Dog won't eat vegetarian diet for bladder stones. Can I feed chicken?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is ok to feed him a regular diet (meaning any dog diet) until you are able to get his Purina diet for stones. As long as he is able to return to his bladder stone diet within a week or two, it should be ok. Best of luck!

The answer partially depends on the type of bladder stones that Boo had. I am attaching handouts on the 2 most common types below. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=460 http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=662 If Boo had struvite stones, those can often be managed without a prescription diet. If Boo had calcium oxalate stones, then diet will be a very important part of preventing him from forming stones again in the future. Unfortunately, the prescription diets tend to have both by-products and corn. The best option I have found for dogs with calcium oxalate stones are to make a homemade diet for their dogs. A diet can be created by a board certified nutritionist or with the help of Balance It. https://secure.balanceit.com/ Good luck! I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using PetCoach.

I wouldn't recommend trying a home cooked diet without consulting your veterinarian first - many recipes online are not nutritionally balanced. Whether or not your dog can switch to a new diet depends on the type of stone - some are more likely than others to come back. Ask your veterinarian about other options, and be up front about the cost being an issue.

It depends on the type of urinary disease your dog has. If she's having recurrent urinary tract infections, to my knowledge there is no known association between food and that condition. If she's having urinary stones, then there are some foods that have been associated with causing or worsening this condition, and being able to advise you about that would require that we understand what kind of stones your dog is getting, because there are several kinds. I am unaware of any stones or urinary tract problems that are worsened by feeding chicken and rice, however as pointed out in previous answers this is far from a balanced diet. If you're interested in giving your dog a home-cooked diet, I'd recommend checking out this site: https://secure.balanceit.com/tools/ez2/. It's created by the vet school at the University of California, and it's great for helping you figure out how to cook for a pet with health issues. You'll need the assistance of your vet to get a final recipe, but it's a very helpful site.

Surgery may be the next option if he won't eat the prescription diet. Discuss other diets, both canned and dry, with your veterinarian first. It may take several weeks to months to fully dissolve any stones or crystals. Try to get him to drink as much water as possible to dilute his urine.

I personally would not recommend a home cooked diet for a dog with bladder stones. A therapeutic diet is probably best to prevent more stones from forming and the foods restrict minerals used to form stones, encourage water consumption so that water is dilute, and keeping the urine at an ideal pH. If it is very important to you to cook meals for Hades I’d recommend using a diet formulated by a nutritionist- the website BalanceIT is a good resource. www.balanceIT.com

It's is difficult to say which foods in particular because ultimately it is a question of how that food affects the pH of the urine. The acidity or alkalinity (pH) of the urine influences whether the stone constituents will remain dissolved or form stones. Some stones, such as struvite, form in alkaline urine, whereas others, including calcium oxalate stones, form in acidic urine. Depending on the type of stone (struvite vs calcium oxalate-in most cases but there are exceptions such as ammonium urate) you may want to feed a diet that decreases the pH or one that increases the pH. Furthermore, any underlying urinary tract infections must be treated as bacteria can alter the pH. In order to obtain the information needed, have your veterinarian perform a urinalysis or if your pet had surgery for bladder stones ask for the stone analysis report. As far as blueberries, I think that it is fine. However, grains may result in more of an alkaline urine which could promote further struvite stone formation.