Molly's Story

MOLLY'S BLADDER STONE

For nearly a year now "Molly" had showed intermittent signs of urinary discomfit. She would squat to urinate excessively at times and on occassions in recent times she would pass a tiny bit of blood in her urine. Things would come right for long periods of time and Molly was completely unconcerned about any urinary tract problems.

Molly was put onto antibiotics and seemed to respond well with the symtoms abating and her comfort levels returning to normal.

Urine samples were sent for laborotory assessment and nearly always came back as normal or sterile. On one occasion a significant urinary tract infection was detected with a high Staphylococcal bacterial count. Once again Molly responded swiftly and completely to a set course of oral antibiotics. The symtoms settled and went away.

However some months went by and Molly was back yet again, only this time worse than ever. She was uncomfotable when she urinated, spent a long time squatting without pasing anything and was having to go far more frequently than normal. When she was examined this time , a large hard mass could be palpated in her lower abdomen.

Molly was taken to radioloy straight away and a large egg-shaped bladder stone was apparent in her bladder.It was obvious Molly was not supposed to be passing eggs like this!

So she was taken to surgery and the large bladder stone removed from her bladder. The stone measured 4cm long and 2cm wide so she was never going to pass that in a hurry!

Molly recovered peacefully after the surgery and was sent home to convalesce before retuning to have her sutures removed 10 days later.

The bladder stone turned out to be a "struvite" stone which is a type of bladder stone commonly associated with chronic urinary tract infections in female dogs.

Bladder stones in dogs are often breed- related with Dalmatians famously known to have "urate" stones and Minature Schnauzers commonly seen to have "calcium oxlate stones".

In male dogs they often have emergency implications if they block the urethera and completely prevent the passage of urine.

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