There can be a lot of inflammation associated with having bladder stones, which may cause her to feel like she has to pee all the time, much like having a UTI. She may still have a UTI as well- sometimes if the urine is not cultured the antibiotic chosen just doesn't work against the bug she has. My lab Max has had bladder stones twice. The first time, I found them incidentally while on an ultrasound rotation at school. Two days later, he blocked and I had to remove the stones. With Max, the type of stones he had- struvite aka triple phosphate- are associated with UTIs, and Max has had more than his share of them. But repeated urine cultures came out negative, which is very unusual. A couple months later, he developed stones again, but this time he never blocked and I was able to dissolve them with prescription diet. Max has several health problems, and I make his food now, and so far no recurrence of stones. I also do a urine culture every month just to make sure because UTIs are the major cause of struvite stones in dogs. Max doesn't generally have any symptoms with his UTIs, except the one that resulted in having a kidney removed due to an abscess. Then his was peeing what looked like root beer- dark red brown urine. Yuck. Anyway, once the inflammation +/- infection is cleared, she should be able to control her bladder better. If not, she could be not so housetrained or have estrogen-dependent incontinence (aka "spay incontinence). For now the best thing is to keep up with her vet appointments and work to get the current problem resolved. You may try giving her some cranberry juice if she likes it to help calm the inflammation. Besides those things, there isn't much else you can do.

You need to find a new vet. Struvite stones in dogs are caused by UTI. There is absolutely no reason to make a diet change for struvite stones in dogs. Either your vet doesn't know that, or is trying to sell you an Rx diet your dog doesn't need. Your dog needs to have the correct antibiotics in order to kill the infection that caused the stone formation. There should have been a urine culture and sensitivity done at time of admittance, and your dog should be on the appropriate antibiotic. You should also have a recheck urine culture scheduled for 5-7 days after completion of the antibiotics. As long as *all* of the stones were removed, and that was confirmed by x-ray after surgery, then all you need to do is complete the antibiotics and make sure the infection is cleared by rechecking the urine C&S. I also generally recheck a urine culture after a couple of months, because some dogs are prone to infection which makes them a risk for stone formation. My own lab Max had struvite stones due to recurrent UTI. The second bout was 100% my fault because I did not follow up on urine culture often enough, and he developed another infection which caused the stones. The first time he had struvites, he blocked and needed surgery, was put on appropriate antibiotics guided by the urine C&S results. But I didn't follow up on the recheck C&S, and the infection wasn't really cleared. He got stones again, but this time didn't block, so I was able to use Hills S/D to dissolve the stones while he was on appropriate antiobitcs to cure the infection. That time, I made sure I had repeat C&S to show the infection was cured and the stones never came back. Once the stones were gone, I switched him back to his regular food (Natural Balance). He never got stones again. Sorry to be so blunt in the beginning but if all the vet does is Rx a diet then your dog will still be at risk for struvite stone formation.

Pet peeve of mine. KIDNEY stones are NOT the same as BLADDER stones. They are 2 completely different anatomical locations, with completely different consequences, and completely different therapies for management and prevention. KD is not made to prevent the formation of BLADDER stones, though it may help in cases of calcium oxalate (due to restricted calcium levels) or cysteine (due to restricted protein levels) stones. KD does help prevent KIDNEY stones in cases of renal failure because it has greatly reduced phosphorus levels, which is a major cause of KIDNEY stones in patients with kidney disease, which then worsens the kidney disease. KD does nothing to manage struvite stones, which are the most common bladder stones in dogs. Struvite stones are NOT managed with diet- they are caused by urinary tract infection. All you have to do to prevent the recurrence of struvite stones is to prevent (or quickly manage) UTIs. My own Max has had struvite stones twice. First time, he blocked and I had to remove the stones surgically. I cultured his urine and put him on ABX. The infection cleared according to culture. Unfortunately I did not check his urine culture on a routine basis and he got struvite stones again. This time, I cultured his urine, used the appropriate Abx, fed him SD to dissolve the stones (he didn't block 2nd time around), and continued to culture urine monthly for 6 months, then every 2 months, now every 6 months. He has been on regular commercial dog food since then and has not had any recurrences, only because when he cultures positive I treat him right away. Max is NOT on a restricted-protein diet; in fact he eats the same as my other dogs. There is no indication for a Rx diet because he had struvite stones. You must ask your vet why the KD was prescribed and ask him/her if there are any other options. Purina makes NF which is comparable to KD as far as protein restriction, reduced sodium, phosphorus, and calcium. I don't think it will be any less expensive than KD though. Sometimes it is less expensive to do homemade diets, but it is time consuming, and you have to get the recipe from your vet or a veterinary nutritionist. Your vet can use BalanceIt to help him/her formulate an appropriate diet if necessary (you can't get an Rx diet from their website, just routine maintenance diets). In any case, I wouldn't switch diets without consulting your vet. S/he needs to know that KD is getting very expensive for you (I know the prices have gone up quite a bit in the last year or so) and you need options.

Hello: I ended up in emergency on Sunday morning around 2:30 am due to a painful attack. I had a lovely steak and caesar salad dinner and a few martinis Saturday night around 7:30 pm. After dinner I sat down and watched a movie and had another martini and then fell asleep on the couch. I woke up around 12:30 am and thought, "Hmm, I'd love some hot buttered popcorn with parmesan cheese" and so I made it and ate it. About half an hour later, I found myself writhing in pain. I felt pain just below my sternum which radiated to my back and shoulders. I felt like I was going to vomit, I made it to the washroom only to see myself in the mirror! Pale, sweating, shaking and I thought I was going to faint. I picked up my phone and called my daughter. I live alone and lost my best friend this year on February 4th to 100% blockage of the heart but I called my daughter because I had a panic attack a few days after my friends funeral. I thought I was having a heart attack. At any rate, I called her, I guess because I needed a wake up call and kick in the ass as I never did anything when I had my panic attack. My Dr. gave me crap for this. I realized I needed to call 911. I was terrified. Emergency response stayed on the phone with me until the ambulance arrived. They had me hooked up for an ECG so quickly but I could not sit still for it. I was in that much pain. So they moved me out to the ambulance and strapped me down. Hooked me up with an IV and gave me some gravol because I kept thinking I was about to vomit. The IV medication acted immediately and my pain diminished by 90%. I was ready to get off the ambulance and go to bed but they would not let me go. By the time I arrived at the hospital 15 minutes later, I was in excruciating pain again. For the next 4 hours, I was monitored by means of blood pressure, temperature and repeated ECG's. They took blood, urine and told me I could not have anything to eat or drink until I was assessed by a Doctor. I guess because my vitals were okay, they didn't think that I was in any danger. My attacks of pain were constant with about 15 - 20 minute breaks in between. Finally, around 6:30 in the morning, I was assessed. I was told that my gallbladder didn't seem to be too happy. So, I was sent off for an ultra sound but not before I was finally given some more gravol and a very powerful pain reliever. The first thing I did was finally cry. I was relieved to find out that it was probably just my gallbladder. HUH! Anyway, long and short of it here... I don't have any gall stones per say but I do have sludge (miniscule gallstones - likely the size of grains of sand) and I have thickening of the gallbladder wall. This inflammation is what was causing the pain (worse than child birth). It was also discovered that I have a bit of a fatty liver. This is caused from chronic alcohol abuse. I probably indulge too much, particularly over the last two months - a sad way of dealing with grief. I eat pretty healthy most of the time but I probably eat too much and when I treat myself, I treat myself. Vodka and red wine - bad. I am here to tell you, since my girlfriend passed away, I have probably not taken very good care of myself. I noticed that I was having these strange feelings (uncomfortable feelings) of being excessively full after eating - even if I ate a light snack. This fullness feeling also caused me to feel out of breath when walking to work or using the stairs. Sometimes I'd wake up feeling like I had indigestion or heart burn. All of this actually, was the build up to my inevitable gallbladder attack. Change in lifestyle is the number one thing that will help me deal with this now. I still have one more test to go through to determine whether or not the flap of my duct is operating correctly but I intend on doing all that I can to not experience this again. Do your research, learn all you can about this and if you ever experience the kind of pain, get yourself to emergency. Gallbladders can burst, get infected or inflamed. At any rate, medical attention is necessary in order to determine what the problem is. I wish you luck - don't fool around with your health. Eating french fries and onion rings is contributing to the problem (gallbladder problems can take years to develop) - read up on what fatty foods do to the gallbladder (cholesterol and bile are a bad combination). Loose stools after eating salad is an indication that your digestive system is out of wack. Gallbladder produces bile (when it's healthy) bile is what helps break down fatty foods which aids in digestion. Anyway, enough - take care of yourself.