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.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 6072]