I'm copying this over from the
Think Tank. Are there any alternative diets for dogs with this problem?
Hello
My dog is a seven-year old female collie-terrier cross and I have had her for six years. Recently she has been drinking more water and urinating slightly more than usual. She also leaked a little urine a few times after coming in from her evening walk.
A urine specimen was analysed and the vet advised that calcium oxalate crystals were present in the sample. (Apparently there was no glucose, signs of infection or blood present). As a result, the vet has put her on a prescribed diet, Urinary S/O by Royal Canin, and has told me she'll have to be fed this food exclusively for the rest of her life, to avoid crystals forming and developing into stones in her urinary tract. This seems to me to be a very drastic diagnosis based on the analysis of only one urine sample. Should any further tests be done to confirm this is the correct diagnosis?
Another urine sample is to be tested in three months' time to check that the prescription diet is working. In the meantime she is to get no extra treats of any kind. She loves cheese but I suspect this is the worst thing I could give her. Are there any treats that are safe to give a dog with this condition? Can she still have rawhide chew bones? Should I be giving her eg filtered water as opposed to tap water? What are the possible causes of this condition, or is it genetic? Will this condition affect her longevity?
Up until now, she's been a healthy, lively, happy little dog. She's never had a weight problem and her only recurring complaint is a seasonal itch which is apparently an allergy to pollen in August/September each year.
I would be grateful for any advice or information regarding this calcium oxalate diagnosis.
Thank you.
Jeanette Macleod
3 comments:
Hi there. I am not a nutritionist, nor veterinary trained, but I am very interested in what we feed our dogs and I believe that many of the foods that are sold either by vets or in pet shops are full of padding, colouring, salt and other things that are not part of a dog's natural diet. I have a husky and a dalmation, both are coming up 2 and very rarely visit the vet. Ever since I have had both dogs, as puppies, I have fed them naturally. In an ideal world I would have fed BARF, but with going away to many shows it is not practical so I have looked at the different natural foods. My choice has been Green Dog as it is purely human grade meat and brown rice with added natural vitamins and herbs. It also has a parasite repellent as part of the diet. I still use a tried and tested herbal parasite repellent (NoVerms) but the diet helps make the environment unpleasant for internal parasites.
We have been so pleased with Green Dog with our own dogs that we have started to sell it. This is not a plug for our business just information that might be useful. We do have a very useful e-book on our website that give alot of useful information on feeding dogs, please feel free to download it. http://www.spiffydog.co.uk/latest/natural-dog-food-for-spiffy-dog-customers
I hope that this is useful
Hi Jeanette,
I have a 2.50 year old shih tzu who recently went through the procedure of taking 4 crystals out. The vet also told me to feed her no meat and only the special kibble. I also believe this is a drastic move because we feed her meat with kibble. I recently moved to spain from canada and the water here is high in crystals, i believe that could be the cause because our water in canada is much better and her system might not be able to process the excess calcium. But, I am still on sure what to feed her, what is your dogs diet? any info would be grateful.
Hi Catherine, Thanks for your message, I was beginning to think that my dog was the only one suffering from this problem. We feed her on Royal Canin Urinary S/O kibble and tinned meat. Fortunately she likes both. For treats and for filling her Kong toy, we give her boiled white chicken breast meat. I was also giving her filtered tap water until I lost the filter jug while on holiday. She has just had a second sample of urine tested which showed the crystals had cleared completely. The vet advised we can now either gradually put her back onto normal food to see how she reacts or keep her on the prescription diet for good. We are going to try the former, as apparently the vet said the presence of crystals could have been a "one off" as a result of infection. This appears to be at odds to the information I've looked up on the internet. However, she is well in herself and so I would like to try to return her to regular food as I feel it must be better for her. The problem which we took her to the vet for originally was excessive thirst and leaking urine, which has continued throughout her treatment. After a blood test and a further urine test (to see if she can concentrate her urine) she has now been put on Propalin for the leaking. Hope your wee dog is getting on ok. Jenaette
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