Bladder Stones

[aussieowner]

Hi all,

I have a general question about feeding and health supplements. My mother-in-law's dog has had bladder stones removed recently and they've put her on Hill's Prescription Diet U/D. I know what I think (and most, if not all of you think) of Science Diet formulas, but am unsure what to recommend to her instead.

Further, it appears that whilst the dog has been on the diet for a while now, her urine is too acidic. I believe there are two types of stones with one type requiring slightly more acidic urine and the other a more alkaline urine.

I am just wondering if a change in diet would be beneficial to create a more alkaline urine (and also be more nutritionally beneficial for the dog).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

aussieowner

[gmacleod]

Hmmm. I have rather more experience than I'd like to with the sorts of stones that form in alkaline urine, but have never had to deal with the type in a acidic urine before.

With that said, the biggest key to dealing with bladder stones is getting (and keeping) a high amount of water in the dog's diet. A lot of vets will recommend that dry food is never fed again, but that the dog be put on a canned food diet instead to which you add even more water/broth. A raw diet can also work, and again trying to keep up the fluid intake by giving the dog some broth (which it will drink because it's tasty, irrespective of not being thirsty). On top of that, you need to find a way to decrease the acidity of the urine (but that's less cruicial than keeping large amounts of fluids passing through the dog's bladder - stones won't form if the urine never gets the chance to concentrate).

As for the Hills, no I'm not a fan of it or it's carcinogenic preservatives. But you always have to weigh up what's the greater evil, and how long the diet is likely to last. With a food like that, it's actually made to be akin to eating cardboard - so that there's nothing to put any stress on the kidneys at all. And that's fine in the short term - it's not great nutrition, but that's a secondary consideration right now (still a shame about the preservatives though - and if there's an alternative prescription diet that doesn't contain those, then I'd go with that one).

In the longer term, of course, a better food would need to be found. There just isn't enough nutrition in a food like U/D for long term use. Chances are the vet would recommend a different prescription diet. But I think your mother's dog would probably be better off with a higher quality canned diet (or a home prepared one) that you can water down to keep his fluid intake at a level that defeats the formation of stones.