Why is urine testing crucial after my dog's struvite stone surgery?

I would recommend seeing your veterinarian for a recheck. Struvite stones often form secondary to a urinary tract infection so your vet may want to test Beemo’s urine to make sure there is not currently an infection present. If you’re able to save a stone for your vet they might want to send it out for analysis - occasionally dogs can have multiple types of bladder stones and it’s possible your vet may want to change the diet or add a supplement if this is the case.

Hello. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, some of these dogs keep developing stones, & we just do not know the total reason & mechanism for this. So you are perfectly right to feel confused, & frustrated with this. The Royal Canin S/O has been one of the best options in terms of preventing stones through the diet, & of course, the more water he takes in, the more water there is to flush the oxalate elements out of his bladder before stones reoccur. Sometimes we do recommend potassium citrate, if urine pH is consistently lower than 6.5, & some newer thinking is to add hydrochlorothiazide if he does seem to be redeveloping urolithiasis frequently & he does not have high blood calcium levels. You could monitor his urine for blood with urine dip strips manufactured for this purpose ( your vet can help with this ). A full urinalysis should be done every 3-6 months to keep pH between 6.5 & 8 & to maintain urine specific gravity to 1.020 or lower. Imaging, with either ultrasound or x-rays every 6-12 months is useful to identify very small stones that can generally be removed without surgery.removed . Hopefully, Casper will remain stone free for a very long time. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Charlie. It is necessary to continue monitoring him to prevent the stones from recurring. He should have a urinalysis every 3-6 months to look for crystals in his urine, signs of a urinary tract infection and to monitor the pH of his urine. I recommend that the dog fasts for 12 hours before the urine sample is collected. I also routinely take x-rays to look for bladder stones every 6-12 months. He should eat the prescription diet exclusively. I hope this information helps!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I am sorry you and Sanjee are going through this. First I think it important to wait until the stone analysis is back before deciding 100% what to do diet wise. Even though she has calcium oxalate crystals doesn't mean the stone will be that exactly, though it is likely. Calcium oxalate stones are the hardest to prevent recurrence. I recommend Veterinary Prescription diets like Royal Canin SO, Hill's c/d or Purina UR. I also recommend monitoring urine pH and concentration. Calcium oxalate crystals form in more acidic (lower pH) urine. If the diet alone won't control the pH and keep it more neutral sometimes we have to add potassium citrate. I think periodic X-rays to check for recurrence are also important. There are many small white dogs that have had many cystotomies to remove calcium oxalate stones. I hope this helps and I wish Sanjee the best today for her surgery and a speedy recovery!

The culture is helpful for identifying the organism responsible for the infection, but is not necessary to determine the presence of infection. An infection can be detected by a routine urinalysis, which would include a microscopic evaluation of the urine. Considering this, a urine culture would not be necessary unless there was other reasons for doing it. I hope that helps and all is well with Hanz.

Yes, urinary infections can be difficult to clear up so to make sure the infection is gone they will do the culture. It's best to do this as you don't want Koda to get UTIs frequently. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help answer your veterinary questions.

Hi, and thanks for your question. These signs are definitively compatible with a urinary tract infection/inflammation. Stress related (idiopathic type of inflammation) infection and presence of crystals are the most common causes of it. Another clinical examination at your local veterinarian is essential to confirm these clinical suspicions and treat appropriately. Ultrasound or x rays of the abdomen may be needed as there may be stones inside the bladder (which does not show up on urine analysis). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.