Urinary stones cause pain and obstruction in dogs, with appropriate diagnosis essential as different stone types require different management approaches.
Urinary stones cause welfare harm through urinary pain during passage of crystals and stones, obstruction causing inability to urinate (a welfare emergency in male dogs), secondary urinary tract infection, and the distress of frequent, unsuccessful urination attempts. Different stone types require radically different management: struvite stones can often be dissolved with dietary acidification and treating the underlying infection, avoiding surgery; calcium oxalate stones cannot be dissolved and require removal. Without stone composition analysis, empirical treatment may fail because the wrong approach is used. Accurate diagnosis through analysis of retrieved stones, combined with appropriate long-term preventive diet, provides the best welfare outcomes.