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What dog food is best for a Shorkie with cystine bladder stones?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Best brand of dog food for dogs with Cystine stones ! Male 1 year and half old shorkie .

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 14th, 2016

The recommendation is to feed your pet a low protein, low sodium diet to help alkalinize the urine and reduce cystine urine excretion. You can achieve this with the Rx brands Hill's U/D or Royal Canin UC Low Purine. Although it is suggested that feeding a canned diet or increasing water intake will help to dilute the urine as well, and therefore reduce cystine urine excretion.

Dissolving stones is possible with the diet, but this can take an extended period of time and there is always the risk of stone blockage along the urinary tract. If blockage occurs then your only option for resolution is to have the stones surgically removed.

From a medical standpoint, the drug 2-MPG is used to dissolve stones that are currently in the bladder. You will have more success riding stones if you implement both MPG treatment and a urinary diet simultaneously.

22Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on December 6th, 2019
There is currently no supplement available that will prevent Cystine bladder stones unfortunately. Our only options here are a prescription diet available through your veterinarian. The diet ensures that the ph of the urine is optimal for crystals not to grow and also that the pet drinks more water and helps dilute the urine. Supplements would not be strong enough to make those kinds of changes; therefore we have to approach crystal management from a diet change perspective only.
I hope that you are able to manage Roy's crystal issue well going forward. Best of luck and take care. : )
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Lindsey Edwards MVB, BSc, IVCA
Veterinarian
Published on April 5th, 2019
Cystine stones are quite rare and if large require surgical removal - you report however no large stones were identified on ultrasound so it is possible it was the small crystals and inflammation which were causing the signs. Therapeutic diets are used to prevent the formation of stones and are vital in dogs with cystine crystals or those recovering from stone removal. A repeat urinalysis and specialist ultrasound (possibly following catheterisation under sedation to ensure nothing is lodged in the pelvic region which is very difficult to scan) would be required if symptoms persist or worsen as even one small stone can cause a potential obstruction
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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What food ingredients help dogs and cats with urinary stones or UTIs?

Bladder stones are collections of mineral crystals that combine together in the urinary tract. Excess minerals can encourage the formation of crystals in the urine, leading to the creation of bladder stones. Urinary diets have the correct balance of minerals to maintain bladder health. In addition, they have low protein and calcium, which results in decreased urinary concentrations of stone-forming constituents. To get the biggest benefit, I recommend choosing a urinary specific food for Liir, as regular diets will not be formulated to help with bladder health. I recommend Hill's Science Diet u/d. I hope this helps!

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Dog with bladder stones & liver issues: What food until stone results?

The appropriate diet here would be the urinary diet either Urinary S/O or Hill's C/D, and then placing your pet on a liver protectant medication to address the liver issues. The liver protectant medication is called Denamarin, and has to be prescribed by your vet. I would then consider getting your pet an abdominal ultrasound to better define what is specifically going on with the liver, so that we know what mode of therapy would be best to manage things going forward, because these values (ALKP, CHOL) can be changed by not just the liver, but also the gallbladder and adrenal glands. I hope that your pet Ceca is able to manage both of her conditions well moving forward. Best wishes and take care. : )

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My dog has bladder stones. Can I buy cheaper food at the store?

Unfortunately there are no over the counter that will help dissolve stones once they form. There are diets that claim to encourage urinary bladder health, however there are no clinical trials to substantiate those claims. What Scooby really needs right now is the Rx food, although it is a bit costly and I can sympathize with that. However it works and is effective because the necessary trials were done to formulate the food properly. It can take several months to even a year to dissolve the stones depending on the quantity and size.

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What food is best for a dog with bladder stones and diabetes?

I would suggest that you ask your veterinarian about using Hill's Science Diet W/D. This is a low fat and high fiber diet that is good for diabetic dogs, but is also known to produce a neutral urine ph and may be adequate in preventing the return of her bladder stones. Depending on her individual situation, this may be a possible solution. If a duet change is done, it would be a great idea to periodically check a urine sample to monitor the ph and look for problems.

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Is Hill's diet right for my dog's urate stones if pH isn't changing?

It depends on which diet you are using in the Hill's brand. The link below is to a school that many vets will send stones to for analysis. On this page you will find a PDF link to treatment/prevention of urate stones. There are several diets listed there. Another option is having a nutritionist make a diet for your pet that you would make at home. Most vet schools offer this service and it could be facilitated through your vet if you don't live near a vet school. Hopefully your pet has also been evaluated for diseases that predispose to urate stones as this is a more rare stone. I hope this helps and thank you for using PetCoach! https://www.vetmed.umn.edu/centers-programs/minnesota-urolith-center/urolith-analysis/treatment-recommendations

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Can Hill's c/d Multicare cat food dissolve my cat's bladder stone?

I'm sorry to see that Beau has this large bladder stone! The most common types of bladder stones in cats are struvite and calcium oxalate, but the only surefire way to differentiate between the two is with a stone analysis after the stone has been surgically removed. The Hill's C/D multicare can dissolve some struvite stones, but will not dissolve calcium oxalate stones. For the long term, however, this diet is fantastic at preventing a recurrence of such bladder stones and crystals. It's a bit of a gamble using a diet to dissolve stones, particularly in male cats, because of the potential of part of the stone breaking off and causing a urinary obstruction, or blockage, as this is a life-threatening emergency. I generally find it to be safest and most effective to remove bladder stones surgically since you know that it's going to work right away without the same obstruction risks. I hope that everything goes well for Beau!

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Health & Wellness

My Bichon had bladder stones. How to prevent recurrence and manage pH?

Hello. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, some of these dogs keep developing stones, & we just do not know the total reason & mechanism for this. So you are perfectly right to feel confused, & frustrated with this. The Royal Canin S/O has been one of the best options in terms of preventing stones through the diet, & of course, the more water he takes in, the more water there is to flush the oxalate elements out of his bladder before stones reoccur. Sometimes we do recommend potassium citrate, if urine pH is consistently lower than 6.5, & some newer thinking is to add hydrochlorothiazide if he does seem to be redeveloping urolithiasis frequently & he does not have high blood calcium levels. You could monitor his urine for blood with urine dip strips manufactured for this purpose ( your vet can help with this ). A full urinalysis should be done every 3-6 months to keep pH between 6.5 & 8 & to maintain urine specific gravity to 1.020 or lower. Imaging, with either ultrasound or x-rays every 6-12 months is useful to identify very small stones that can generally be removed without surgery.removed . Hopefully, Casper will remain stone free for a very long time. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

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