Who knew? I certainly did not think about dogs being able to get kidney stones. I mean, sure it makes sense that it could happen, but it is not everyday you hear about such a thing. You might be wondering how I discovered such a thing. Well, last week my dog had to have an emergency surgery to remove two rather large stones. I honestly had no clue that it could have been something so serious.
On Wednesday night of last week, I got into bed and my pug, Rocky started whining. This is not typical of him, so I made sure he was comfy and eventually we both dozed off to sleep. The next morning when we went outside, I noticed that he was having trouble urinating. He was in the squat position but nothing was coming out. The day before his flow was weak, and so I decided a trip tot the vet was in order. I thought maybe it was a bladder or urinary tract infection, and until the vet open he would squat down struggling to pee and nothing would happen. He was in pain.
At the vet’s office they did x-rays and found two stones. One was blocking his tract and the other which was even larger was in his bladder which was two times the normal size because he had not been able to urinate properly. I immediately signed the surgery estimate and they prepped Rocky for surgery.
Hours later he was recovering and I was sent out on a mission to find prescription dog food that would help prevent these stones from coming back. The stones were primarily composed of struvite. When that is the case it is most often the diet and/or water that caused the high magnesium levels to form the struvite stones.
Now, Rocky is still moving a little slowly thanks to the two incisions healing up, but he is in good spirits and able to go potty when he needs to. If you are interested in reading about the dog foods available for this concern, look for Hill’s S/D and Royal Canin SO dog foods.
