Urolithiasis in dogs-15,494 cases (1979-2007)

Urolithiasis in dogs - 15,494 cases (1979-2007) The aim of this study was to summarise all analysed canine uroliths from 29 years (1979 to 2007) in relation to the signalement. During this time period, 15,494 stones, mainly from Germany, were submitted, The type of stone was evaluated in relation to the available information on the submission form, i.e. breed, age, gender, body weight and localisation of the urolith. The analysis was performed by infrared spectroscopy and stones with at least 70% of a certain mineral were classified as being this mineral stone type. Uroliths from 187 breeds were analysed. The vast majority of uroliths were retrieved from the urinary bladder and/or urethra (99.2%). The most common breeds besides mongrels (17.1%) were the Dachshund (12.4%), Yorkshire Terrier (9.9%), Poodle (4.1%), Dalmatian (3.1), Cocker Spaniel (3.7%) and Shi Tsu (3.1%). Most dogs were intact (79.2%). It was found that male dogs (61.2%) had significantly more common uroliths than female dogs (38.8%). The mean age was basically identical in both sexes (7.3 years); however, there was some variation between the different stone types. Dogs with ammonium urate, cystine and struvite stones were significantly younger than dogs with calcium oxalate stones. During the entire period, struvite (53.0%) and calcium oxalate stones (25.8%) were the two most common stone types. However, the percentage of calcium oxalate stones significantly increased over time and these stones were seen in the last quarter (2000-2007) in 38.6% of the dogs, while the percentage of struvite stones decreased during the same period and was seen in the last quarter in 48.2% of dogs. Other commonly analysed stone types were cystine (9.9%), ammonium urate (6.0%), brushite (1.1%) and xanthine (0.2%). Struvite and calcium oxalate stones were found to be the two most common urolith types seen in dogs occurring at present almost equally. However, the most commonly analysed stone types seen in humans can also be found in dogs. The epidemiological data retrieved from this study can give a large amount of information regarding pathogenic causes and changes over time. This can be used to give advice on specific therapy and successful prophylaxis in a given animal.