Diet should keep stones from recurring in dog

Q I have just spent a small fortune on my 2-year-old male bulldog. Thankfully, the dog is doing quite well, but I wonder if you can explain why he developed bladder stones, whether neutering was re- ally necessary and what else I might do to prevent any recurrences. I was told that this may be a long-term problem. Before he ended up in surgery, he had been straining to urinate and also had bloody urine. It turned out that he had stones in his bladder and some stacked up like coins in his urethra. As our vet described the surgery, he tried to pass a catheter to push them back into his bladder for removal but could not, so he had to remove them locally as well as others from the bladder. The analysis of the stones showed them to be cystine, and now our dog is on a prescription diet for life. A

I am glad to hear that your dog is doing well. It sounds as if the dog had both a cystotomy to remove stones called uroliths from his bladder as well as a urethrotomy to cut down into his urethra to remove the uroliths there. The urethra can get narrow in the penis, and clearly the problem was there. Surgically, one tries to use a catheter to retropulse them back into the bladder for easier removal, but if not possible, one does the procedure as it was described to you. As bad as it sounds, these surgeries are often successful. Cystine uroliths are among the least common stones that dogs can get and result from an inborn error of metabolism. There is no way to test for or predict the development of this problem until it develops. This problem is almost always found in male dogs. Since it has a genetic component, neutering is appropriate so the problem is not passed on to future generations. The bulldog is one of the most commonly affected breeds. While there are some newer medical modalities to dissolve stones from redeveloping, appropriate prescription diets that address pH and promote alkaline urine are usually sufficient at maintaining the status quo. I would also suggest radiographs once or twice a year to ensure that new uroliths don’t develop. Good luck!