Success Story:
The Merry Prince
Prince
Prince no longer is spending weeks recovering from invasive surgery for bladder stones—non-invasive treatments keep this Bichon Frise popping around merrily.
Prince Fontanes is a six-year-old male castrated Bichon Frise who had chronic bladder stones. The Fontanes were so distraught when their local veterinarian told them Prince, once again, had bladder stones. (Prince has already had four previous bladder surgeries to remove the stones.) Luckily for Prince, his owner was determined to find an alternative to surgery. Mrs. Fontanes asked her vet for advice—that vet referred her to Dr. Berent for laser lithotripsy.
Prince came to the MJR Veterinary Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania the morning of the procedure and went under general anesthesia for a few hours. Some of his stones were pulled out with the basket instrument technique and some needed to be lasered into pieces small enough to be pulled out. His owner waited in the lobby until Prince was awake and gave him his favorite blanket for his overnight stay. Prince reunited with his owner the next morning and went home pain and stone free.
The Interventional Endoscopy service spoke with the Fontanes a few days later. Mrs. Fontanes was very pleased that Prince returned to his normal routine very quickly and he did not have to go through the post-operative surgery process again.
Unfortunately, because of Prince’s abnormal urine acidity, he will be a chronic stone former even though his owners feed him a strict prescription diet. Hopefully with the right diet and under the watchful care of Dr. Berent and the Interventional Endoscopy service, Prince can have his stones removed by laser lithotripsy before discomfort sets in again.