http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/message/7349
>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
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 6072]
