Crystals in urine- food change in order?

[Julie B.]

Hello! My 4 month old girl has crystals in her urine and is on antibiotics. I'm wondering if her food is causing the problem. She's eating Taste of the Wild High Prairie (which I know is a very rich food.)

Anyone have a similar problem? Was is resolved with a diet change? What food did you change to?

Thanks!!

[Nikkiey]

Juneau used to suffer from bladder/kidney infections and would also have crystals in his urine. We ended up changing food and found that it helped. We used to feed him Kirland (which had grain) and we switched to grain-free Acana (which is a rich food).

Since the switch we have had only one other infection, but without crystals. We have notice that he does get a considerable amount of smegma but I guess I'd rather deal with that than infections...

[deepnite10]

i ve just heard that it s a food related problem..go with what the vet recommends...and if possible find another source if you feel the price is to high..

this is something that ll stay with the dog..and a life long change of diet is usually is in order..

[browndog]

we have had the same problem. Constant UTI's and urine test always shows crystals. Vet just put her on a new food and then we are supposed to test again in a few weeks to see if it helped. All her kidney, thyroid, and pancreas tests came back fine. The new food is royal canin medi-cal hypoallergenic. I will let you know how it goes.

[Julie B.]

Thanks browndog! Yes, please let me know how the new food works out!

[brinlysmom]

We had the same exact problem with our puppy..She was also on taste of the wild since she was a wee little one but she was constantly having accidents even though we were taking her out alot. Turns out she had crystals in her urine and it took a month long treatment of antibiotics to finally clear it up. We first switched to a food that we got from the vet for UTI health..sorry I forget the name but she is on IAM's puppy food now. A few weeks ago I decided to give her taste of the wild again because I know it's a high quality food and within two weeks she was having accidents again. The vet said that it's a very high protien food and she should never have it again. I put her back on the IAM's puppy food and she's on antibiotics again for two weeks. She is already doing better. It just boggles my mind that such a high quality food can harm her like that. I would think the IAM's would be worse for her. Very frustrating. I searched around for a good puppy food with not such a high protien in it. I ended up with IAM's and my Vet approved the choice. Hope you're pup is feeilng better now.

[Julie B.]

Well, crystals again and a second round of antibiotics started. I am going to gradually switch her food - decided to try Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lover's Soul after reading reviews, etc. Hopefully the change will take care of the problem.

[lindamarie]

Julie,when my Springer started having issues, we switched to Chicken Soup and he did very well on it.
So, when we got Bogart, we immediately started out with Chicken Soup!! It went well with him too! We only switched to Orijen because it seemed he was having on and off weird poo's......now they're pretty consistently solid.
I even called the company and asked if they used any by products like the horrid erythritol preservative. I found it very interesting when they said they JUST (in May) have stopped using it!
Not please don't get me wrong about CS! They don't use it anymore.
Yet, it makes me wonder about ALL dog food.......do the use byproducts from China or somewhere?
I now make it a habit of calling the company and I get pretty irritating to them, I'm sure! But I question the heck out of them.

OK.....after my speech here....CS might just be the answer for you!

[Lucky Me]

I posted here on this problem before for someone else...
Questions about urine pH and general health concerns

2 great links I found on the problem....
Bladder Stones + Crystals | B-Naturals.Com Newsletter

Crystals in urine

On Taste of the Wild....
Sierra Mountain & Pacific Stream formula's are 25% protein....
The Buffalo & Duck ones are 32%

As far as Protein & calcium content, the Lamb one is excellent used as a Large breed puppy food. Better formula than a lot of the Large breed puppy foods for growing a large breed puppy slowly & preventing hip issues!
Hope something within this message helps!
Sorry so short...have company here & shouldn't even be looking at the computer! )

[Julie B.]

Thanks guys (for the links and reassurance!) Started mixing in CS and she seems to like it! Keep you posted with it all!

[Lucky Me]

My dogs have problems with Chicken Soup.... as do other products with Barley in it.
So if the CS doesn't work for you, that grain might be the issue....

[Ace's Place]

For what its worth, Ace ate Chicken Soup for a few months, liked it, then seemed bothered by it - or bored with it. But that is not to say your pup won't love it. What I really wanted to mention is that he has done really well on Wellness. I haven't noticed that brand mentioned. Wellness supermix for puppies, now slowing switching over to the grain free Wellness Core - really really likes this and digestive system doing really well.

[browndog]

okay so here's the scoop. Katey had high levels of struvite crystals in her urine, constant bladder infections and vet said her urine was too alkaline as it had a ph of 8.5 so the vet suggested a food change. We weren't too thrilled to change foods as it had taken us 6 foods till we found one she could eat without getting diarrhea and itchy skin. So anyway, we changed to the food she suggested (Royal Canin Medi-cal Hypoallergenic) for the past 3 weeks and then re-tested her urine. We got the urine test back today and the vet is very happy with it. Urine ph is now 6.5 and crystals are way down...still there but not near as high. No diarrhea or itching from food. So we are going to stick to this food for awhile. The only thing we notice about this food is that she seems to get hungry quickly...doesn't seem to stick to the ribs for very long! But as everything else is good we will keep with it for now.

[Ace's Place]

Good news for Katey!! And great work by you to keep on it!!