Can homemade food replace expensive prescription for dog crystals?

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.

They do make a pill known as DLM that helps lower the pH but if you lower it too much you can form calcium crystals in the urine that can lead to bladder stones as well. Either method takes frequent urine checks to monitor progress

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!

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.

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.

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.

You can find a couple of over the counter foods in the following link that are adequate for urinary tract diseases but non of the non prescription diets are as good as the prescription diets and this is something you must understand: https://herepup.com/best-dog-food-for-urinary-health/