Can both my dogs eat the same prescription urinary care food?

Yes, those are safe for all dogs. All dog foods are formulated to be safe if given to dogs regardless of age and medical condition. If you’re concerned have them mix the foods with what she’s currently feeding. That will make them last longer and prevent any stomach upset from quickly changing their diet. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

I would recommend just feeding normal dog food rather than using human food until you can discuss it with your vet. You may even be able to just call the clinic and ask for a prescription for another brand of dog food. Sometimes you have to dry a couple different prescription dog foods to see which one your pet will prefer. Hill's and Royal Canin also have similar prescription dog foods that you could try. Good luck!

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.

The prescription diets are formulated to treat for specific disease processes or conditions in pets. They are prescription only because they are not indicated for healthy pets with no issues and therefore need to be regulated, hence the prescription requirement. There isn’t just one specific ingredient in the food that makes it a prescription food per-say. The urinary diets are formulated with added salt, so this is what is causing the increase drinking and urination that your are seeing. This is done on purpose to help dilute the urine so that crystals don’t form. Most pets have to stay on this food lifelong because they are more susceptible to forming crystals and stones. I hope this information was helpful to you. Take care.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! if Lucky is on a prescription urinary diet for bladder stones, to prevent a urinary obstruction or to prevent urinary crystals it is not recommended to mix the food with anything else as it virtually makes it in effective. I would discuss other brands that may be more affordable with your Vet. Purina, Hills and Royal canin all make urinary foods. If you absolutely can not afford it then I would have him on an all canned food over the counter urinary diet and add extra water to the canned food. This will cause his urine to be more dilute. I wish you the best!

Hill's (Science Diet) makes a prescription urinary s/d diet and a c/d diet. If it is SO, then it must a diet made by Royal Canin. Royal Canin S/O diet is OK to feed to all the cats as is Hill's c/d multicare diet. The s/d diet is probably OK if it is only going to be a short term diet.

The prescription diet is required for pets that have been found to develop urinary crystals/stones. If your vet detected crystals, then she must be on the urinary food or she could develop a urinary stone and possibly even require surgery in the future. We as veterinarians are told that pets shouldn't have anything in addition to the prescription diet b/c this could potentially lead to failure of the diet to help regulate her condition. However, you can opt to get some of the canned Hill's S/D food to mix in with it. I hope that this helps. Best of luck with Mamie moving forward. Take care.