Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat with bladder stones from xanthine buildup and gene test results
By Tsuchida, Shuichi et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2007·Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Xanthine urolithiasis in a cat: a case report and evaluation of a candidate gene for xanthine dehydrogenase.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A 4-year-old spayed female Himalayan cat was brought in for blood in her urine and difficulty urinating, which had been happening for about 10 months. An ultrasound revealed several bladder stones that were not visible on X-rays. The vet performed surgery to remove four brownish-yellow stones, which were mostly made of a substance called xanthine. Unfortunately, after about 4.5 months, the cat developed bladder stones again, and tests showed she was excreting too much xanthine due to a genetic issue.
People also search for: cat blood in urine · Himalayan cat bladder stones · xanthine urolithiasis treatment
Abstract
Xanthine urolithiasis was found in a 4-year-old spayed female Himalayan cat with a 10-month history of intermittent haematuria and dysuria. Ultrasonographs indicated the existence of several calculi in the bladder that were undetectable by survey radiographic examination. Four bladder stones were removed by cystotomy. The stones were spherical brownish-yellow and their surface was smooth and glossy. Quantitative mineral analysis showed a representative urolith to be composed of more than 95% xanthine. Ultrasonographic examination of the bladder 4.5 months postoperatively indicated the recurrence of urolithiasis. Analysis of purine concentration in urine and blood showed that the cat excreted excessive amounts of xanthine. In order to test the hypothesis that xanthinuria was caused by a homozygote of the inherited mutant allele of a gene responsible for deficiency of enzyme activity in purine degradation pathway, the allele composition of xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) gene (one of the candidate genes for hereditary xanthinuria) was evaluated. The cat with xanthinuria was a heterozygote of the polymorphism. A single nucleotide polymorphism analysis of the cat XDH gene strongly indicated that the XDH gene of the patient cat was composed of two kinds of alleles and ruled out the hypothesis that the cat inherited the same recessive XDH allele suggesting no activity from a single ancestor.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17576085/