Nutritional stretegies to prevent Urolithiasis in Animals

Urolithiasis is a common problem in both ruminants and non-ruminants and nutrition plays a significant role in predisposing urolithiasis. The nutritional factors mainly influence urinary constituents and pH, which affect stone nucleation and growth. While surgery can render a patient stone-free, non-operative treatment modalities are required to prevent and reduce the risk of recurrent urolithiasis. Moreover, long-term pharmacological therapy and its potential side effects often lead to subsequent failure. In this regard, nutritional management is the best preventive strategy against urolithiasis.


Introduction
followed by cattle, cats and dogs.
2) Age -In ruminants, young animals below 6 Urinary system is designed to dispose of body months of age are more affected because of high wastes in liquid form and the normal urine is in a state protein diet.Canines of middle age group (3-7yrs) of meta-stable over-saturation (i.e.no spontaneous have the highest incidence of urolithiasis.precipitation).The urine is a complex solution that 3) Sex -Urolithiasis is not generally found in allows mineral salts to be kept dissolved under overfemales due to flexible lumen of urethra.saturation conditions.The urolithiasis presents a state 4) Urinary pH -Acid pH of urine leads to of unstable over-saturation where a spontaneous precipitation of uric acid and cystine uroliths.precipitation exists and minerals precipitate, the Similarly, alkaline pH of urine leads to precipitation of crystals do not dissolve and they add together allowing struvite, calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate the growth of the urolith (also called 'urinary stones' uroliths.However, solubility of silicates and oxalate or 'calculi').
uroliths don't depend on urinary pH.It is a condition of the urinary tract in which 5) Castration status -Castrated animals are more insoluble mineral and salt concretions develop and susceptible than un-castrated ones.aggregate around a nidus of proteinaceous material 6) Season -There is highest incidence of mainly within the bladder or urethra (Belknap and urolithiasis in ruminants during months of extreme Pugh, 2002) but it can occur anywhere in the urinary winter (December-February) and extreme summer tract.Abnormal microscopic precipitates in urine are (March-June).However, the trend is reverse in canines known as crystalluria whereas macroscopic where least number of cases is recorded during months concretions are called uroliths.
of January and February.

Types of Stone
7) Dietary habit -Obesity and associated dietary There are mainly 5 types of stones -struvite, pattern increases urolithiasis (Siener, 2006).calcium oxalate, calcium phosphate, calcium Treatment carbonate and silica.Uric acid, cystine, hippuric acid, and tyrosine crystals may also be found.The presence Surgical intervention is the primary step to of a specific type of crystal depends on the diet and release the pressure from bladder, which is further transitory physical and chemical conditions that exist treated by medicinal means to establish the animal in the urine at that time.

Limitation of Surgical Treatment: Various
Incidence limitations of surgical therapy are difficulty in 1) Species -Goats are most commonly affected detection of urolithiasis at early stage, costly, quite common recurrence, careful follow up for a number of to steers and 10g/day to sheep) and phosphoric acid.years, risks to long term fertility, potential side effects 3) Siliceous uroliths and no guarantee (Van Metre and Fubini, 2006) In dogs and cats, struvite urolithasis is most 4. Ad libitum feeding to avoid marked changes in common followed by urate, cystine, and calcium urine concentration; oxalate.

5.
Free choice of water; [The susceptibility of General Preventive Strategies calves to urolithiasis increases when the water intake 1.
Low level of high quality protein to reduce per unit forage DM intake declined below 3.5.]excretion of urea; 6.
Supplemental feeding of NaCl @ 3.5% of daily 2. Low calcium, phosphorus and magnesium to reduce concentration of calculi constituents; DM intake to promote greater water intake; 3. High sodium to induce a large volume of low 7.
Typical diet for treatment of urolithiasis in dog plants and feed supplements like stilbestrol, should contain 8% protein, 0.3% calcium, 0.12% phosphorus, 0.02% magnesium and 1.2% sodium in diethylstilbestrol, lime stone and sugarcane bagasse.
Grazing management practices like a) Allowing only females to graze the risky 200 mg/d Vit.B12.Nutritional management is the best preventive India), Calculi (Charak Pharmaceuticals, India), strategy against urolithiasis.As such it may not replace Chandraprabha bati (Baidyanath, India) and the surgical procedures but may surely help in Trinapanchamool.
decreasing the recurrence rate of uroliths.The future research should target on experimental validation of Antioxidant therapy metabolic effects of dietary changes on urolithiasis in Oxalate induces free radical generation, which target animals and research on antioxidants and herbal plants for their anti-urolithiatic role.results in per-oxidative injury to renal epithelial cells (Thamilselvan et al., 2005).So, vitamins like Vit-E,