Best food for bladder crystals

[JoannaC]

My bitch has had a UTI and crystals in her wee. She finishes her antibiotics tomorrow and I haven't seen any improvement yet. The vet mentioned next step would be to change her diet. No doubt they will give me recommendations when we re test but just wondered if anyone had had this and what food worked. It kicked off when I changed to to a grain free food but the vet thought that was just a coincidence, although now i've read the thread on that I will change them back or at least her as I changed as my other dogs poos were a bit sloppy whereas she was always fine.

 

[AmyMay]

My dog had a really bad UTI about 18 months odd ago. She is fed grain free and no mention was made by my vet about food per se. She’s always been fed a very good diet. I think that (for her at least) she simply wasn’t getting enough fluids.

My dog is fed three times a day (a mixture of kibble and meat, be it tinned or raw), and I always add a good amount of water to it now following her illness.

We’ve had no repeat.

 

[JoannaC]

My dog had a really bad UTI about 18 months odd ago. She is fed grain free and no mention was made by my vet about food per se. She’s always been fed a very good diet. I think that (for her at least) she simply wasn’t getting enough fluids.

My dog is fed three times a day (a mixture of kibble and meat, be it tinned or raw), and I always add a good amount of water to it now following her illness.

We’ve had no repeat.

The diet was for breaking down the crystals if the antibiotics didn't work. He said she'd need more acid to break them down. I did buy some wet food so will try her on that in the mean time and add some water as well, thank you.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

Purine issue?

 

[Bellasophia]

My ex breeder schnauzer came to me at 5.She was full of urinary crystals which were seen on an ecogram.She was operated and only then the crystals could be diagnosed in a lab.
UTIsin dogs will make the urine more alkaline and cause sediment in the urine to form bladder crystals.Wehave given a struvite food ..petlife struvite food...for the last six months but we were disappointed to find out in the last few weeks she has reformed her crystals again and will have to be reoperated tomorrow.
We are now feeding home cooked diet,for struvite formers,and giving a daily tablet to help acidify the urine.
there are four types of crystals..hers were struvite. so we fed pet life struvite kibble and mixed with pet life struvite canned .To encourage her to drink more we add kefir to her water,which she loves.
These foods are costly and in our case didn't resolve the problem...hence we are now trying a home cooked option...there are diets for each type of stone Its important to know which type she has.
I also bought a roll of pH test stips to dip in her urine to give an idea of her pH...she was alkali e but the tablet is helping to get her urine back to a lower acid pH..( CAMON Struvite pet plus )
I strongly advise getting the stones analysed if they are physically there in the urine...my dog expelled several and we sent them to a lab to see which type.

 

[Umbongo]

It does depend what type of crystal or stones she has (your vets should know this if they have looked at her urine sample under the microscope)
There are different prescription diets for different types of crystals. Normally Hills C/D (or Royal Canin S/O) is the food advised. This works to dissolve struvite and calcium oxalate.
Hills U/D (or Royal Canin U/C) works against urate and cystine. Your vet will advise the right one for her needs.

 

[skinnydipper]

My bitch has had a UTI and crystals in her wee. She finishes her antibiotics tomorrow and I haven't seen any improvement yet. The vet mentioned next step would be to change her diet. No doubt they will give me recommendations when we re test but just wondered if anyone had had this and what food worked. It kicked off when I changed to to a grain free food but the vet thought that was just a coincidence, although now i've read the thread on that I will change them back or at least her as I changed as my other dogs poos were a bit sloppy whereas she was always fine.

If she still has a UTI ask for urine m,c & s, if it hasn't already been done. That will determine which bacteria is causing the infection and which antibiotics it is sensitive or resistant to.


ETA. Microscopy, culture and sensitivity

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

It does depend what type of crystal or stones she has (your vets should know this if they have looked at her urine sample under the microscope)
There are different prescription diets for different types of crystals. Normally Hills C/D (or Royal Canin S/O) is the food advised. This works to dissolve struvite and calcium oxalate.
Hills U/D (or Royal Canin U/C) works against urate and cystine. Your vet will advise the right one for her needs.

A friend has a GR prone to bladder crystals, she is permanently on a prescription diet, I think hers is Hills.

 

[JoannaC]

The vet did say they could send the urine sample off for further evaluation but tried the antibiotics first. Looks like i'll have to wait for this before knowing exactly the route we need to take. Thanks everyone.