Case 1: "Small" problem

A toy breed dog presents for vomiting and not eating.  Apparently they thought that the fact he had only produced a few drops of urine at a time for the past few days was not a big deal.  So, we took an x-ray.  And not surprisingly there was a stone.  One itty, bitty stone.  Stuck in the urethra.

Normally what you do then is try to flush the stone back to the bladder and then perform a cystotomy and remove the stone from the bladder.  If you can't get it flushed back you have to remove it directly from the urethra.  Urethral surgery is tricky and something I always refer to a surgeon.  I tried to flush the stone back with the little dog awake but was unsuccessful.  I called to warn the owner that they may need to make plans to take the dog to a surgeon.  This was not really an option for them so if I couldn't do it, they would likely euthanize.

So we placed the dog under anesthesia and with no small amount of effort and force (not to mention something of a mess) we were able to get the stone flushed back, proceeded to surgery and removed the stone uneventfully.  Everyone ended up happy, but I'm guessing no one more than the dog who for the first time in a number of days no longer needed to pee!

And here is the culprit!