Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Please help me find a urinary supplement for my dog
My dog Hoss has had at least 4-5 UTI's in the past year. I noticed him dribbling urine on Thursday so I took him to the vet that day. They found that he has a UTI, plus an incredibly high amount of struvite crystals, blood, and very high pH. We x-rayed him today and thankfully he does not have stones.
He has severe allergies to corn, rice, any grain, and all chicken products. I feed him Nature's Domain Salmon/Sweet potato, and it's really the only food I can afford that will work with his allergies. He cannot go on the prescription food for urinary problems because he's allergic to the ingredients.
So I thought I would get him a supplement, like Solid Gold Berry Balance or Only Natural Pet Cranberry. Well, after researching the ingredients one has chicken flavor, and the other has rice flour. Another supplement I looked at has corn. I want something that will specifically work with his struvite crystals and pH problems.
Anyone have suggestions of stuff that could work without conflicting with his allergies? TIA!
Re: Please help me find a urinary supplement for my dog
Look into human brands. I doubt they have chicken flavoring etc.
Any suggestions on what I should look for? I'm nervous about getting the dosage right, everything I saw is just straight cranberry stuff. I need something that has cranberry, but will also help with the crystals and pH issues.
I think the most important question is why recurrent UTIs. Are they getting fully cleared each time? With a UTI I'm not surprised there are crystals. I think I'd culture the urine to determine which antibiotic to use and culture again when you think the infection has cleared. At that point you could try and see if urine pH is actually a problem or not.
If you have been culturing after each infection already I think you need to figure out why they are coming back. Is there some type of structural problem?
I'm not saying a supplement couldn't be helpful, but it seems like there might be something more significant going on.
To make you feel my love.
Yes, we have been doing the before/after cultures each time to confirm the UTI, confirm which antibiotic to use, and confirm it has been cleared. Regarding the structural issue, his xray was normal.
I have personally had chronic UTI's for a long time. We figured out that I basically had a constant low level UTI, and once the bacteria reached a certain point it would flare up and I would get the UTI symptoms. My gyno put me on a standing order of antibiotics which I took for 3 months. After that, I have never had another one since, and I *was* getting them on average every 3 weeks. If that round of antibiotics didn't work, my gyno wanted me to have a procedure to have my urethra stretched ::shudder::uncontrollable clenching::shudder:: Thank God I didn't need that. If the meds hadn't worked she told me I probably had a physical problem with my urethra that the stretching would remedy. I guess that's what you mean about him possibly having a structural issue? I'll bring it up with my vet at our next appt to see what he thinks.
But in the meantime I want to try to help him feel better, because I know how miserable UTI's are, and he can't tell me when he's having symptoms. I don't want him suffering.
To make you feel my love.