From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2008-08-23 22:42:49 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: stones/Urinary pH
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Tressie,
Since there has been some questions and confusion about
what the pH of the urine should be and what pH it should be
for stone prevention and treatment I thought I would answer some
of those questions.
By far the most common bladder stone is a struvite stone.
Struvite stones occur when the pH is elevated above 6.5.
Thus an acid urine pH is desired to prevent and to treat
struvite stones. Meat based diets should produce an acid
urine because the brake down of the sulfur containing amino
acids produces sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid lowers the pH of the
urine. Plant based protein do not have the sulfur containing amino
acids and thus produce a high pH (7 and above) and struvite
stones. Most ferret (cat and kitten) foods add a urinary acidifier
like dl-methionine to produce a urinary pH of 5 to 6 which will
prevent struvite stones. Struvite stones can be removed by surgery or
slowly dissolved by lowering the urine pH to 5 to 5.5.
Calcium oxalate stones are uncommon. They form when the urine pH
is on the acid side (below 6). These stones have to be removed by surgery.
After removing calcium oxalate stones, the pH can be adjusted to try
to prevent future calcium oxalate stones. Adding potassium citrate will
raise the urine pH and help bind the calcium in the urine which should
help prevent additional calcium oxalate stone formation.
Cystine stones are very uncommon and are from a genetic defect in
the kidneys. These animals cannot properly eliminate certain amino
acids (the COLA amino acids: Cystine, etc.).
In dogs, it is almost always male dogs that develop cystine
stones. They form more easily in an acidic urine. Adding potassium
citrate to raise the urine pH and lowering the protein level to lower the
cystine level (and the other COLA amino acids) is used to prevent
more cystine stones. These stones must be removed by surgery also.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM </HTML>
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