Canine Urinary Problems By Tess Thompson The structure of the urinary tract in dogs is as simple as it can be. It consists of the following: ─ Kidneys that filter the daily metabolic wastes from the blood and dissolve them in as little water as possible. ─ A set of two tubes called ureters that transport liquid waste to a storage area. ─ The urinary bladder which is the storage area for urine. ─ Urethra, the tube through which this waste is eliminated during urination. The simplicity, however, ends here because a lot can go wrong with this simple system that is responsible for eliminating wastes. To start with, diet, water consumption, pH balance of the urine and stress can cause urinary tract problems. In addition to this, disease causing bacteria can enter the sterile tract through the urethral opening at the end of penis (in males) or just within the vaginal vestibule (in females) and cause canine and feline urinary infection. If the prostate gland, the seminal vesicles or the testicles are infected or inflamed in males, they can cause urinary problems as well. This is because these organs are closely associated with the urethra. The ureters are the least affected and seldom pose a problem unless damaged by injury, cancer, surgical accident, or kidney stones that pass through them. Urolithiasis is a condition caused due to the formation of stones or calculi or excessive amount of crystals. These are formed due to the disturbance in pH balance in the urinary tract of the dog. Although these may form anywhere in the tract, the bladder is the most commonly affected part. A urinary bladder stone can cause irritation, damage to the lining and often pain for the patient. Extreme conditions ultimately lead to blood in the urine or a completely blocked passage, causing canine and feline urinary incontinence severely painful urination or a complete cessation of it. Infections caused by the bacterium E. coli are the most common urinary problems. The infection starts from the urethra and if not treated in time it can move further inside and affect the proximal and distal urinary organs. A kidney infection can be a direct outcome of unchecked urinary tract infection in dogs. Kidneys are major organs for filtering out urea from the blood so that it can be excreted with water as urine. Malfunctioning of the organs causes accumulation of toxins and may ultimately lead to death. Urinary infections in dogs are normally treated with antibiotics. For the removal of bladder or kidney stones surgery was the only option some years back. However, there is now an increased realization that stones can be managed through an increased consumption of water, special diets and homeopathic treatment. Before starting any treatment a proper diagnosis is necessary since incorrect diagnosis is one of the major issues during UTI treatment. For treatment, a complete urinalysis and culture is required to identify the pathogen since specific bacteria need to be tackled with different antibiotics. Moreover, canine and feline urinary infection can be persistent and hard to treat and require long use of antibiotics in prescribed dosages to avoid recurrence. References: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=C&C=9&S=1 http://www.petcaretips.net/canine_urinary_tract.html http://www.executec.com/urolith.htm
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