Urinary Infections / Kidney Disease

The following information is simply informational. It's intent is not to replace the advice of a veterinarian nor to assist you in making a diagnosis of your pet. Please consult with your own veterinary physician for confirmation of any diagnosis. Your pets life may depend on it.

Urinary Tract Infections, Kidney Disease & Other Urinary Problems in Dogs:

The urinary system consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra. Learn more about common urinary diseases and developmental disorders of the urinary tract in dogs including parasites, infections, and congenital defects.

Urination Frequency:

Because of the seriousness of some of these conditions, a dog or cat urinating and/or drinking more than normal should be seen be a veterinarian as soon as possible.

Bladder Stones (Urinary Calculi) many dogs with bladder stones show no outward signs of any kind - no pain, no blood, no straining. We honestly do not understand this because in many of these animals, the stones are occupying over 80% of the internal space of the bladder! However, do not get the idea that this condition cannot be life threatening. If a stone is caught in the ureters or urethra, it can easily obstruct urine flow completely, which leads to a painful death. In these situations, only emergency surgery can save the animal.All bladder stones, whether they are struvite or any other type, are formed by minerals, which first precipitate out in the urine as individual microscopic crystals. Over time, these crystals unite and small grains of sand are formed. Once these first grains are present, additional precipitation forms on their surface and the tiny specks are gradually built into stones that sometimes reach 3" to 4" in diameter. As a simple example, this is the same process that occurs when you put sugar into a hot cup of coffee. At first it all dissolves, but as the liquid cools, its carrying capacity decreases and the sugar returns to its granular form. There is no such temperature change in the bladder, but the dissolved minerals still precipitate out in the form of microscopic crystals. If this happened only rarely, no harm would be done as they would be flushed out of the body with the urine. In certain animals, however, large quantities of minerals are rapidly formed and clinical urolithiasis developsBacterial infections of the bladder (referred to as cystitis) play a large role in struvite stone information for two reasons: (1) they tend to make the urine more alkaline (with pH higher than 7.0) and (2) by-products of their metabolism actually initiate chemical reactions that cause the magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals to form. Most bacterial infections of the bladder tend to raise the pH of the urine. This is important in this specific condition as struvite crystals are more apt to remain in solution if the liquid is acidic (with a pH lower than 7.0). That is, they would continue to be dissolved in the liquid and no crystals would form.

Additionally, many of the bacteria that cause a cystitis also produce an enzyme (a compound that causes chemical reactions to occur) called urease. This enzyme starts the process to be reacting with urea molecules found in the urine to form ammonia and carbon dioxide. The ammonia is slowly converted to ammonium ions, while the carbon dioxide unites with other compounds, freeing up phosphates. Then, through a chain of chemical reactions that seem to feed on each other and at the same time raise the pH of the urine into the alkaline range even more, the magnesium that is normally present within the urine unites with the ammonium and phosphate to form magnesium ammonium and phosphates (struvite). If the crystals are formed rapidly and in large quantities, they will unite together to form stones. However, if only small amounts are formed over a longer period of time, they would simply be flushed out in the urine without producing any problems.Treatment of urolithiasis allows choices for the owners and veterinarians - that is, either to treat medically or surgicallyThe surgical removal of stones within the bladder is referred to as cystotomy, meaning an opening of the bladder. This is usually a very easy procedure. The stones are sent to a laboratory for analysis to determine their chemical make-up and the remainder of the therapy will vary depending on the results.Medical therapy can be used by itself or in conjunction with the surgery. After the diagnosis and x-rays, pretreatment laboratory work entails culturing the urine for bacteria and a urinalisis to determine what type of crystals are present along with the pH of the urine. Armed with this knowledge, we follow the obvious path. If there is a cystitis present, a culture and sensitivity is done to determine the appropriate antibacterial medications to use and then treatment is initiated. After we determine what crystals are present in the urine, we know what type of stone is probably present and we try to modify the dog's metabolism and urine to prevent further formation. This entails altering the urine pH, increasing water consumption, inhibiting the activity of ureaseand use of special foods.

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