special diet to prevent bladder stones

[blueroangirl]

Hi the results of Sweep's bladder stone analysis have just come back to the vets and it was struvite crystals. The vet is recommending UR Purina food for him long term. Does anyone know what other foods are suitable and the best place to but them from? I am assuming the vet will be charging more than other places! Also he does have treats eg dentastix, milky bones, biscrok. Is it still ok to give him these? Thanks.

[HeatherandBenjy]

I only have experience of this in ferrets, not dogs but hope this helps a bit.

With Millie, it was very important that she could drink as much as she needed to, which inevitable meant that she needed to wee alot. However it was the large quantity of water that prevented more crystals forming and helped to reduce the ones that she had.

Our vet did a lot of research, Millie's previous vet had put her onto Hills Science Plan A/D (for cats) - in itself a problem as Millie hated it and ferrets have a higher protein need than cats. We changed her onto an all raw meat diet and she thrived.

That said, dogs obviously have different dietary needs to ferrets (ferrets can't process veg etc). but maybe a raw diet with a good amount of veg and fibre would help?

Personally I would avoid giving Sweep treats such as dentastix (I won't use them anyway)  but stick to things such as pieces of carrot or apple as treats.

I can't emphasise enough though how important it was for Millie to have a lot of water available at all times. This made more difference to her than any of the changes in diet.

[Poppsie]

When Poppy had this I started to give her filtered water which did help a lot  x x x

[ElaineH]

Morgan had struvite stones removed last year. The vet was happy with him eating Burns, said it was one of the best and therefore he wouldn't try to sell me anything else (I presume he meant Hills food which he stocks   )

Since then I have changed his diet a bit in any case, and he now has Burns only for breakfast and raw in the evening to help increase his moisture levels (his pee has always been very strong  ) His breeder suggested giving him cranberry tablets to help acidify his urine, this was in the early days of his problem when we thought he had a straightforward bladder infection,but I have since continued to give him one of these daily and I do a urine test regularly to check his PH levels. Morgan is not a great drinker and this aggravates the problem so every day I put about half inch of water in his bowl with a teaspoonful of salmon oil which he thinks is just yummy and he licks the bowl clean! I also put a little cold water on his Burns in the morning (he doesn't like warm water as it makes the kibble go too soggy  ) He also only has filtered water in his water bowl but then again he always has, and yet he got stones so I don't know that doing this on its own is enough if you have a dog who is prone to bladder problems.

[Linda B]

Emma is prone to Struvite crystals too......since feeding her Burns Chicken and Rice kibble and Fish and Brown Rice kibble....... you can feed Egg and Rice and Chicken and Rice wet food as well......with filtered water to drink she has been crystal free.......the only treats she has are Burns Kelties and Fish4Dogs.
I feed Sophie on the same diet..... as Burns assured me that it's safe for her too......easier than feeding
different food if you have more than one dog.

Hope this helps.

[blueroangirl]

Thanks for all the advice. Is it a low protein food that is best? My friend's dog has the same problem and the same vet practice is happy for her to go on an Arden Grange food. I think we will go back to the vet and discuss the matter further. At the moment Sweep has Naturediet wet pouches. The salmon oil sounds a good idea as Sweep doesn't drink much at all. This is the first time in 8 years he has had crystals and has been on the same food for about 7 of them. I wonder if it is the content of the treats eg milky bones, biscrok that are the problem rather than the food? The vet didn't ask what he has treat wise. The stones were sent off to America for analysis and the vet told my husband that it is a company that makes food designed to treat these sort of conditions who did the analysis so wonder if to a certain extent it is a money making exercise.

[Linda B]

Yes, we were advised a low protein diet is best, we used to give ours the normal range of treats before Emma was diagnosed and looking at some of the wrappers the protein content is high, so I don't think that helped.

Hope you get sorted out.