Urinary Calculi Medication Treatment

[Kat]

I wanted to share this UC treatment. My oldest wether turned 11 this February (mostly retired from packing, still comes along on hikes.)  One morning in Feb I immediately noticed symptoms of UC (heaving sides to attempt to urinate, urine dribbling out at times instead of steady stream.)  Got him to the vet same day expecting he'd have to have surgery.

Since he was still peeing, the vet said he would like to try medication that may allow him to pass the stones on his own - a method he has had good success with.

Treatment was (240 lb goat):

*Two injections at time of visit: Acepromazine, Midazolam
*Acepromazine tabs 25mg - 1x daily for 30 days
*Phenazopyridine tabs daily - I think this was 3x/day for about 2 weeks
*1/8 teaspoon salt 2x/day - I did this for 30 days, now have him down to 1x/day. This was to keep him drinking even tho I always have salt blocks out also.

In my case this treatment appears to have been successful, so far - 3 months since the incident. He is peeing great.

There was a discussion of diet - the vet found nothing wrong. I decided to make some changes anyway. For the last 5 years I have been feeding one handful of Purina Equine Senior "grain" in the evenings - this has the proper calcium/phosphorus ration and a lot of beet pulp - quit that anyway.  I went back to wetting down his hay nightly - quit that a year ago as I was only doing this for another goat that had asthma type symptoms. Rest of diet is chaffhaye and orchard grass hay, a bit of soaked orchard grass pellets. I had been giving ammonium chloride 1x/month (it is also in the minerals I have out.)  Increased this to 2x/mo for 3 days. Added back ACV to water occasionally.

Do not know what type of stones they were. Vet's advice was "keep him drinking" as the best ongoing treatment and it possibly just could be age related.

[Charlie Horse]

So what is Acepromazine and Midazolam and Phenazopryridine ? And how does that affect the stones?

[Kat]

My understanding from the vet is that the overall idea is to reduce agitation/pain/relax urethral area so the stones can pass. I'm familiar with Phenazopyridine - it is an older medication used to relieve pain associated with a bladder infection in humans - it's the one that turns pee orange. I think the Acepromazine was in the "relaxant" arena - I believe the one-time injection of Midazolam was also.

[CMGifford]

I have had two cases of Urinary Calculi and know a little bit about the different treatment options. Both of my boys were (so far, knock on wood, over a year later) saved. They both went through more than one procedure but here is my understanding of the medications mentioned in this post.

Acepromazine and Midazolam are used as a sedative. Does it have some effect of relaxing the urinary tract.... probably some but administering it, by itself as a "treatment" for UC is highly unlikely to be successful unless the stones are very small (I know, they are all "small" but there are some that are tiny and some that are two or three times the size of the diameter of most urethras on a goat so relaxing the urethra a little bit is not likely to allow a big stone to pass.)

Phenazopyridine can be purchased over the counter at your local pharmacy. It is used to treat urinary tract symptomatic relief of pain or discomfort during urination. It doesn't "treat" UC it helps with pain and irritation resulting from either a stone that was successfully passed out the urethra or surgical procedures that inflame the lining of the urethra.

I am 100% confident that my two boys would not be here today if this was the only treatment they underwent. I have the stones that were collected and there is no way that whatever relaxing the medications given would be enough to allow them to pass the over 100 "BB" like stones in their bladders including several that were in the 3-6 mm or larger range.

It is always good to have options for things to help ease our boys pain but in my opinion this is not a realistic treatment for UC in the vast majority of cases. That said, I'm PROFOUNDLY happy that the protocol you used helped your boy and that he is doing well.

[Kat]

Thanks for the reply and info.  The vet was very clear that this may or may not help - but, since my boy was still peeing he thought it was worth a shot trying first before surgery as he has had good results with goats with similar set of symptoms.  You are correct - this is merely to help pass the stones and there is no guarantee he won't get them again - larger and have to have the surgery.  So, keeping him drinking is really the only thing I can do and hope for the best. Hence the daily extra salt. He's doing great and we did about 6 miles with 2000' elevation gain on Tuesday.  Not too shabby for an 11 year old goat

This clinic does work for the local Puget Sound Goat Rescue, as well as only livestock (no small pets) so has a good range of experience with goats.

I posted this, as I have not read of this treatment before and wanted to get it out there.  Clearly for milder cases.

[CMGifford]

This is excellent information to be shared and again, I am so happy that your boy is doing well. And its really great that he is still getting out there hiking at any age and after having a potential bout of UC.....even better that he is 11 years old.

Did you share the name of the Vet/Clinic? It is always nice to know where there are good goat vets for when people are travelling.