[Dailydrool] Our Elsinore's stone

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

It appears as if our Elsinore is now a proud member of the Kanine  
Kidney Stone Club (KKSC), if such a thing exists.

Yesterday I took both hounds over to visit with Kelly Jane Wilson and  
her dogs while she was in town. Her house, which is still up for  
sale, is pretty much empty, which means it's great space for six dogs  
to run and play in on a rainy day like yesterday was. They ran in  
circles and made loops through the bedroom, living room, and play  
room, and then ran in circles some more.

While we were in the playroom watching young Charlie and Gigi chew  
each other's faces off, Elsinore squatted on the carpet, directly in  
my line of vision. It was almost as if she wanted me to see her do it.

This was so out of character for her that I was initially speechless.  
Then I found my voice and scolded her roundly. She looked me dead in  
the eyes the entire time I told her how disappointed I was in her,  
giving me her best "mind meld" look. I hustled her outside, where she  
squatted again, so I was able to follow up the scolding with praise.  
She squatted a few more times, and I saw that nothing was coming out.  
When we got back inside, Kelly Jane said she couldn't feel any wet  
spots on the carpet, which was a relief. After all, we would like to  
be invited back again sometime!

Our Elsinore came to us five years ago from Basset Hound Rescue of  
Alabama. She'd been found as a stray on the streets and spent only a  
week or so in a foster home before becoming ours. But she must have  
been someone's well-trained companion at one time because she came to  
us with beautiful house manners, manners so impeccable that it's  
impossible for her to have picked them up during the short time she  
was in foster care. In the five years we've had her, she'd been yet  
to have an accident (or even a "deliberate") in the house. In fact,  
several years ago I started telling people that the day Elsinore had  
an indoor accident would be the day I took her to the vet for a  
suspected UTI, because she's just that well-behaved and reliable.

So on the way home from Kelly Jane's, I called the vet.  
Unfortunately, he'd already left for the day, but the receptionist  
set us up for first thing this morning. She instructed me to not let  
Elsinore pee before she came in. The vet would want to have a sample  
of the first pee of the morning, when Elsinore's urine would be the  
most concentrated.

That's kind of a tricky thing to do--not let a dog pee when it wants  
or needs to. In addition, I've had my fair share of UTIs and know how  
miserable they can make a person feel. I sure didn't want to visit  
that kind of discomfort on Elsinore during the night. So we  
compromised by allowing her to have the run of the house and access  
to the open dog door until about 2am. Then we shut her up in her  
crate for the rest of the night. I figured six hours would be enough  
concentration time. When I checked in on her about midnight and then  
again at 2, I saw that she'd chosen to stay in her crate instead of  
decamping for her favorite dog bed in the living room. I'm pretty  
sure she didn't go out the dog door at all.

This morning, we let her out of her crate after I was ready to head  
to the vet's, and Ken immediately scooped her up and carried her out  
to the car. No chance to pee along the way. At the vet's, I swept her  
past the grass and into the office. The receptionist asked how we  
were, and I informed her that our Elsinore had a full bladder, full  
bowels, and an empty stomach, so she wasn't at her best.

We were ushered into an examining room, where Elsinore whined and  
paced and thumped her tail nervously against every hard surface it  
would reach while we waited and waited for someone to show up to do  
the urine retrieval procedure. Finally, Elsinore squatted and peed  
all over the floor. It wasn't the clean catch the vet techs were  
hoping for, but at the same time, if they wanted a clean catch, they  
should have done the job as soon as we walked in. Elsinore was then  
invited to step outside to attend to her bowels.

When we returned, the vet said Elsinore's urine was full of blood.  
Her temperature was normal, though, and her pH was 6. He did an  
ultrasound, which showed some thickness that could have been scar  
tissue from a spay, or could have been a mass of some sort. Then he  
did an x-ray, which showed no tumor and something the vet said was  
probably a very small kidney stone. She still has that .BB in her  
hip, too--that showed up quite clearly.

She got a shot of Baytril and is now on Cipro for a week. If she  
doesn't seem to be doing any better, the vet said he'll probably have  
to surgically remove the stone. I'm hoping it won't come to that.  
We're due to leave on a three-week holiday at the end of the month,  
and I'd just as soon she didn't need surgery, especially just before  
we go away. I'll take her back next Friday to have her urine checked  
again, just in case. She and young Charlie will be staying with our  
friend Jennifer, and I'd sure hate to saddle Jennifer with a dog with  
a kidney stone or a UTI.

I told the vet that a recent newspaper article reported that people  
in Tennessee (the state we live in) have a higher incidence of kidney  
stones that people in other states. The article said it was the high- 
salt, high-fat diet people here tend to have. But the vet said he's  
heard other vets hypothesize that the water in our area is the  
culprit, at least for animals. It has a lot of minerals that are  
favorable to the development of kidney stones. I'm now seriously  
considering installing a faucet filter at the kitchen sink.

The vet says it'd be great if I would accompany Elsinore every time  
she goes out to pee and if I would hold a piece of cloth under her to  
strain her urine and try catch the stone if she really has one and  
passes it. If the vet can have the stone's composition analyzed, then  
we'll have a better idea of what to try to eliminate from her diet/ 
water. We're in our second week of pretty steady rain. There are a  
lot of things I'll do for our Elsinore, but standing out in the rain  
holding a piece of cloth under her every time she squats is really  
pushing it for me. I'm a fair weather urine strainer.

In the meantime, we're calling Elsinore our stoned hound. And hoping  
she won't be stoned for much longer.

Elizabeth