Epidemiologic evaluation of canine urate urolithiasis in Thailand: A comparative cross-sectional study between 2016-2023

A comparative cross-sectional study aimed to describe the epidemiological data of canine urate urolithiasis in Thailand by evaluating the change in proportion over the year and identifying risk-associated factors, including age, breed, sex, and neutered status, through comparisons with multiple comparison groups. The urate and non-urate group was dogs whose uroliths were submitted from Thailand to the Minnesota Urolith Center between 2016 and 2023, and the hospital group was dogs that were visited at the Small Animal Hospital, Chulalongkorn University, between 2020 and 2023. Of 6,171 canine urolith submissions, 210 samples (3.4%) were urate-containing uroliths submitted from twenty-eight canine breeds. Twelve breeds were identified as high-risk, and only one breed was recognized as low-risk. The majority of high-risk breeds were medium- to large-breed dogs. Intact male and younger age dogs were found to be at a higher risk of developing urate uroliths, with the mean age ± standard deviation at diagnosis of 6.07 ± 3.5 years. Based on these findings, a screening program for urate urolithiasis in dogs aged 1-6 years was recommended for these high-risk breeds, particularly in intact male dogs, to achieve clinical benefits through early detection of urate uroliths.