Some stones can be dissolved with special diets or
flushed out of the bladder through a urinary catheter, but others require surgical removal.
If left untreated, the bacteria can back up
out of the bladder by the ureters and end up in the kidneys, causing a kidney infection.
If the stones are small enough, they can sometimes be forced
out of the bladder while the cat is under anesthesia by a technique called voiding urohydroprpulsion.
The bladder stones can
pass out of the bladder and lodge in the urethra, especially in male dogs due to the smaller diameter of their urethra.
If a small stone should find its
way out of the bladder and lodge in your cat's urethra, the problem becomes an emergency.
Urinary incontinence is most often due to inadequate closure of the urethral sphincter, a circle of muscles that normally contract and stop urine
flowing out of the bladder.
This option is ultrasonic dissolution, in which high frequency ultrasound waves disrupt or break the stones into tiny particles that can then be
flushed out of the bladder.
It is usually caused by hormonal deficiencies that result in a loss of control of the urethral sphincter (the muscle that prevents urine from leaking
out of the bladder), but structural or neurological problems can also be involved.
TCC can block the flow of urine into and
out of the bladder.
Some older dogs (over seven years) can lose control of the urethral sphincter, which is the muscle that prevents urine from leaking
out of the bladder.
In almost all cases the pet is hospitalized and a catheter is placed in the urethra for a short time to allow for a free flow of urine
out of the bladder.