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  #1  
Old December 11th, 2006, 09:41 PM
kmjx65 kmjx65 is offline
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Low calcium puppy food and dog food

Hello,

I just spoke with the vet....

So it turns out Cookie doesn't have a UTI but she has some calicum crystals in her system which can lead to stones.

We're going to take her to get xrays on Wednesday to determine if she has stones or not. eek!

Anyway, the vet said most likely we'll have to change her diet to something with lower calcium. We picked up the u/d prescription diet that has .04% calicium. She will be on this diet for the next month.

Her old puppy food has 1.05%-1.25% min/max calcium. Does anyone have suggestions on puppy food and later adult food with lower calcium content?

Also, if she starts eating food with lower calcium, how will it affect her bone growth/stregth? She's a 5lb, 4.5month old boston/rat terrier mix. Thanks!
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  #2  
Old December 11th, 2006, 09:42 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Is there a reason she is on puppy food? IMO, if she needs lower calcium, she should go straight to adult.

Are you sure it's 0.04% and not 0.4%? Even 0.4% is very very low.
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  #3  
Old December 11th, 2006, 09:47 PM
kmjx65 kmjx65 is offline
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So far we've just had a breif conversation after they took a urine sample on Saturday. He said for the moment we need to get her on the u/d prescription food.

Next step is xrays to hopefully rule out stones.

I checked the u/d prescription label again, it's 0.04% calcium.

Would it be bad to put her on adult food when she's so young? Would that stunt her growth in anyway? I thought dogs are transitioned to adult food when they are around 1yr old.
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  #4  
Old December 11th, 2006, 09:59 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Is it canned? Sorry, I'm not in the "know" about vet foods' stats...

It'll slow down her growth, but won't make her any smaller in the end, IMO. A lot of small dog breeders suggest switching to adult food at 6 months, anyway..
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Old December 13th, 2006, 06:42 PM
marine's girlie marine's girlie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kmjx65 View Post
Hello,

I just spoke with the vet....

So it turns out Cookie doesn't have a UTI but she has some calicum crystals in her system which can lead to stones.

We're going to take her to get xrays on Wednesday to determine if she has stones or not. eek!

while they're at it, i'd recommend an ultrasound (or contrast cystography) if it hasn't already been done as not all stones show up on x-ray, depending upon type and size.
did your vet mention anything about bloodwork? if hypercalcemia isn't present, then there probably isn't an indication for a reduced calcium food. did the vet tell you what her pH was? perhaps the crystal formation can be prevented by altering her urinary pH with a supplement instead of an entire diet change.
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Old December 13th, 2006, 07:05 PM
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wdawson wdawson is offline
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if your feeding hills brand........the canned is .04% and the dry is .20% min..the site does not say anything but canine u/d. my cats are on hills c/d that has .5 calcium min.
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Old December 13th, 2006, 07:31 PM
marine's girlie marine's girlie is offline
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Originally Posted by wdawson View Post
if your feeding hills brand........the canned is .04% and the dry is .20% min..the site does not say anything but canine u/d. my cats are on hills c/d that has .5 calcium min.
keep in mind that when discussing the nutirent profile of foods, percents should be given in dry matter values or on an energy basis (g/kcal) to account for moisture differences between canned and dry foods. i do not believe that there is a Hill's u/d for cats, but c/d is often prescribed to treat and prevent struvite urolitiiasis and crystaluria, the opposite problem as calcium oxalate issues, the two conditions each have different mineral concerns.
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Old December 13th, 2006, 08:00 PM
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wdawson wdawson is offline
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thats what i said i feed the cats C\D not U\D........and the percentages are direct from the hills web site
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Wayne
Dad To :
George 18 year beagle, Rest in peace little buddy....love
Beathoven 7 year old mutt
Maggie 5 year jack russell
Felix 15 year tabby
Ozzie 12 year tabby
Tigger 10 year long hair cat
marley just a pup
sasha grand pup___________________________________________________________
Lettin the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin it back in.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain't gonna happen anyway.
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Old December 13th, 2006, 08:57 PM
marine's girlie marine's girlie is offline
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ok, maybe i can restate my point better to avoid confusion: it is important to know how the values are being given, as dry and canned foods vary in moisture content and "as fed" is not the same as "dry matter".
thus when analyzing the values given by the pet food company, it is important to know if the values are being stated in "as fed" or "dry matter" values because foods vary in moisture content and only the latter method takes this moisture difference into account. if one doesn't understand this distinction, they run the risk of inadvertently feeding their pet an inappropriate diet. plus, we can use this knowledge to our advantage when we want to feed a diet with certain characteristice (ie, low calcium as previously stated) without resporting to a lesser quality prescription food.
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  #10  
Old December 13th, 2006, 09:00 PM
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Blathach Blathach is offline
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Please stay on topic and get back to the OP's original question or this thread will be closed.
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  #11  
Old December 13th, 2006, 09:00 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Wow, that's some nitpicking. I don't know about where you are, but on a dog food forum, we say what's on the bag. Everybody's looking at the same info then.
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Old December 13th, 2006, 09:11 PM
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wdawson wdawson is offline
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i know that hills is lesser quality......but after a $2200. vet bill and no probs since i am reluctant to change........jmo.......and my original post was to clarify the op's calcium content to another member......and was clearly not any type of advice.....i'm not a diet expert...there are others here that have a very good handle on both types of feeding.
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George 18 year beagle, Rest in peace little buddy....love
Beathoven 7 year old mutt
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Felix 15 year tabby
Ozzie 12 year tabby
Tigger 10 year long hair cat
marley just a pup
sasha grand pup___________________________________________________________
Lettin the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin it back in.

Most of the stuff people worry about ain't gonna happen anyway.
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  #13  
Old December 14th, 2006, 02:18 PM
marine's girlie marine's girlie is offline
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if you are concerned about growth, but can't feed high calcium have you thought about feeding a large breed puppy food? perhaps this would be a good compromise because they are lower in calcium (if formulated correctly) than the small/med breed puppy foods yet not quite as low as an adult food.
i noticed a lot of people in here don't seem to like feeding prescription diets, so i was trying to explore other options.

and prin, i agree it is nitpicky... i guess i'm just used to getting into details because i'm used to technical writing. what's on the bag (and cans) is an as fed value which is not very helpful if comparing canned to dry, but ok when comparing canned to canned and dry to dry. just food for thought so to speak. i just wanted to make sure people were making accurate comparisons. i apologize if i confused anyone.

honestly, though a small bred dog would probably do just fine on adult food, since they do not have as far to grow as a larger breed puppy.
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  #14  
Old December 29th, 2006, 01:35 AM
kmjx65 kmjx65 is offline
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Sorry I haven't had many chances to get online. I'll ask the vet about getting some bloodwork done and also about the pH of Cookie's urine.

I just posted another thread called "renal failure?" which is sort of an update to this thread...more of a progression to something possibly more severe than calcium issues. :sad:
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  #15  
Old December 29th, 2006, 11:52 AM
SnowDancer SnowDancer is offline
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Hill's Canned C/D worked very well on my mini Dachshund many years ago. He was put on it after removal of 4 stones - had to eat it for 6 months (hated it, but then it was necessary). No further crystals developed and he was then allowed a more varied diet. But if necessary he would have been on the C/D "lard" as I called it - for life.
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