Urinary acidification in the prevention and treatment of feline struvite urolithiasis

Two groups of 12 cats were fed ad libitum an experimental dry expanded ration high in magnesium (0.37%, dry matter basis) and similar to most commercial dry cat foods in all other nutrients. The diet of one of the groups contained 1.5% ammonium chloride, which was added to the diet before processing. Urethral obstruction developed twice in 7 of the 12 cats fed the ration without ammonium chloride. Of the 5 remaining cats in that group, 2 had calculi in the urinary bladder and urethra at necropsy. In contrast, only 2 of the 12 cats fed the ration containing ammonium chloride had urethral blockage once; neither cat had another blockage. Both cats had been catheterized twice as paired controls before urethral obstruction. One of these 2 cats died from a urinary tract infection apparently introduced through the indwelling catheter, and at necropsy there were 2 small calculi in the urethra. At the end of the study, only 1 other cat fed the ammonium chloride diet had a calculus in the urinary bladder at necropsy; this cat had not had a urethral obstruction throughout the study. After each cat had 2 urethral blockages, its diet was changed. Four cats were fed the ration containing ammonium chloride and 3, a dry, commercial ration. Of the 4 cats fed the diet containing ammonium chloride, none developed another urethral obstruction within 6 months, and at necropsy, no calculi were in the urinary bladder or urethra. Two of the 3 cats fed the commercial ration experienced urethral blockage within 3 months. These 2 cats were then fed the diet containing ammonium chloride.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The treatment and subsequent prevention of struvite urolithiasis in cats

The incidence and nature of urolithiasis in the cat is described. A new method for the relief of severe struvite urethral obstruction in the male cat is advocated, using retrograde irrigation with Walpole's acetic acid/ sodium acetate buffer pH 4.5. It is suggested that there is an essential physiological difference between stone-forming and non-stone-forming cats. The recurrence of urolithiasis in known stone-formers can be prevented by dietetic measures aimed at lowering both the specific gravity and the magnesium concentration of the urine. The effect of castration on the incidence of urolithiasis is discussed. Résumé. La fréquence et la nature de l'urolithiase chez le chat sont décrites. Une nouvelle méthode visant à soulager l'obstruction urétrale struvite aiguë chez le mâle est préconisée; elle consiste en une irrigation rétrograde à l'aide du tampon de Walpole imbibé d'acide acétique et d'acétate de sodium (pH 4,5). On avance qu'il y a une différence physiologique essentielle entre les chats prédisposés aux calculs et ceux qui ne le sont pas. On peut éviter un retour de l'urolithiase chex les chats qui y sont prédisposés en observant des mesures diététiques visant à réduire à la fois le poids spécifique et la concentration de magnésium dam l'urine. L'effet de l'émasculation sur les cas d'urolithiase est examiné. Zusammenfassung. Die Häufigkeit und der Charakter der Urolithiasis bei der Katze werden beschrieben. Eine neue Methode zur Beseitigung der schweren Struvitobstruktion der Harnröhre der männlichen Katze wird empfohlen, bei der retrograde Spülung mit Walpoks Essigsäure/Natriumacetatpuffer pH 4,5 angewendet wird. Es wird die Vermutung ausgesprochen, dass es einen wesentlichen physiologischen Unterschied zwischen steinbildenden und nicht-steinbildenden Katzen gibt. Das Wiederauftreten von Urolithiasis bei erkannten steinbildenden Katzen kann durch Emährungsmassnahmen verhindert werden, die darauf gerichtet sind, das spezifische Gewicht und die Magnesiumkonzentration des Urins zu senken. Der Einfluss der Kastrierung auf die Hädgkeit von Urolithiasis wird besprochen.     

Etiopathogenesis of canine struvite urolithiasis

Urine must be oversaturated with magnesium ammonium phosphate for struvite uroliths to form. Oversaturation of urine with magnesium ammonium phosphate may be associated with several factors, including urinary tract infections with urease-producing microbes, alkaline urine, diet, and genetic predisposition. Of the urease-producing microbes, staphylococci are most struvitogenic in dogs. The precise mechanisms resulting in formation of sterile struvite uroliths in dogs have not been determined.     

Medical dissolution of feline struvite urocystoliths

The efficacy of a diet designed to facilitate dissolution of feline magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) uroliths was evaluated in 30 cases of urolithiasis, sterile struvite uroliths dissolved in a mean of 36 days after initiation of dietary treatment. In 5 cases of urolithiasis, struvite urocystoliths associated with urease-negative bacterial urinary tract infection dissolved in a mean of 23 days after initiation of dietary and antimicrobial treatment. In 3 cases of urolithiasis, struvite urocystoliths associated with urease-positive staphylococcal urinary tract infection dissolved in a mean of 79 days after initiation of dietary and antimicrobial treatment. Dissolution of uroliths in cats fed the treatment diet was associated with concomitant remission of dysuria, hematuria, and pyuria, and reduction in urine pH and struvite crystalluria. In one case, a urocystolith composed of 100% ammonium urate, and in another case, a urolith composed of 60% calcium phosphate, 20% calcium oxalate, and 20% magnesium ammonium phosphate did not dissolve.     

Dietary treatment of progressive feline struvite crystalluria

Eight cats were fed a dry commercial cat food and after six months developed urinary struvite crystalluria with alkaline urine. The animals were subsequently divided into two groups and fed either a dry or a canned struvite calculolytic diet. The crystalluria was reduced after five to six weeks with both treatment diets. Decreased crystalluria coincided with a reduction in urinary pH and an increased titratable acidity. The highest food acid load, determined by the lowest undetermined anion, was found with the dry diet and resulted in the highest renal hydrogen excretion, measured as net acid excretion.     

Risk factors associated with feline urolithiasis

Urinary tract diseases are among the main reasons for consultation in veterinary clinics and hospitals. It affects animals of any age, breed and gender. Among the diseases that affect this system, urolithiasis is the second largest cause of clinical signs compatible with feline urinary tract disease. The term urolithiasis refers to the presence of uroliths in any region of the urinary tract, but it is more commonly seen in the bladder and urethra. Uroliths are classified based on the type of mineral present in their composition, therefore, quantitative and qualitative analyzes are important for a better therapeutic approach. The animals may suffer from the disease and be asymptomatic, or show nonspecific clinical signs, making the diagnosis difficult. The disease should not be seen as a single problem, but as a consequence of various disorders. As dietary, metabolic, genetic and infectious causes, as well as factors that potentiate the chance of development of uroliths such as breed, age, sex, age range, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, geographic region and climate. Thus, the knowledge of the factors that influence the formation of uroliths, as well as the understanding of the pathophysiology, are key elements for better alternatives of therapy and prevention. The recognition of these factors helps to identify susceptible populations, minimizing exposure and increasing the protection factors, which facilitates the diagnosis and treatment of patients with urolithiasis. The objective of this paper is to present the main risk factors involved in the formation of urinary lithiasis in felines.     

Unusual case of foreign body-induced struvite urolithiasis in a dog

A 6-year-old, castrated male dog was presented because of inappropriate urination and hematuria. Radiographs indicated a bladder stone with a sewing needle at its center. The urolith was removed and diagnosed as predominantly struvite, most likely a result of the foreign body and a urinary tract infection.     

Effect of diet on struvite activity product in feline urine

Groups of male specific-pathogen-free cats were fed a basal, purified diet (A), with or without 0.45% added magnesium (MgCl2, diet B; MgO, diet C) or 1 of 2 commercial diets (D,E). Urine samples collected for 48 hours after 2 weeks of feeding were analyzed for calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, ammonium, sulfate, phosphate, oxalate, and citrate content. Concentrations were used to calculate the negative logarithm of the struvite activity product (pSAP), using a microcomputer-based program for calculation of supersaturation of the urine with crystal solutes. The pSAP value for all samples also was hand-calculated by use of an equation. Consumption of diet B caused a significant (P less than 0.05) increase in urine calcium concentration. Total urine phosphate concentration was lower in urine from cats fed diets A, B, or C than in urine from cats fed diets D or E. For the various diets, urine PO4(-3) was: 5.3 microM for diet A; 6.3 microM for diet C; 0.9 microM for diet E; 36 nM for diet D, and 0.5 nM for diet B. Consumption of diets B and C caused significant increases in urine magnesium concentration (53.1 nM and 49.1 mM, respectively). Ammonium ion concentration was highest in urine from cats fed diets B and D, 116.2 mM and 100.3 mM, respectively. When the pSAP, hand-calculated assuming ionic strength u = 0.2, was regressed on that calculated by use of the microcomputer program, the coefficient of determination was 0.96 (P less than or equal to 0.01).     

Study on precipitation of struvite and struvite-K crystal in goats during onset of urolithiasis

To learn more about the biomineralization process of struvite in ruminants, a seldom noticeable crystal, struvite-K, was investigated in six goats in which urolithiasis was induced by feeding a cottonseed meal and rice straw diet supplemented with MgO. The compositions of crystals and calculi were studied by chemical qualitative analysis and X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The activity product (AP) and relative supersaturation (RSS) of magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) and potassium magnesium phosphate (MKP) were calculated to compare the difference of crystals formed in this process. The results showed that calculi consisted of MAP with a little MKP. Crystals in the urine consisted of MAP and MKP before stone formation, but crystals in urine after stone formation mainly consisted of MKP. The AP and RSS of MAP and MKP significantly decreased after stone formation. It was concluded that MAP and MKP may coexist in the crystals of urine before struvite calculi formation but MKP did not precipitate to struvite calculi and was separated out as crystal sedimentation of urine. The changes of crystallization of MAP and MKP contributed partially to the supersaturation status of MAP and MKP during struvite stone formation.     

犬尿石症的治疗及预防研究进展

犬尿结石是临床上经常遇到的一种严重的泌尿系统疾病,根据其分布位置分为肾结石、输尿管结石、膀胱结石、尿道结石,其临床病理因结石的大小、形状以及个体和品种差异而有所不同。诸多学者对该病进行了多方位的研究,保守疗法、手术取石及微创技术用于临床,效果确实。现就该病防治研究的进展报告如下,以飨读者。     

The case against a viral aetiology in feline urolithiasis.

Efforts have been made to endorse the thory of a viral aetiology for the feline urolithiasis syndrome (FUS) in the male cat. The presence of virus in the urine of three cases could not be confirned nor could the condition be transmitted by intra vesicular inoculation of urine from four affected cats into the bladders of normal cats. Following these negative findings work was done on SPF cats and a survey made of the incidence of urethral obstruction in six SPF cat units in England. No cases were reported from four of these units over a two-year period. Five cases occurred in the other two SPF units, three of which were associated with feeding an expanded dry cat food. There is, thus, no direct evidence that viral agents are involved in the aetiology of FUS.     

Evaluation of the efficacy of a commercial diet in the dissolution of feline struvite bladder uroliths

Clinical signs of struvite urolithiasis resolved in an average of 19 days in cats fed either a canned or dry urine-acidifying, magnesium-restricted diet, and stones completely dissolved in 31 of 39 cats in an average of 30 days. Stones were surgically removed from five cats, and analysis revealed that these stones were not composed of struvite. The results of this study strongly suggest that the diet will dissolve naturally occurring feline struvite bladder uroliths.     

Feline struvite urolithiasis: factors affecting urine pH may be more important than magnesium levels in food

Eighteen male cats were fed either a canned complete diet or a commercially available dry pelleted diet or the same dry diet containing 1.6 per cent ammonium chloride. The daily food and water intake of four of these cats was measured. Urine samples were taken at random and the pH and the presence of struvite crystals in their sediment estimated. In some samples in which the pH was less than 7.0, and struvite crystals were absent, the pH was increased to 7.0 and any sediment was examined for struvite. No spontaneous struvite was seen in urine samples (pH 5.8) from cats fed the canned complete diet but when its pH was raised to 7.0, 46 per cent of these samples showed struvite. Cats fed the dry pelleted diet had urine of higher pH (7.55) and 78 per cent of the samples contained struvite crystals. Cats fed this diet supplemented with ammonium chloride had a urine pH of 5.97 and only 9 per cent contained struvite crystals but when the pH was adjusted to 7.0 all the samples showed struvite crystals. Energy intake was similar on all three diets but the intake of dry matter was greater on the dry diets. Liquid water intake was greater on the dry diets but total water intake was greatest on the canned complete diet. The intake of magnesium, calcium and phosphate was greater on the dry diets. It is concluded that urine pH is a more important controller of struvite precipitation than mineral intake.     

犬、猫禽流感研究动态及预防

一、高致病性离流感流行的基本情况高致病性禽流感是指由H5N1亚型禽流感病毒使多种动物感染致病。就目前研究所知,各种家禽和野生禽是主要的病毒携带和传播者。截止2006年5月23日,全世界共有218人发病,124人死亡。中国有18人发病,12人死亡。动物可感染的有:1.猫科动物:2003年12