Ralphie. He was so depressed looking and yelped in pain everytime he tried to bark, esp. at the Fedex or UPS man. He had a hard time lifting his leg and would cry. It seemed he had no pee control at all but it took about a 5 days and then he was better. He was also neutered at the same time so he was really in pain. The U/D food canned is disgusting to look at. If you read the ingredients, the food's not even for aliens! I really wonder how this keeps their urine on track! I use a few pieces of dry food with the canned because he really hates the canned but he likes the dry. He picks out the dry first and then eats the rest. I always add water to the food too.....ugh! One thing I do on a weekly basis: I bought the urine PH test strips and I monitor Ralphie's PH levels. It should be between 6.5 and 7.0, which is neutral. The higher the PH level is, the urine turns alkaline and can form struvite stones, and too acidic causes calcium oxalate stones to form. Ralphie and I send our best wishes to all!:) |
We are home! Just wanted to update everyone, and thank you for all the replies! Katie came home last night and seems to be doing pretty good. She is eating ok, still not drinking much water. I think this is a big part of her problem as she does not drink a lot. Any suggestions for getting her to drink more? I have been putting a little water in her food to try to get more in her but I'm sure it is not enough. She just doesn't drink a lot, I don't know why. She doesn't have any outside stitches, they used the glue on her and I'm a little nervous about that because she is a jumper, but it looks pretty good. I am trying to keep her a little quiet and away from the other dogs so she won't be getting roughed up. Max is just beside himself wanting to play with her! She is really good at not showing her pain but I notice at times she kind of twitches or shivers a little? Is this a sign of pain? I gave her some pain med last night that is only supposed to be given once a day so I hope it is working all right. She seems a little drowsy this morning, I am going to give her some nutrical to make sure her energy and sugar stay up. I will not be resting easy for awhile, I just wish I knew what was causing her to have these stones. I am just beside myself trying to figure out if it is her treats, her food, something extra I have given her....maybe it was too much??? I had started using that missing link on her food a couple of months ago....anybody had any problem with that?? I guess I am just looking for answers that might not be there. It's frustrating. I will try to keep everyone posted, and let you know what we find out about her stone. Thanks again! |
Try to give wet or homecooked food. And treats like watermelon that have a high moisture content...Those things should help get fluids in her :) |
YORKILUV - you are the only other person I have ever talked with that had the plumbing re-do on a male because of stones. It almost killed my husband when we had to do it and it was really hard especially when putting the dog thru something so extemem didnt work after the three previous surgery's. I am so happy to hear your dogs procedure has been a success, at least it wasnt for nothing like my dogs was. KATI's MOM - best of luck to you and your precious dog. I hope this is a one time deal and you are both done with it. After my dog had his 3rd surgery, I researched everything under the sun to see what the cause could be. I even thought the chemicals in raw hide bones had something to do with it. I changed his food, etc but nothing worked because the vet treated the sypmtom and not the problem. I could kick my self for not insisting the liver be checked even though I had read a liver not doing its job contributes to infections and onto stones. I just assumed the vet knew what he was doing - that was my mistake for assuming. Having said all of this and rather allow that horrible experience get to me, I have chosen to learn something from it so my baby didnt have to die for nothing. I do know now that if any of my other babies develop or suffer from any kind of re-occuring problem, I will take them to Texas A&M and not assume the vet knows what he is doing if it keeps happening. Those vets at Tx A&M were awesome and it blew me away how they figured out what was the PROBLEM in two days rather three years of guessing. |
Get well soon Katie So happy to hear Katie is home recuperating, she's going to need some rest so she can get her strength back. Glad she's eating, the dry food anyway, good that you add a little water to her food. But if she doesn't drink much water, could you put it in a syringe and just squirt it in her mouth every so often, make it fun like a game, if it's forced she might object. The shivers could be a sign of pain, but she may just be a little bit frightened, after all she has been thru surgery and all. Best wishes to you and Katie, I do hope this all turns out well. Thoughts and prayers!!! |
Cidney, I am truly sorry that the surgery didn't work for your baby :( In most cases, it is a successful surgery...I truly thank God that everything went well with Miko. We were really scared just like you and your husband, but then our vet told us that it was actually somewhat of a common practice with cats that develop stones/crystals. And I am like you, if I suspect something is wrong, I don't just take a vet's word for it anymore...I learned that when Miko was a pup. They told us that he wouldn't make it through the night and that maybe it would be best to put him down!! They were crazy... You are giving wonderful advice!! |
The vet didn't give me much info on food other than the science diet....but Katie loves treats! She goes crazy over beggin strips, are these ok to give her? Any advice on what foods to avoid or what treats are good? I don't think I have ever tried watermelon but I will give it a shot although she is not big on fruits except for apples. Thanks for the idea. |
The treats and foods that are safe will completely depend on what kind of stone she has. Foods that are good for struvite stones are not necessarily good for dogs with ammonium urate stones and vice versa. Struvite stones are produced in alkaline urine, and urate stones are produced in acidic urine. Once you find out what kind of stone your baby has, we'll be able to help you with foods and snacks :) Apples(cut up and peeled) are a great treat :) Carrots too :) |
But what do you feed her in the mean time, until all the test are run and the results back? You wouldn't want to give her anything that may make her worse...So many questions...Not enough answers!!! |
Yep, I don't know why it takes so long to get those lab results back sometimes...We had to wait almost a week! |
Tests are in! The vet just called me today and said Katie's stone was ..magnesium amonium phosphate...a struvite stone? Ok everyone, what is the best to feed her? Someone told me to give her distilled water instead of tap water. Do you think this will make a difference? What causes them to get a stone like this? I just want to do the right thing so she won't get any more of those nasty things! She is doing great by the way, almost back to her old self. She said she didn't have any of those PH test strips but that I could order them, anyone know where a good place is to get them? Thanks for any info! |
Yes, I think those are struvite stones which are more common on females. Ralphie had calcium oxalate, more common to males. Your vet should guide you as to her diet. Hopefully, you can avoid the prescription diet foods; Ralphie really cannot unless he takes potassium citrate for the rest of his life and gets monitored constantly. Right now, I'm back on the Hills U/D for his type of stones. Hope I did the link right. Here's where I bought the PH strips: http://www.ph-ion.com/index.asp?Page...FSBMGgod2DTZRQ I use them on a weekly, sometimes more often, basis and his levels should be at 6.5 to 7.0 or 7.2 ideally. Too low, too acidic and he can form stones again. Too high turns to the struvite stones. I'm hoping your little is doing well and if you follow the right diet and use those strips, she'll be fine! |
http://b-naturals.com/Dec2002.php Incredibly informative article, please read it regarding struvite stones! :) |
Won't the test strips for ph balance you can buy at any pharmacy for people work on dogs too? And I would assume your vet will suggest the right foods, right? And I have always used distilled water for Winston...don't know why...but I drink it and have always gien it to him too. |
Quote:
Yes, it's the same test strips. I just purchased them online because I had a hard time finding them locally and it's easier for me to buy online. I use filtered water for all of us, Ralphie included. The filtration is built into my water system at home. |
Yes, the ph strips that they sell in the pharmacy are important to use when trying to get your baby's ph balance in check. My yorkie and maltese are also on distilled :) |
And another question...how in the world do you get a urine sample, Winston pees outside so I can't squeeze it how of his peepad...hmmmm??? |
Quote:
|
| All times are GMT -8. The time now is 04:07 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2026, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2003 - 2018 YorkieTalk.com
Privacy Policy - Terms of Use