Dexster Ling, a young Springer Spaniel has been awarded the Fromus Vet Group’s

FEBRUARY PET OF THE MONTH AWARD

Dexster came to see us as an emergency in February, because his owners had noticed he was passing blood in his urine. The dog was bright and happy but was having difficulty urinating and was having frequent attempts at urination.

Once the vet had examined Dexster, a large discovery was made => A hard mass was felt in the region of the bladder. The vet advised x-raying Dexster to see exactly what the mass was.

The following day, Dexster came in for a general anaesthetic and had several x-rays taken. On the radiograph (the x-ray photograph), a large stone was seen sitting in the bladder. This stone was much too large to ever pass through the urinary tract. A catheter (sterile plastic tube), was passed from the penis through to the bladder to allow us to inject air into the bladder to visualise the stone. There was only one option for Dexster - the vet would need to remove the stone from his bladder. Immediately after this discovery, Dexster was taken to the operating theatre. The nurse prepared the dog for surgery.

Once the dog was stable under anaesthetic, the vet made a large incision to open up the abdomen. The bladder was small but the stone could be felt easily. A small incision was made into the bladder and the stone was extracted. The lining of the bladder was examined and then stitched back together. The bladder was then filled with sterile saline via the urinary catheter to confirm there were no leakages. It was leak proof and thus, the procedure was almost over. The bladder was wrapped in omentum (protective blanket of tissue in the dog’s abdomen) and then the body wall was repaired.

Soon Dexster was awake and went straight outside to go to the toilet.

The following day, the dog was well enough to go home. He is now on a special prescription diet which is formulated to prevent further formation of crystals. He may need to stay on this diet for his lifetime. We will be monitoring Dexster’s urine periodically but so far he is making an excellent recovery.

So, why did Dexster have a stone in his bladder?

Some dogs are predisposed to forming crystals in their urine which over time coalesce and form small stones called uroliths.

The reason crystals form in the urine is often related to the pH (acidity/alkalinity) of the urine. This is influenced by diet, frequency of urination, urinary tract infection, gender and breed

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