are Negative AGAIN.... :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( I'm so frustrated... Talked to the vet again, and she wants me to try another puppy food for her...and see if just a change in brand/formula will be enough. She doesn't really want to put her on a prescription urinary diet since she is still such a young girl...but we need to get the struvite issue cleared up for good. so I've spent my afternoon online reading dog food labels, articles, and such - trying to make sense of things and see if I can find a dog food that I like the ingredients of...that is readily available and moderately affordable... And in the mean time, I'm getting texts from hubby saying "she just pooped again and its very loose". : I'm thinking that tonight I'll be cooking some chicken and rice, adding some pumpkin and probiotics...and doing that for a few days to firm her back up...and gradually start introducing a new food to her. I just want my baby all better...is that really too much to ask for?!?!?!? :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
Re: Culture results You poor thing. No, it's not to much to ask for!! It must be so horribly frustrating. Much sympathy!!!
Re: Culture results I can understand; it must feel like she will never be better. Poor puppy and poor you. Fid you decide on a food brand?
Re: Culture results Poor you, it must be so worrying. Have you found the whichdogfood.co.uk website? I'm not sure how many of the brands would be available for you, but it might be worth a look.
Re: Culture results Of course it's not too much to ask. its the pits when you have a lingering health issue,I get a sinking feeling just reading posts like this because I can sympathise and understand how upsetting it is when your dog is poorly. Sending a big hug x
Re: Culture results Oh dear.... So sorry. Look, I know raw feeding is not the cure all for everything, but have you considered it?
Re: Culture results Oh poor you, I hope you get things sorted. Pumpkin? Strange. That is not something I'd give to a puppy with a runny tum at all. Why do you feed that? Maybe if the pup was constipated...
Re: Culture results Oh no, how frustrating! Have you considered a raw/BARF diet? [quote author=Karen link=topic=9680.msg139864#msg139864 date=1422346394] Oh dear.... So sorry. Look, I know raw feeding is not the cure all for everything, but have you considered it? [/quote] Crossed post :-\
Re: Culture results Sympathy here too. Riley suffered with his stomach when he was young too. Not as bad as you have it though. If it's any consolation he has got more robust as he's got older. Good luck on the food hunt! We ended up on Skinners Duck and Rice to avoid wheat (Riley had an itchy coat too), you can also get potato based kibble if there's a chance it's all grains. Apologies if I've missed previous posts but have you had any allergy tests done?
Re: Culture results How frustrating for you I can appreciate how you must feel. :-\ Have you tried a wet diet. I know it's not ideal but when my two were put on the urinary diet i rang royal canin as the feeding guide was complicated. They told me that it wasn't suitable for puppies. They advised I fed their wet sensitivity diet. Wet food increases the amount of fluid in the body which helps flush out the crystals. The fact it's sensitivity would help with any tummy issues. High protein is an issue when trying to get rid of struvite crystals and high magnesium content is a problem. The main source of magnesium in the diet is protein. I assume when the vet explored inside they checked the bladder. My vet explained that sometimes the little tail on the bladder which gets rid of waste when the pup is in the womb can stay attached and cause urinary problems. It's more common in bitches in fact she hadn't seen it in males. However I'm sure your vet checked for that. I don't know if any of that will help but good luck I hope you find a solution very soon. :-\
Re: Culture results I have nothing but sympathy for you. You are in a real bind. I'd stick to tried and tested Chicken and Rice for several days just to stabile her tum, then you can start gently from there. There are now so many brands and types of food available that it can be quite difficult to settle on the one that is right for your dog. Try not to chop and change too much as you won't know where you are. All this wonderful advice comes from the one with the dog with a cast iron tum, either that or I was lucky and happened on the right food first time. Good luck.
Re: Culture results It's just occurred to me I don't know if your vet has mentioned it but an option if struvite crystals can't be cleared up with diet etc is to completely flush out the bladder. It would remove all the crystals and you'd be starting from scratch with a clear bladder. Obviously it would mean putting Bella through another procedure which won't be cheap but it is an option if you can't find a simpler solution. :-\
Re: Culture results I am so sorry you still don't have any answers, much, much sympathy for you and poor little Bella xxx
Re: Culture results Jen has given some good advice here. Struvite crystals are due to supersaturation of the urine - variables like pH etc just alter how much they precipitate out. If this were my pup, I would go for a wet puppy diet with water added - you really need the urine as dilute as is possible to get. Using crystal-dissolving diets is a bad idea in young pups (high salt, low protein, high fat) as your vet so rightly comments. As struvite crystals are frequently associated with infection, and as culture of urine is negative, it is possible the infection is within the bladder wall itself and hence some folk would recommend biopsy and culture of the bladder wall. I would only go for this if all else failed. But really, the key issue here is to get your pup peeing as near to neat water as possible ie a very very dilute urine. Wet feed only, preferably with water added, no kibble of any description and as much water as you can persuade her to drink as well. Flushing the bladder is sometimes useful, but really getting very dilute urine is imperative. Hope this helps, let us know how she gets on.
Re: Culture results Gosh...you guys/gals/pups are AWESOME! Lochan specifically, thank you for posting - I was hoping you would, but didn't want to call you out specifically. Ok...first, Julie asked about pumpkin. I've always used it with pups with diarrhea, and it's one of the things my vet suggests too. It's got great fiber of course, but also full of good vitamins and is gentle on their tummy. I think it's more widely used here in the US than in the UK...since we are obsessed with pumpkin pie and can buy canned anytime we want it. Next, wet food...we have been adding both canned food and extra water and or broth to her kibble making a stew of sorts morning and night - but the mid day feeding has been dry kibble. We've done this to get more water into her system, and she has free choice water available whenever she wants it. She does like running water (the shower faucet, the toilet flushing : etc...so maybe a fountain will encourage her to drink even more - and I will make sure to make her meals very wet and sloppy. Thank you Jen and Lochan for that extra advice. Next, the surgery, yes, she looked at bladder structure, ureters, kidneys, and all that...looking for any physical anomaly. Next, raw diet - I do give her bits of raw meats occasionally, but not with much regularity. My vet and I talked about it briefly, and while she isn't opposed to the idea, she and I both understand the complexity of ensuring they get a balanced diet, and she suggested we look at other commercially available diets first to see if we can find something that works with her system. She did not see raw diet as a solution to the struvites. Right now she is enjoyed chicken and rice with a bit of pumpkin - sloppy 3 times a day. Per my vet's suggestion she is also on a twice daily probiotic and some cranberry supplement powder for dogs (won't hurt and might just help). We'll see how she does today with her poops, and if she is firm and solid, then tonight I'll add a bit of the canned she is used to, and tomorrow we will begin adding in the new kibble (soaked) slowly to see how she responds to it. She slept well last night and didn't wake until a bit after 3...I didn't follow her out to see the consistency, (I know...bad mom...but it was COLD out there!), but it didn't take her long. I'm sure hubby will give me a full report today. I packed her a lunch (good mom! ) and told hubby NO kibble, no scraps....and LOTS of water. I think I'll go back to checking her pH every day, and I suspect that next week when we go in for suture removal that we'll do another urinalysis on her and see how the crystals are managing. Fingers crossed that SOMETHING works.
Re: Culture results hubby says... "much firmer today - am I supposed to give her ALL this that you packed" Me... "yup" 8) 8) 8) 8)
Re: Culture results Hope this works out for you. Sounds sensible to me but no experience in dogs. Fingers crossed x
Re: Culture results The specific gravity of the urine is the most important thing to check if you can, more important really than pH. Unfortunately you need a refractometer to check this as the strips are unreliable. I assume your vet is spinning the urine down and checking for struvites at the surgery? Samples sent off to an external lab can grow struvites on the journey!
Re: Culture results He he....I know this is a serious business....but I just had a vision popping into my head of Heidi with a winemaking hydrometer and a test tube of Bella's urine ;D I know, I know......not funny really
