# Uterine Inertia



## rdanielle (Sep 2, 2008)

I was wondering if anyone heard of Uterine Inertia being directly caused by improper nutrition? Also, are dystocia and uterine inertia one in the same or are they two different things? (Need input as trying to resolve issue with EX-vet)

(To make a long story short for the time being as I'm at work and can't dedicate enough time to write the whole thing now. Actually, I nearly had it typed out and ready to post then lovely Internet Explorer decided it was time to shut down. Which is always my luck!) 


Our female had been diagnosed with oxalate bladder stones before being bred and was put on Royal Canin Urinary S/O. (Even called Royal Canin and they hadn't even tested it on a pregnant bitch! That tells you something..) Vet told us to keep her on the S/O throughout the WHOLE pregnancy. Came to day of delivery and her temperature didn’t even drop. In fact, it spiked to 103. Rushed to vet to have emergency C-Section. When they checked her vitals she had low blood sugar, low blood calcium, anemia and she was dehydrated. Nearly lost her. 

Anyways, after researching the whole ordeal Royal Canin states that Urinary S/O is NOT intended for pregnant or lactating bitches or growing puppies. Unfortunately, we read the food bag too late and we soley trusted our veterinary care. After reasearching about whelping we did ask if we should be supplementing her more and all we got was just keep her on what she's on. That vet stated that he was only referring to the chart. 

I will update later with the full story.


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## Lilly's mom (Aug 10, 2007)

Oh my gracious. I am so sorry that happened. Glad he is an ex-vet. How is she doing now?


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## EMarie (Apr 11, 2007)

That is very interesting question, I am curious to find the answer. I will ask my vet friend the next time I see him. He breeds labs and is a great vet, he might know the answer. We never kept or recommended breeding a dog on a prescription diet. I wonder why they never called Royal Canine to find out what they recommended? I hope your litte girl is ok, how are the puppies? Are they telling you to supplement their feedings? Is she even producing milk? Sorry for all the questions, I have never heard of something like this happening! My thoughts are with you and your little girl!


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## DanielBMe (Nov 25, 2007)

I found this.

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_canine_oxalate_bladder_stones.html

and this has some good stuff too

http://www.macatawa.org/~wilcox_k/whatsay.html

Apparently it's good to switch to a lower protein, low calcium diet.


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## MopTop Havanese (Sep 25, 2006)

This is very interesting to me- I am sorry this has happened.
I have the understanding that oxalate stones can be genitic- I am surprised a dog was bred having this type of stones and that she was bred prior to the stones being removed and letting her healing up before the stress of a pregnancy was put on her.
I am also surprised that your vet would put your dog on this particular diet as it won't dissolve oxalate stones. I belive Royal Canin has a different food used to dissolve the stones. The stones will prob need to be removed. I read my bag of S/O and don't see anywhere on there where it says not to be used on preg/lactating dogs. It does say that it is "complete nutrition"- and the feeding guidelines printed on the bag are not guidelines for pregnant/lactating dogs. I don't think the vet is soley at fault here. I think more research should have been done on the stones prior to breeding.


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## rdanielle (Sep 2, 2008)

This happened awhile ago..
She's doing much better. Even better than pre-pregnancy! The proper nutrition makes a world of difference. Just two weeks after being on a grain free food (Orijen) she regained her friskiness that we were she had lost for good. Even started playing with toys which was something she hadn't done in nearly a year and a half. I use Wysong pH+ Biotic to balance the urinary pH. Nearly 4 months and no issues with bladder stones. (Pups were amazingly healthy considering this.)

Before prescription food she was on a diet of Beneful and it isn't exactly known to be a high quality food. Poor food quality can lead to all sorts of health problems. Plus, if were genetic wouldn't the mother developed it before the daughter not after? http://www.acreaturecomfort.com/cathealth.htm

Actually, starving calcium is a bad idea. Vitamin C in supplement form should be avoided. Plus any dog can benefit more from protein even ones that are dying from kidney disease. See the previous link. 
http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/calcium-oxalate-uroliths/

Prior to breeding we had her checked out by the vet to see if it was ok or not to breed considering she had bladder stones. The bladder stones were small and their plan was to either remove them if she had a C-section or flush them out afterwards. (She had bladder stones still during the emergency C-section. When we switched to the new vet they x-rayed her and there NONE!) 
Yes, unfortunately we didn't do the right research beforehand. However, when I was researching about whelping I noticed that breeders seemed to supplement the bitch more towards the end. We did ask on two different occasions and two different vetsif this was ok for her to be on during her pregnancy and if she needed anything extra. Its not like we didn't ask at all.. What happened to people not just referring to other vets notes and actually checking the product information?

It was on our bag, unfortunately we didn't read it at the right time. Its also on Royal Canin's website. I would not call Royal Canin Urinary S/O "Complete Nutrition" as the first two ingredients are rice and corn. Plus, vets have product guides about the food obviously our vets didn't read theirs. We went to Bandfield to get a see about getting a second opinion, the vet was out but the vet techs were more knowledgeable than most at our clinic. Royal Canin has a binded veterinary diet guide for vets. They most likely send them to vets who also vend the food&#8230;
http://www.royalcanin.us/products/productdetail.aspx?ID=86
http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/product_detail.asp?pf%5Fid=20154501&dept%5Fid=1&brand%5Fid=904

Here's a real kicker, so since we hadn't ate anything that day we go around the corner to McDonalds. Not gone 15-20 minutes we get a call from the vet asking if they could spay her? Excuse me, tell us how she is going to nurse? We had to bottle feed the first week due to her lack of milk&#8230;fortunately it kicked in.


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## rdanielle (Sep 2, 2008)

Plus, shouldn't vets know the needs of pregnancy. Its not like its a rare disease.

http://www.akc.org/breeders/resp_breeding/Articles/careandfeeding.cfm

http://www.bulldoginformation.com/feeding-diet-pregnant-bitch.html

Sad when you can find better information via the internet than your OWN vet.. Ex-VEt.


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## VE319 (Jan 19, 2009)

*vet and nutrition*

Ask a vet how much time they spent on nutrition in school!
The answer is upsetting.
My vet told me "very little" is taught. (less than two weeks)
They say it's not true but I sometimes think they sell
whatever gives them the most "profit" or trips and prizes.

When my cat was diagnosed with asthma, I started reading books and researching because I honestly felt that my vet didn't know enough about food and how it affects the animal.

I don't feed grain to my cats and I didn't with my dogs either.

I hope your cutie pie is okay...

I'm glad you're doing your own research too.


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## rdanielle (Sep 2, 2008)

VE319 said:


> Ask a vet how much time they spent on nutrition in school!
> The answer is upsetting.
> My vet told me "very little" is taught. (less than two weeks)
> They say it's not true but I sometimes think they sell
> ...


Its unfortunate that they don't spend more time on nutrition. If they actually implemented proper nutrition a lot of health related diseases and conditions could be avoided. Of course, they don't want that then they can't get the profit from prescribing their hyped up food. I will never feed another dog a veterinary prescription again unless its made by Wysong. http://www.wysong.net/prescription-cat-dog-foods.php

I'm glad I'm doing my own research now my only regret is that I didn't do so earlier. Everything happens for a reason. Now, I'll never take the opinion of one vet as fact, I'll always follow up with research and second opinions.

Thanks, she's doing great now =) Almost like having a new dog now that she fully regained all her energy. Definitely thriving on the grain free. On the Royal Canin S/O her energy was nonexistant and all she really did was lay around the house. Lazier than her 11 year old mother (she's 5). She also hated the S/O and would just sit there and stare at it. Now with the Orijen she gobbles that up and is always looking for more.


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## Jennifer Clevenger (Jun 26, 2008)

If you ever go to a Myra Savant seminar she doesn't believe in supplementing pregnant bitches at all. If you feed a good kibble, that is all she needs. You then supplement calcium during and after whelping. I have followed her advice with my litters with great results. Sometimes people can go overboard thinking that they need to add this and add that when they don't.


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## rdanielle (Sep 2, 2008)

I see that Myra Savant has books, are they as good as her seminars? I don't see any seminars in my area anytime soon.

I just want to clarify after speaking to a vet that Oxalate bladder stones can be genetic but its not really 100% proven as they do not know what causes them. They can be predisposed to them. Look at the Bichon Frise, they are closely related. They're preventable with a biologically appropriate diet.


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## peluitohavanese (Nov 8, 2006)

> Also, are dystocia and uterine inertia one in the same or are they two different things?


Uterine inertia is one type of dystocia. Dystocia is a difficult or abnormal birth. This can have different causes, one of which could be uterine inertia - the inability of the bitch to have productive contractions.


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