I have a 11 year old Miniature Schnauzer. She acts and looks like she is only 4. She had surgery last year for bladder stones and they are back again. The doctor said they didn’t pass because they were embedded in her bladder wall. She currently eats Hills W/D dry food as she is borderline diabetic and we also give her canned Instinct so she gets her nutrients. We would prefer not to do surgery but are not sure what to do to help her. Her urine is very acidic and the crystals are the calcium ones. Is there a way to help her without surgery? If not then once we do the surgery what would you recommend food wise so they don’t return again? Thank you
Hello,
Thank you for your inquiry to Holistic Pet Info. You may want to consider a better quality diet. Oxalates in the diet are the primary causes for calcium oxalate crystals. Hills W/D contains soy, which is high in oxalates and also includes poor quality ingredients and preservatives. Increasing the water in the diet should also help flush the bladder and ideally keeping the bladder at a neutral pH to help slow the formation of crystals.
As long as she doesn’t have stones again you should be able to support the bladder health with supplements. Uti-Free by PetAlive is a homeopathic that should help the bladder health.
There are many high quality diets that should work better for your dog such as: Honest Kitchen, EVO or continue with Instinct alone. A canned food will help increase the water content of the diet as dry also contains too many carbohydrates to keep weight in check. Best of luck.
Regards,
Colleen Smith DVM, CVA, CVCP