Blood in the urine may be a
sign of bladder stones. A
urine test and X-rays of the
bladder and kidneys should
be advised and this was done
by the other vet.
A good practice is to use
air-contrast X-ray of the
bladder as it is more
troublesome, esp. in the
female dog as she has to be
catheterized. The bladder
needed to be emptied via the
urinary catheter.
In this young Golden
Retriever , urine tests show
lots of struvite crystals
were performed by another
practice. The owner was
given the CD containing 3
X-rays. The CD does not have
the specific software to
automatically download the
images. There are two ways
of sourcing this software.
Downloaded one from the
internet or get it from the
supplier of the machine. The
software is at:
http://www.microdicom.com/
I noted that 3 X-rays were
needed to be taken as the
struvite bladder stones can
be seen in only one of the
two lateral views.
Another good tip is to
palpate the bladder before
X-rays. If the bladder is
full, get the dog out to the
grass to pee. Or catheterise
the dog to empty the bladder
to get good views of bladder
stones. Otherwise, there is
a need to take another X-ray
if the full bladder
obstructs any views of
smaller stones.
TOA
PAYOH VETS
