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  Discussion on Bladder Stones and dietary management
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New Member:
Adele68

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 28, 2003 - 10:05 pm:

My 6 yr. old TB gelding underwent surgery to remove a bladder stone lodged in his urethra 2 weeks ago. Fortunately, it was it was a simple, straightfoward procedure-he came home the same day and is healing quite well.
My question really has to do with diet management. Is there something I should avoid feeding him or something that I could feed him that might help prevent a reoccurrence?
Right now he is out of training and his diet consists of a complete pelleted feed (Blue Seal Trotter) sweet feed (Blue Seal Rider) and large amounts of timothy hay. I am boarding this horse out until mid-March when he will return to race training and normally, I would switch him to a considerably different feeding program, but I am sure my normal choice of feeds would not be appropriate for him- a beet pulp based sweet feed, whole oats, wheat bran and a smaller quantity of good quality alfalfa hay would be the major changes in his diet. I am worried about the levels of calcium in the beet pulp and alfalfa specifically.
Any suggestions would be appreciated
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 29, 2003 - 9:12 am:

I am sure they are going to check the composition of the stone and this should direct your management. Usually calcium is a important factor in horse urinary stones, so we think your concerns are justified see » Equine Diseases » Urinary System » Kidney Stones for more on this.

If your stone contains significant amounts of calcium you will need to find another source of energy, protein, and forage next season. Our article on general nutrition (Care for Horses » Nutrition » Nutrition for the Horse: an Overview of Feeding Horses) and the links that stem from there should provide you with ideas.
DrO
New Member:
Amazona

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004 - 5:07 pm:

My twenty-year old quarter horse gelding has just had his second bout of bladder stones. In October 2003, he had a stone the size of an orange which was removed via a perianal incision, and last week he underwent the same operation for a slightly smaller stone. In both cases, his only symptoms were blood in his urine that showed up only after moderate exercise and occasionally a slight straining while urinating.
He is doing well after his second operation, but I am very worried about recurrence.
One person has suggested giving him ammonium chloride but has also warned me of the danger of this treatment causing loss of calcium from the bones; to counter this side-effect, it was suggested that the medication be given for three months at a time with a one month rest period after each three months of treatment. However, I am not sure that his recommendations for the use of ammonium chloride were based on direct experience with treating horses. (Apparently ammonium chloride is effective in treating stones in sheep.)
Another friend told me about her moderate success in using methionine for the treatment of small stones which were causing repeated urinary blockages; however, she was unsure of the dose and of whether methionine would work with larger stones.
I read Dr. Oglesby's article from last year which referred to experimental treatment with ammonium sulfate. I would very much like to know if any more work been done since last year on ammonium sulfate and also on the whole question of the efficacy of urinary acidification? Also does anyone have more information on methionine? And are there any other possible safe and effective treatments (which one can get down a rather finicky horse)?
I would be very grateful for help in finding a way to prevent another stone from forming.
My horse's diet last year was timothy hay and two pounds of Blue Seal Strider and approximately one pound of carrots per day. He also had two tablespoonfuls of coarse salt and a teaspoonful of vitamin C and the same amount of glucosamine added to his feed plus a herbal mixture to promote urinary tract health. However, most of the time he left the supplements in the bottom of his feeding dish after eating the carrots and Strider. The previous year (that is the year leading up to his first stone) he had about one pound of crushed oats per day plus a vitamin/mineral supplement and the same timothy hay.Unfortunately, our water is very hard, so it probably has a high calcium content. Right now I am giving him softened water from the house.
I have just joined your site and I find it so interesting. Karen R.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 15, 2004 - 9:26 am:

Welcome Karen,
I don't believe there are any known therapies that will dissolve stones once they have formed and grown to any size, the purpose of acidification is to prevent their growth. Have you had the stone checked for content?

Oral treatments too acidify the urine almost invariably induce a metabolic acidosis: the blood ph falls. There are some well documented mechanisms by which this would result in increased calcium release in bone, and in adult mice this has been measued over a short period. On the other hand one of the best studies of his phenomena was done on cats in 1990. There conclusion was that chronic acidification with ammonium choloride did not change bone remodeling or density. We have no information on the horse but the references I check do not suggest intermittent treatment.

Our article discusses ammonium chloride vs ammonium sulfate and gives recommendations and we believe these to be the best information currently available at this time. Though there are some studies showing methionine and vitamin C effective at short term acidification but ammonium therapy remains the most dependable way to acidify the urine. Continuing the vitamin C and adding 2 grams methionine to the diet daily may give added benefit but there are no safety studies of the 3 acidifiers being used together.
DrO
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