Nutritional Disorders and Wellness diets 2

Question 1

What are the two types of crystals that can be formed as a result of FLUTD?

Answer 1

Struvite and Calcium Oxalate.

Question 2

What are some clinical signs of FLUTD?

Answer 2

• Increased urination
• Inappropriate urination
• Blood in urine
• Painful urination
• In some cases partial or total urethral obstruction.

Question 3

Is urethral obstruction more likely to happen in male or female cats and why?

Answer 3

Male because they have a longer and narrower urethra.

Question 4

What happens if there is complete urethral obstruction?

Answer 4

It is now a medical emergency and if it is not treated right away it can lead to rupture of bladder or uremia.

Question 5

What are some veterinary treatments of urethral obstruction?

Answer 5

• Fluid replacement therapy
• Flushing out urolith
• Relief of bladder distention

Question 6

What can you do to potentially dissolve urinary crystals?

Answer 6

Get more water into the animals. If you catch this early enough the crystals can be peed out. (This won’t work if it is too late)

Question 7

What is the difference between Struvite and Calcium Oxalate crystals?

Answer 7

• Struvite are a result of a very basic pH (high urinary pH) and there is as high concentration of magnesium, phosphorous and ammonium.
• Calcium oxalate is a result of very acidic pH (low urinary pH)

Question 8

How can crystals cause damage to urinary tract?

Answer 8

They are sharp and can damage the wall of the urinary tract leading to bacteria being able to sit inside the wall rather than outside. This leads to inflammation causing infection.

Question 9

What are some reasons for having a more acidified diet?

Answer 9

• Prevent Struvite crystal formation
• Associated with food quality relative to keeping food at a healthy standard (controlling bacteria).
• To control protein digestion in the stomach.

Question 10

What is a side effect of more acid in the diet?

Answer 10

There are more H molecules therefore the body needs to get rid of this. To do this it excretes them in urine which makes the urine more acidic.

Question 11

What are some dietary considerations for cats that have had struvites?

Answer 11

• Formulate diet to reduce urinary concentrations of Mg.
• moderate caloric density
• High digestibility
• Avoid large amounts of cereal grains

Question 12

What are some dietary ingredients that increase urinary acid excretion?

Answer 12

• Proteins of animal origin
• Corn gluten meal
• Methionine (DL methionine is a urinary acidifier)
• Phosphoric acid.

Question 13

What diet composition would you have for Calcium Oxalate FLUTD?

Answer 13

• Reduce concentrations of Calcium and Oxalate.
• highly digestible ingredeints
• Optimal levels of Ca and Mg (High Mg prevents calcium oxalate formation but increases risk of struvite formation)
• Canned food or adding water to dry food may be good idea to increase urine vilume.

Question 14

What is chronic Kidney disease?

Answer 14

Kidney’s have progressive loss of nephron function. Gradually over time animal loses ability to filter components that should be removed from the body.

Question 15

What are some potential underlying causes of chronic Kidney disease?

Answer 15

• Trauma
• Tumors
• Immunological disease
• Old age
• Exposure to toxins

Question 16

What are some clinical signs of chronic kidney disease?

Answer 16

• Increased water intake
• Reduced capacity to concentrate urine
• Increased urine volume
• Azotemia = accumulation of nitrogenous wastes
• Uremia = accumulation of urea in the blood

Question 17

What dietary management considerations would you have for an animal with chronic renal disease?

Answer 17

• Ensure you have high quality protein that meets needs but doesn’t exceed maintenance requirements.
• Restrict Phosphorous
• Contain fermentable fibre

Question 18

Why is it important to feed high quality protein and to not exceed protein requirements in animals with chronic kidney disease?

Answer 18

You want the kidney’s to have to work less. If you feed too much protein then there will be more amino acids that need to be deaminated as they are not needed for protein synthesis. Therefore they must be excreted via the urea cycle and ultimately the urine and you want to prevent excess nitrogen excretion from occurring.

Question 19

Why should you restrict Phosphorus in animals with chronic kidney disease? How might you do this?

Answer 19

Phosphorous is naturally excreted through urine so you don’t want to be providing too much and causing strain on the kidney’s. You could add phytate to the diet which binds phosphorus causing it to end up in the fecal matter i.e. phosphorous does not get digested and absorbed therefore less strain on kidney’s.

Question 20

Why is providing more fermentable fiber in the diet for animals with chronic kidney disease a good thing?

Answer 20

You ultimately increase fecal nitrogen excretion. Microbes need energy and nitrogen to grow. By providing more fermentable fiber you are providing more energy to these microbes and therefore they will be looking for more nitrogen to grow. To get more nitrogen they will pull this from excess urea in the blood therefore it will be transported back into the intestine, used for microbial fermentation and excreted through fecal matter instead. Therefore you are having lower urea excreted.

Question 21

What are some developmental orthopedic diseases in canines?

Answer 21

• Hip dysplasia
• Nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism
• Osteochondrosis

Question 22

What are some DOD in horses?

Answer 22

• Flexural limb deformities
• Angular limb deformities
• Phystis
• Subchondral bone cysts
• Osteochondrosis