This lovely boy is Simba. Simba came to visit the clinic as he had been leaking urine & was taking longer to urinate then usual. In these situations the best step is to send off a urine sample to the lab for further diagnostic testing, to determine if there are any stones etc present. A couple days later the results came back showing that no stones were detected, so a long course of antibiotics were given to treat his inappropriate urination. Unfortunately a couple days later his owner took him outside to go to the toilet & Simba starting crying when urinating. His owner brought him straight down & an ultrasound was scheduled in to get a better look at his bladder. This ultrasound showed that Simba did in fact have bladder stones; rock like minerals that form in the urinary bladder.
Urinary stones are not only painful for our pets as they block the urine from being able to be passed, but they can also be life threatening as the toxic waste that is normally excreted in the urine can build up in the blood stream causing damage to the kidneys. There is also the potential that the bladder can rupture causing the urine to enter the abdominal cavity. Simba went straight into surgery that day, where Dr Raj performed a cystotomy- this procedure involves making a surgical incision to his bladder and physically scooping the stones out with a spoon. Dr Raj then placed a urinary catheter through the bladder & out the tip of his penis to make sure that there were no more stones blocking his urethra. He spent the afternoon with us while he recovered from his anaesthetic and then went home very happy.
Simba will now need to stay on a urinary diet to prevent further stones from forming. We would like to thank his family for making sure Simba had the best treatment possible.