My dog has crystals, but X-ray is clear. Still need prescription food?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Speedy. If his veterinarian has recommended a prescription diet, then he should stay on one. Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Urinary SO, Hills Veterinary Diet C/D or Purina ProPlan Veterinary Diets U/R are all great choices to help prevent crystals in his urine. I hope this information helps!

Unfortunately, only these diets will be able to help Luca’s bladder problems. The diet will help acidity the urine and it also causes him to drink more. This helps to prevent crystal formation and also has a flushing action in the bladder. I recommend to try the Royal Canin first. Mix it in VERY slow (like 10% of the food initially). Then every few days increase the amount. You should purchase the canned food to see if he likes that. If he does, you can feed him that mixed in with the dry food. Try to keep him out of the other Doha’s food. The diet will not work if it falls below 90% of the total daily food intake. I hope you find this helpful and please feel free to post any further questions.

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.

I believe Royal Canin now makes a hypoallergenic diet that is also appropriate for crystals that has hydrolyzed proteins so the immune system does not recognize them and they do not trigger allergies. Even though the ingredient list might contain some things Dylan is allergic to, he should not develop allergy symptoms. This diet is called Multifunction Urinary and Hydrolyzed Protein. Talk to your veterinarian and see if this might be a good option for Dylan with his specific crystals. Otherwise you could discuss having a nutritionist formulate a home cooked diet, but it is very important that a veterinary nutritionist is involved so that the diet is balanced and appropriate to prevent crystal formation.

I'm so sorry that Poppet does not seem to be doing well. It really depends on the composition of the crystal/stones that were removed whether or not diet is important for preventing the recurrence of crystals/stones. If there were struvite stones, diet is generally of secondary importance in prevention. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=460 If they were oxalate stones, then diet is very important for prevention of recurrence. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=&A=662&SourceID= The best way I have found to get dogs off a prescription food and still prevent the recurrence of bladder stones is to do a homemade diet formulated by a veterinary nutritionist. I'm unsure how accessible a nutritionist is in Australia, but you may be able to use a US nutritionist like this company. https://secure.balanceit.com/ Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

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.

Yes urinary stones can be present even though there are no signs at the moment, as antibiotics could possibly mask the signs. I would suggest either to stop antibiotics and see if the signs reoccur or to take an x-ray and rule out radiopaque stones. Alternatively ultrasound can be performed to rule out ALL type of stones (some of them cannot be seen with x rays). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.