My senior dog has a bladder infection. Is Hill's diet really best?

There are several diet formulations to help pets who are prone to urinary tract infections. These are prescription diets and need to be approved by your veterinarian but they are highly effective. Royal Canin makes a diet called Urinary SO that most pets like the taste of. Science diet and Purina also make their own formulas. I recommend to speak with your veterinarian about trying one of these nights. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

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.

Incontinence would not be a normal side effect of this diet change and I recommend a repeat urine test to rule out common complications of stones such as infections and inflammation or other medical concerns such as diabetes

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Diet can be used to manage kidney disease and urinary crystals/stones. If Bug has either of these conditions, the diets can be prescribed by her veterinarian. If you are referring to issues with urinating, such as accidents or difficulty emptying her bladder, these conditions are not managed with diet and may require medication. Both Purina and Hill's Science Diet have excellent grain free options for dogs. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. If your Montgomery only 'cleans up' the bowels he will not get into any problems. Regarding the inconsistent stools, it may be caused by variations in his diet (treats, C/D food and his regular food). You should try and get him a probiotic and add it to each meal for 5-7 days. That should help to regulate his bowel movements.

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.

The current recall has been confined to a specific range of the hills canned/wet diets and if she has been doing well on the active longevity kibble with no flare ups of pancreatitis I would be very slow to consider changing as this may trigger relapses which may be more difficult to control as she is getting older. A very low fat and restricted diet is recommended in pancreatitis patients, this is difficult to prepare accurately at home over the long term to maintain a correctly balanced diet. My preferred choice in such patients is royal canin gastrointestinal low fat or calibra gastro-pancreas but many light and senior diets are also ok in stable cases