Dog With Bladder Crystals: Supplements That Will Help Prevent Crystals

Response to Joyce

Question: I have a 6 yr old jack-a-poo who has had a few UTI”s over the years. I just took her to the vet bc she was barking and then licking her vagina. They did xrays and no bladder stones but her urine showed struvite and calcium oxalate crystals. They put her on a low protein diet. I was wondering what else could I use to help dissolve these so that it doesn’t turn into bladder stones?

Answer: When pets have chronic UTIs, along with licking of the vagina, and bladder crystals, the first place to try to help is with the diet. Often this pet will have skin allergies as well and suffer from scratching and itching. A low carbohydrate, hypoallergenic diet is highly recommended. Chronic UTIs and allergies are often due to the pet eating high allergen foods such as grains, corn and poultry. When a pet has bladder crystals, a “prescription” diet is often given. The diet can synthetically manipulate the mineral content which in turn reduces the likelihood of stone formation, but overall is not nearly as nutritious and/or beneficial for the long-term health concerns of the pet. Moreover, many pets still continue to get the stones and crystals while on the diet and can be allergic to the corn, byproducts and other ingredients in the prescription diet.

What we recommend is a telephone consultation through http://www.askariel.com/ to help you formulate a nutritious custom diet for your pet that will not only temporarily supress the struvite and oxalate crystals but get to the root cause of the development of them. Some breeds are more inclined than others to have struvite and oxalate crystals and stones, but in general, if the pet is put on a hypoallergenic, well balanced diet, the crystals will go away. There are different diets recommended depending upon the type of crystals found. In your situation, since both struvite and oxalate crystals were found (very common), it would not be advisable to “do it yourself” but rather seek out the advice of a pet nutritionist or veterinary professional to help you find a more suitable long-term diet.

In terms of supplements, there are products that would really help your dog. Renelix is very helpful for detoxifying the kidneys and urinary tract and releasing mineral build-up. We have seen a number of dogs use this formula along with the Pet UTI and Probitoic, and subsequent laboratory tests do not show any further struvite or oxalate crystals. Since your dog has a history of some UTIs, it would work best to use the Renelix along with Pet UTI Prevention Formula and Probiotic. Ask Ariel sells a package called the Pet UTI Prevention Package which could really help. Sure hope your dog feels better!