Ureter Stones in Cats and What You Can do About it

Our pets bring unbelievable joy into our lives. They give us company and distract us with playfulness and innocence. If you ever had a best friend as a pet, you understand how valuable they are. They're loyal, caring and trusting. They don't take you to court, they don't pick fights with you and lastly they don't lie about you behind your back. If that's not a friend worth having, then I don't what is. So when they get sick, we go out of our way to make sure they're O.K., after all what are best friends for.

Ureterolithiasis is the development of stones. Sometimes the stones will get lodged in the ureter. When this happens, it causes a the ureter to become blocked. This is not a good thing, because remember, the ureter carries urine from the kidneys to the bladder. Ureter stones develop in the kidneys and then passes down into the ureter. The size of the stone, determines the amount of danger to the animal. So if the stone is fairly large, it may get stuck in the ureter. If this happens, it could cause kidney damage.

Some of the symptoms that can be noticed in cats that have ureterolithiasis are kidney failure, pain, accumulation of waste products, ruptured ureter etc. Some of the causes of the development of stones are Cancer, Genetic Factors, Urinary tract infections, adverse drug reaction and more.

To find out if your animal has ureter stones, you will need to take him/her to the veterinarian. The vet will began asking a series of questions, this is done to obtain the pet's medical history. Next, the vet will need to take a few tests. Some of these tests include blood count, urinalysis etc. X-rays are also, very useful. The purpose of the x-rays are to see the stones. It is found to be useful if a special dye is injected intravenously and once this is done, then the X-rays will take place.

Once it is acknowledged that your pet has ureter stones, the vet can then decide on a course of action. One form of treatment can take place by using fluid therapy. With fluid therapy, the animal will be given fluids intravenously. This type of treatment flushes out the kidneys and the ureters. This treatment will last between 12-24 hourly. Once this treatment starts, the vet will continue to monitor the insides of the cat. He/she will be looking to see if the stones have been flushed out.

Another form of treatment, will be to remove the stones. Because the ureter is so small, this type of surgery can be dangerous. Special tools will be needed to perform this surgery. An IV will be needed while the surgery is taking place. With this treatment, once the stone has been removed, the next thing the vet will do is to flush out the ureter to make sure that their are no smaller stones in the ureter. And then their is a treatment called stenting. A Subcutaneous Bypass device is used during this procedure. This is a tube, in a tube, which allows urine to pass while the outside tube removes all of the stones. And lastly, there is a treatment called Extracorporeal Shock-Wave Lithotripsy. This type of treatment actually uses shockwaves. It goes in and destroys the stones.

So there are quite a few ways to get rid of stones. Your vet will speak with you about each and then together you will decide which course is the best one to take. You and the vet will consider the health and comfort of the animal, during and after the surgery.