abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

gerard mclauchlan — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 07:01:08 GMT

Hi ,

i sympathise as I had an obstructive stone too!

tamsulosin I use in dogs with urethral reflex dyssnergia but it’s much more specific to the canine alpha receptors than feline ones is the current thinking unfortunately. It always amazes me how well cats tolerate stones , even after mine passed I was in agony for days from ureteral colic that only responded to buscopan.

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

Anthony Todd — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 01:27:32 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

Ureteral stones are hideously painful.

[/quote]

Nowhere near as painful as a dislocated ankle, I assure you.

My story goes from a surgically removed one from a ureter in Australia via a stent to a history of a series of oxalate stones in London, solely because I was eating a high oxalate diet!!!!

My urologist laughed when I relayed the surgical story under GA, and now I have a supply of Tamsulosin 400mcg which work every time.

I wonder whether it would be useful in blocked cats??

I only bore you in case any of you have the problem and have been subject to a manual removal via the urethra...... not pleasant afterwards!

PS they show up like a diamond on CT and the pain is apparently similar to a heart attack, so mine was scanned at 2am in a country hospital in QLD!!

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

Virginia Campbell — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 22:17:04 GMT

Thanks everyone, will try to update on this next week

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

Andrew Kent — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 19:15:37 GMT

Hi Virginia,

[quote user="Virginia Campbell"]Question is - could kidney stones be responsible for the abdo pain and the cspeclipase be a red herring?[/quote]

Interestingly a lot of the dogs we see with ureteral obstruction have had abnormal cPLI levels and been treated as possible pancreatopathy. Too few numbers to draw a definite conclusion but I certainly wouldn't hang my hat on that cPLI result. Most dogs with acute pancreatitis have more marked cPLI elevations.

[quote user="Emily Rainbow"] Any chance of ultrasound kidneys to see if any hydronephrosis present?[/quote]

As Emily says - this would be the most useful test to see the significance of the kidney stones and be helpful to do this sooner rather than later if possible.

Andy

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:49:29 GMT

Ureteral stones are hideously painful.

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

gerard mclauchlan — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:41:57 GMT

Yeah if any evidence of renal pelivis or proximal ureteral dilation on ultrasound. If not obstructive then kidney Stones normally not painful but bladder stones could still be causing the pain. Crystals don’t tell us much about stone composition unfortunately so I would look at urine culture ( urease producing = struvite whereas negative culture or e.coli more likely oxalate) ph and radiographic appearance to try and determine stone type but probably oxalate again given history and breed.

RE: abdominal pain- kidney stones vs pancreatitis

Emily Rainbow — Thu, 01 Mar 2018 18:22:53 GMT

Yes definitely could be. Any chance of ultrasound kidneys to see if any hydronephrosis present?