I'm so glad that you posted this and
that you are having success with the treatment! Years ago my gelding, who never
peed on trail, started parking out on a ride one day but couldn't produce urine.
He must have tried 10 times in 9 miles. I managed to get a urine sample and kept
my fingers crossed that it wasn't a stone. It came back that he had crystals in
his urine which is just a step away from having a stone form. I never noticed
anything different until that day. I gave him a natural cranberry supplement and
made sure that his water was spotlessly clean so he wouldn't get dehydrated at
all and the issue resolved itself. I couldn't have afforded the surgery for him
had it been a stone so I was very grateful we caught it early. The good side was
that it taught him that he really could pee on trail!
Jean
I have a 24 year old Arab gelding who started
dribbling urine. The dribbling of urine is what initially saved his
life.
Took him in to the
vet's office last Tuesday. They did a rectal and also an
ultra-sound. They catherized him and drained
gallons of urine. They determined that he had a bladder stone.
Surgery was the best option but totally
unaffordable for me. I asked for alternatives. Originally, they said pumping
his bladder with ammonium chloride might work to break it up. It was not a
solid mass, still somewhat pliable. (ammonium chloride was one of the
components that the bombers of OK City used)
Was then scheduled to bring him back to
the vet today. It was a total change of plans.....
They came up with a different
plan.........they drained his full bladder and then pumped white vinegar into
his bladder and drained and pumped more vinegar, drained,
etc.
The original stone was about 2lbs and
configured like a dinner plate and several dinner plates thick.
While pumping the vinegar in, one vet put
his arm up his rectum and manipulated the stone.
When they did drain the bladder after the vinegar (each time) all this
mustard colored crap came out.....the stone was
dissolving!!!!!!!
The stone is now the size
of a baseball. I have to take the horse back in on Thursday and they
will do the same thing again and hopefully this time the whole thing will
dissolve.
One of the vet's said he was going
to write a paper about this 'experiment.'
So,
put this info in 'your book' about alternative treatments for bladder stones
(that are not a solid mass).
It ain't over
til the fat lady sings but I am very, very encouraged:)
Also, there were two horses in there with tracheotomies.
They had both been bitten on the nose by a rattlesnake. Same owner of both
horses.
Horses both seemed to be doing OK. It was
fascinating.
