[Kerry M]

Hello all, I apologize in advance, this is going to be a long story. My boy Sam is a 12 year old beagle. He had been on Wellness Core for a couple of years when I decided to put him on a raw diet (not a commercial one – gave him chicken and turkey necks, pork necks, beef, etc, with the recommended ratio of organs, bones, and meat). I started that in June of last year. In March, he started coughing and had trouble breathing, so we rushed him to the pet ER where they diagnosed him with congestive heart failure. The day after we brought him home he was unable to urinate, and we took him back to the vet and he had a bladder stone blocking his urethra. They were able to flush it back into his bladder and put him on Royal Canin SO to dissolve it. At the time they said his white blood cells were elevated, and tested him for a bladder infection, which came up positive. For the last six months he has been on different antibiotics trying to clear up the infection, and we have been seeing an internal medicine specialist for about a month now. They did an ultrasound and he still had the bladder stone, and put him on Hill’s S/D, despite the high sodium content that would put a strain on his heart. He had a urine culture again last week that again came up positive. The specialist called me today and said the bacteria is now resistant to all medication and she feels that he needs surgery to remove the stone. Naturally I am terrified to let him go under anesthesia with his heart condition, but I know if the infection continues it can lead to kidney issues. If anyone can weigh in with experience with resistance to antibiotics and/or pets having surgery with CHF, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[anonymous]

“The specialist called me today and said the bacteria is now resistant to all medication and she feels that he needs surgery to remove the stone. Naturally I am terrified to let him go under anesthesia with his heart condition, but I know if the infection continues it can lead to kidney issues”.

If the bladder stone blocks his urethra (again) this is not only a extremely painful condition but life threatening as well. You will have to rush him to the nearest emergency vet and your treatment options will probably be quite limited.
So, you can listen and go along with the recommendations of the specialist or you can roll the dice and see what happens. I would call the specialist and go over the risks involved with having the surgery versus not having the surgery.
Urinary tract infections are painful too.
No guarantees with anything in life. Best of luck.

You can use the search engine to look up bladder stones. Example /forums/topic/frequent-utis/#post-109553

[Author]

Posts