Urinary Tract Infection - Diet

Hi All,

Charlie has a UTI again, he had two last year. He is on a course of anti biotics. We did all the tests last year and were told he has a very small bladder. The vet has recommended royal canin urinary s/o food? Has anyone used this? Can you only buy it from a vets? The vet said a reoccurring UTI is not common in dogs and it just seems to be a problem Charlie has. He is 3 on the 2nd Dec so he is still young.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Emma

SamT said:

Hi All,

Charlie has a UTI again, he had two last year. He is on a course of anti biotics. We did all the tests last year and were told he has a very small bladder. The vet has recommended royal canin urinary s/o food? Has anyone used this? Can you only buy it from a vets? The vet said a reoccurring UTI is not common in dogs and it just seems to be a problem Charlie has. He is 3 on the 2nd Dec so he is still young.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Emma

Click to expand...

My little Japanese Chin, Bridgette, is on this diet for life after having an enormous bladder stone removed earlier this year.
She had frequent UTIs which eventually just did not clear, & before the operation she was in a terrible state, smelly, incontinent, and obviously in pain.

It was an expensive operation and she is not insured, so for her sake and ours I am keeping her strictly to her diet. She is not allowed any other food, except the occasional piece of rice cake as a crunchy treat.

As she is a terrible thief she is penned off at dinner time, until the others have finished what is in their bowls and cleared up the bits they scatter on the floor.

You can buy RC Urinary SO as a wet food in tins or a dry kibble type food. I feed Bridgette a mixture of both.
As she is so small, and a tin lasts a long time, I divide the contents of each tin into three portions and freeze two of them.
Freezing changes the texture slightly but Bridgette still eats eagerly.

You do not need a prescription for RC Urinary SO, you can buy it from most of the online pet pharmacies, and I think I have bought it from Chemist Direct. It is worth comparing prices and checking the amount of postage when deciding where to buy.

I don't know if they sell it in any of the large pet supermarkets, as I do most of my shoppiing online, but it may be worth checking.

Our Sophie had a couple of bladder infections by the time she was nine months old. We had her checked out by a specialist, who could find no reason. My regular vet suggested adding vitamin C to her diet, so I found a multi-vitamin supplement for dogs that has 250mg per dose of C and so far, we have not had any more problems ever since (it has been fourteen months since the last bout). She eats a regular pre-mixed/pre-packaged raw diet, nothing 'special.' Hope this helps.

There is some very interesting information here http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/utis/

this is written by a lady with a PhD in Natural Nutrition - obviously there is a lot of conflicting information on the internet but this a trusted source.

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

He had scans done in 09 which showed no stones or no blockage. He is back in the vet today, the vet said he was badly blocked and his muscles were spasming because he was trying to empty his bladder allot. He will be there till Monday.

Say a prayer he will be ok.

Ill ask the vet about the Vit C and check the online chemists. Would be worth a look. Everything is so expensive over here buying online from the Uk is worth while even when you take delivery into account.

Nicki - Thank you to the link and Lew's article on UTI's. I had missed that. The daily supplement I mentioned in my post above, is in fact purchased from her:
http://www.b-naturals.com/bertes-daily-blend-vitamins-for-dogs-1-lb-p-115?cPath=26
and I noticed it has the Vitamin 'B' that she mentions in that article. Perhaps that is why our Sophie has done so well. Who knows, but something is working right since I put her on the Daily Blend vitamin formula. (knocking on wood...)

So pleased she is doing well


BTW don't ever supplement Vit C if you are giving Frusemide - that can actually cause crystals in the bladder...

Charlie is home thank god. He is urinating again which is great. He is on two anti biotic's for 3 weeks so please god this will clear it. We have moved him onto the urinary royal canin food too. His urine test was clear but he was after having anti biotic's before this so the vet said he will do the test again in a couple of weeks.

Thanks for all the help
Emma

Charlie back in the vet yesterday, he was howling in pain Wednesday night at 11pm. Vet operated on him this morning and found 3 stones. Didnt show up on the xray. Thank god they found something. Please god he will be on the mend now and no more UTI's. The vet said he would send the stones to be analysed and that would help decide on his diet.

Bridgette's bladder stone was made up of struvite, and the RC Urinary SO is what was recommended to prevent reoccurrence.

She is supposed to be kept strictly to the diet, and I do watch her closely and try and stop her stealing food from the others.

However I have not yet been able to do anything about her constant sampling of anything and everything on the ground when I take them for their walk. Berries, bits of wood, birds' droppings, long dead worms. Fortunately she seems to have a cast iron digestive system.

Poor Charlie, hopefully that will be the end of it. Did the vet give you any reason why Charlie produces kidney stones? I suppose the prescription dog food will address that.

The nurse just said some dogs cant process the minerals etc in food and this can cause stones. I think he has a weak bladder and always will.

He is doing well today wagging his tail at the vet, off his food but they said thats normal.

Margaret, our other dog Sammy loves picking blackberries and eating them when we bring him up our lane ha ha!!