[Coops]

Hello, my 9 yr. old shih tzu was diagnosed with struvite stones when I took him to the vet for a check-up when he peed with blood. He was prescribed the Hills Prescription Diet s/d. My dog is allergic to chicken and the s/d dog food contains chicken. Would this be an issue? Thanks everyone.

[anonymously]

Who told you he was allergic to chicken? He probably has a food sensitivity, food allergies are rare. Did you discuss this with the veterinarian that is treating him? If the vet advises you to use the food I would do so.

Also, there is a lot of information at this site regarding bladder stones. Per the search engine here: /forums/search/struvite/
/forums/search/bladder+stones/
and allergies: /forums/search/allergies/

See my posts, come back if you have more questions…..

[Shawna]

If your Shih Tzu is truly allergic to chicken then the prescription diet could be problematic and based on what Dr. Ken Tudor wrote in this PetMD article the diet is not necessary either.

“The solution to pollution is dilution” is the phrase we veterinarians now use to explain how to prevent urinary crystal and stone formation. Time, observation, and studies have shown us that there are no magical diets for solving this problem and that water consumption is key.

The take home for those of you with cats and dogs that are urine crystal formers is to increase the amount of water in the diet.” http://www.petmd.com/blogs/thedailyvet/ken-tudor/2015/november/water-solution-urinary-crystals-pets-33270

[Susan]

Hi, my Patch was weeing blood when I rescued him & he was put on the Royal Canine S/O Urinary, wet & dry, google Royal Canine S/O Urinary wet & dry & have a look at the ingredients, I’m pretty sure the S/O wet doesn’t have chicken, If your dog can’t eat chicken then the Hills will be no good.. Hills love using cheap byproduct chicken in all their products, Patch only had to be on the Royal Canine S/O for 6 weeks, no other foods & the R/C S/O dissolved all his crystals, he had an ultra scan & all crystals were gone…
When your boy is on the Royal Canine S/O start looking for another food that he can start eating after the 6 weeks…..your better off feeding wet foods & no kibble for urinary problems..
A lot vets don’t have a clue when it comes to food, one of Patches vet prescribe a vet diet & it had corn, wheat & chicken & he knew Patch can’t eat corn, wheat or chicken he has IBD & Skin allergies… Vets don’t even know what ingredients are in these crappy vet diets…You can take back the Hills its money back guaranteed…

[Linda H]

In my opinion if you have found that your dog doesn’t do well with chicken–then don’t feed it chicken. Do your homework and feed him what you think he should have. Susan is right about the vets and nutrition. At least some vets. Royal Canin s/o was sent home with us for our dogs urinary problem and after my husband researched it and said as many dogs died on it as those that were helped—he took it back. He paid the $200 and we weren’t told what kind of crystals were found in the urine, but since it is mostly rottweiler I expect it was struvite. Simplicef tablets 200 mg was dispensed. Seems like she is on antibiotics all the time. My husband goes with Rx and I prefer remedies.

[anonymously]

If the dog continues to have urinary tract infections, there may be more to it.
Did the veterinarian suggest an x-ray? That is the only way to tell if there are bladder stones irritating the bladder causing recurrent urinary tract infections.
Also, they can have more than one type of stone and calcium oxalates don’t dissolve.

That’s what happened to my dog, he would be treated with antibiotics be okay for a few months then the infection returned. He ended up at the 24/7 vet, got x-rayed and required emergency surgery 4 years ago.
So, in retrospect I would have had the x-ray done sooner, the antibiotics are just a temporary fix.

Regarding the comments about vets and nutrition, no one is here in a professional capacity. Opinions are being offered, that’s all they are.

By homework if you mean Dr Google, then I would be leery of the information you gather. There is a lot of inaccurate information on the internet. Dogs that have a history of bladder stones should be on a special diet for the rest of their lives.

I lean toward Science-based Veterinary Medicine. http://skeptvet.com/Blog/category/nutrition/

[Coops]

Thanks everyone for your inputs!

Another vet said he had a chicken allergy when he was a puppy, however that was 9 years ago.

Yes I had all the tests done as that was what the vet recommended: x-ray, blood test, urine test. He did show me the x-ray results, and he did point at an area that looked to be blurry and said it was the stones, however I had to take his word for it as I didn’t know what these stones / crystals looked like.

He prescribed: Amoxiclav (2ml 2xday for 14 days), Meloxicam oral (06.ml 1xday for 5 days), plus the Hill’s s/d (half a can per day).

Cooper has lost weight considering he only eats s/d half can a day, otherwise he seems to be okay, minus the usual scratching and sleepiness (due to meds and old age 🙂 ). His pee also doesn’t have blood anymore (yay!).

I think I might have to have his skin problem re-checked after this as his intolerance might have changed since then?

I’m not sure how to attach an image here to show his blood test results e-mailed to me by the vet, but here’s what he said:
“blootest result of Cooper. high white blood cell count and slightly elevated sgpt. which is expected due to ongoing urinary tract infection . low platelet count. we have to repeat cbc after 14 days to check level of wbc and recheck platelet count.”

I will bring him back to the vet in 3 days for a follow-up, hopefully his stones are gone by then (fingers crossed).

[Michelle M]

Just curious what type of food your dog was eating prior to the diagnosis of struvite stones. My standard poodle was diagnosed with same last week and had to have $2500.00 emergency surgery to remove 12 of them. One of my papillons may have them as well….waiting for urinalysis results. After 5 years on Taste of the Wild with no problems, we switched to Costco Grain Free a year ago because ingredients were similar. My vet suspects the Costco Food caused the problems. Has anybody else had this diagnosis and what were you feeding your pet?

[Author]

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