puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

Re: puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

funkyfish — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 14:09:29 GMT

He is well otherwise, I keep anti frreze locked away. The lab didn't suggest it as a differential just if he has a raised Ca. Not blooded him yet as work busy and staff patients take a back burner.... brought him in for bloods but was told to take him home as we were too busy last week. grrrrr

retesting wee to lab along with bloods for full profile plus Ca..... Getting through a box of bio washing pdr a week at the mo due to constantly washing the floor and bedding!!

Re: puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

Alexander Campbell — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 14:14:36 GMT

Hi... I presume he was looking otherwise ok and that there was no possibility he'd had access to antifreeze?

Re: puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

Nicola Smith — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:28:50 GMT

Have you spoken to either Hills or Royal Canin about what age he could have a special diet? Being a smaller breed he will not need to be on puppy food as long as say a giant breed but not sure what age they say it is ok from?

Re: puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

Sal the 1st — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 11:13:26 GMT

it looks like you covered all bases then - sorry wasnt talking down to you - just suggesting some possibilities

I dont think I have come across sedistain anywhere that isnt a bacterial soup - I used to split mine up into the small glass sterile centrifuge blood tubes and just use one tube till it was gone and leave the others unopened till needed and that helped a bit - you need to keep them in a dark area or a box . Just make sure everbody knows what they are and where they are. 1 bottle (which is not inexpensive) lasted a lot longer this way. Dont know if you could use the plastic blood tubes instead - not something I ever tried.

was there any blood at all showing on the dipstick?

is he getting milk at all or having milky drinks?

would be interested to find out how he gets on

Re: puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

funkyfish — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 08:28:35 GMT

I sent both plain and boric acid. Sample was collected that evening by the lab and tested the next day. I phoned to check if sample ageing would affect it, they said no not with oxalate.

I rechecked on a fresh sample yesterday, pH was 5 and lots and lots of fragments, guess they could be crystal fragments. Checked a plain and dyed sample (and found our dye is contaminated with bacteria!) also plain slide with water and cover slip to check for glass fragments. There were no glass fragments on the plain slide so guess the bits I saw were crystals...........

Trying to get as much water in to him as possible, bought a water fountain drinker.

Re: puppy with Calcium oxalate crystals

Sal the 1st — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 21:47:16 GMT

just out of interest - the urine sample sent out , how did you treat it? was it a plain sample, boric acid sample or an edta/formalin sample? or did you send a bit of each? How long was it between taking the sample and it arriving in the lab? ie was it sitting in a postbox somewhere over a weekend? The age of a sample can make a small problem look like a huge one sometimes. Was a dip stick done before it was sent out ie was the pH 5 on a fresh sample? How many crystals did you see when you had a look ? did it just look like a very few or was it very glittery ie loads of them? was there anything else of interest on the dipstick? What was the SG?

did you look at a plain or stained sample or both, I must admit I prefer unstained for crystals. I usually have 2 cover slips on a slide for urine - one side with a plain sample and the other side a stained sample. I usually(not always) find crystals show up a lot more clearly and are easier to identify without a stain.

and the point of mentioning this? - once you have changed his diet would you be able to keep a regular check on his urine yourself? ie if you can remember what the first sample looked like could you keep track inhouse as to whether the crystals are decreasing or not?