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Old July 6th, 2007, 02:42 PM
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UTI and crystals in dogs - Answered by Dr. Lee

Okay, turns out Halo has a UTI and crystals in her urine. The vet is awaiting a further workup on her urine sample, but currently she is on Deramaxx for the pain and Clavamox for the infection. He suggested we change her to a raw food diet (she is on Timberwolf Organics Ocean Blue - fish based food). Does anyone have experience with the crystals and diet issues? Just curious. Tks.
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Old July 6th, 2007, 07:31 PM
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Many urinary tract infections will lead to a changes in urine pH which will in turn lead to crystal formation. A food change may help change the pH back to normal during treatment and make her feel more comfortable, decrease bladder inflammation and reduce stone formation. Typically foods used for crystals during UTI treatments are not used long term. This is because, if the crystals are made from the UTI - then it would make sense, that once the UTI was resolved, the crystals would not be present. A follow up urinalysis 10 days or more after UTI treatment is complete can help evaluate for persistent crystal formation. Sometimes veterinarians may just want to permanently change your diet - ask him. Sometimes some foods are better at regulating crystals than others - regardless if a UTI is present or not. FWIW - I am not a raw food advocate.
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Old July 6th, 2007, 08:18 PM
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The raw diet may improve her urinary tract health ~ it works wonders for some but, I will tell you it made no difference for Ceili. She had chronic UTI's even though she was and had been fed raw since puppyhood. It was not until I discovered probiotics (we use Bio-K) and mega-cranberry pills ~ using these two natural supplements prohylactically, la voila ~ no infections.
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Old July 6th, 2007, 08:41 PM
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I think most probiotics are great. The cranberry pills have a lot of anectodal support and some medical data support in the human field. Good idea!
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Old July 6th, 2007, 10:01 PM
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Solid Gold the dog food company wells a supplement called Berry balance which helps to control the urinary ph
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Last edited by OntarioGreys; July 6th, 2007 at 10:28 PM.
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Old July 7th, 2007, 12:27 AM
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Here's the info on Berry Balance:

http://www.solidgoldhealth.com/produ...id=25&code=509
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Old July 7th, 2007, 12:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Lee View Post
I think most probiotics are great. The cranberry pills have a lot of anectodal support and some medical data support in the human field. Good idea!
Just an fyi: ultra cran or mega-cran are 500 mg pills (or more) which contain at least 18,000 mg of cranberry.

I'm not sure I would trust anything put out by a dog food company frankly and I would also look at price.
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Old July 7th, 2007, 01:15 AM
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I think Solid Gold is pretty good with their products but I agree about the price.

I would consult a vet about the proper dose of cranberry capsules for a dog.
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Old July 7th, 2007, 01:49 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rainbow View Post
I think Solid Gold is pretty good with their products but I agree about the price.

I would consult a vet about the proper dose of cranberry capsules for a dog.
YAHOO !!!! I get to COMPLETELY disagree with Rainbow !

(come'on it's nice every so often admit it...)

I don't think Solid Gold is trustworthy after the way they refused to release information about the changes in Wolfking ingredients. I can't trust any company that would something like that.

As for the dosage for cranberry pills, ~ there are not "Vet- recognized" studies out there which demonstrate efficacy because no one is funded to do them. You'll be hard-pressed to find a Vet who will tell you dosage info ~ simply because they don't know.
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Old July 7th, 2007, 02:15 AM
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HA HA HA....lots of people disagree with Rainbow and I'm the first to admit it.

As far as I know, Solid Gold didn't "refuse to release" information about ingredient changes. They had "by law" six months to change their bag information. When they were emailed/phoned about the change they were upfront about it.

As far as the cranberry studies, I've never had any reason to look into it, but there is probably enough info out there to find a safe dosage.
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Old July 7th, 2007, 08:38 AM
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Careful with cranberry if your dog is very acidic - I know this from personal experience - I am extremely acidic and one of the many things that will cause my condition to worsen is - cranberry! (or blueberry).
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Old July 9th, 2007, 10:52 AM
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Thank you Dr. Lee and everyone else for the info. I was going to get some probiotics anyhow, and give her some yogurt (do I wait until I'm done with the Clavamox to give her the yogurt or probiotics??) I did get the sense the Vet was talking about a long term change of diet to raw. I will look into it, but am not convinced just yet. I was looking at the Orijen 6 fish diet, but it's VERY high in protein is that a good thing or a bad thing as a rule??? The Ocean Blue she's on is 26% crude protein and the 6 fish is 44% protein. I printed out the ingredient and analysis info on both to take back to the vet to talk to him about it. Thanks again for all the helpful info.
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Old August 16th, 2007, 09:56 PM
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Crystals in urine

I have a pug who had crystals in his urine but they cleared up with him going on the Sience Diet U/D. The only problem is he is gaining weight like crazy, although he's only eating 2/3rd a can a day and going on at least a 2 mile walk. Does he need to stay on the U/D
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Old March 7th, 2012, 10:27 PM
zmaultsby zmaultsby is offline
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How Much VitC

I've researched and read that Vitamin C helps dogs with Struvites Crystals. My dog is nine and was just diagnosed two months ago (Jan 2012). I have been giving her 2000 mg a day but is it enough or should I give her more? She is at 52 lbs and I wasn't sure how to equate her weight to make sure she is getting enough or too much. Oh, I also give her 4200 mg of Cranberry extract a day. My dog is currently on Hill's c/d dog food.

If a vet is available to answer this, please advise.
Thank You
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