# Question about cranberry pills and Vit C pills for my 15-week old puppy



## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

Hi Everyone!

Kaiya was peeing every few minutes on Saturday so we suspected she had a bladder infection and took her to the vet. 3 weeks earlier the same thing happened (but only for a little over a day) and they put her on Amoxicillin. Neither time were they able to find infection in her urine, but 3 weeks ago they put her on Amoxicillan just in case she was in the beginning stages of getting one.

Saturday, the vet looked at the urine more closely than they did 3 weeks ago and saw a lot of sediment/crystals in it. She said her urine was very alkaline and we needed to get it more acidic. For a few days, we're adding wet food to her dry food to see if that makes a difference on the advice of the vet (more water) but I also read on here from several of you that cranberry pills and Vitamin C pills are helpful with bladder problems - so I went out and bought some. However, I have a few questions:

1.) Is it safe to give these to a 15-week old puppy? The vet didn't 
mention anything about them - just got the info from this site.

2.) If so, how much of each pill should I give her? The pills are 500mg
and she weighs 25 lbs.

3.) How often should I give these to her and for what length of time?

Finally, the vet mentioned that sometimes this problem is caused by food - so we may have to switch foods. We're currently feeding her Nature's Domain Grain-Free Turkey Meal and Sweet Potato Dog Food. Here are the ingredients:

*Ingredients*

Turkey meal, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, potato protein, potato fiber, natural flavor, flaxseed, ocean fish meal, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

It seems like a good kibble and we researched it before we got her - it has a 4-star rating out of 5 stars on DogFoodAdvisor.com. Do any of you know anything about this type of bladder problem and do you see any ingredients listed above that would concern you with regards to her problem?

We've done some more research and thought about switching to Wellness CORE Original Recipe dry food. Any input on this?

Thanks in advance for your help!


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Vitamin C is water soluble so whatever her body doesn't use will be washed out.  Just make sure to NOT use Ester C because that has added calcium. I've never found any good scientific basis but I've read that whole food source vitamin C (rose hips, acerola cherries, etc) are much more effective and better than isolated vitamin C.

I see no reason why cranberries would, or could, cause an issue because they are a food but I've never used them.

How long was she on antibiotics? I would add some probiotics into her diet to repopulate her system.


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## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

She was on Amoxicillin for 7 days 3 weeks ago so she's been off of it for 2.5 weeks. They decided this time not to use an antibiotic because they saw no infection - just the crystals. The vet said those crystals can aggravate her bladder and make her feel like she has to go more so instead of using meds right now or going to a prescription diet (since she's a puppy) the vet wants to try and add water to the dry kibble to see how she does. Then, she thinks if that doesn't work we may want to consider a new food that would help with the pH of her urine.

In the meantime, I thought I'd try the Vit C and cranberry pills on my own since I read on here that many people with similar bladder problems use them. I just don't want to give her them until I know for sure they're safe to give a pup, how much, how long, etc.

Thanks!:wub:


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## Mom2Shaman (Jun 17, 2011)

I have used cranberry with dogs, cats, and self. It helps. One pill shouldn't be a problem. I actually just poured cranberry concentrate (not juice, but concentrate) into the water at the time rather than did pills. My dog ate my husband's vitamins and had something like 10 cranberry at one time. He was fine at 70 pounds when that happened. One pill shouldn't be a problem.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

if you're going to give your
dog cranberry pills get a natural/organic
brand. the natural brands don't have sugar,
perservatives or additives. i don't know
how much you should give. i've given thm to my dog
but i forget how much i was giving him.


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## Mom2Shaman (Jun 17, 2011)

That food seems to have a lot of potatoes. I know with the cats the fish is thought to contribute to urinary crystals but not sure about the dogs. Perhaps a food switch would be a good thing.

Remember that cranberry is also vitamin C so you may want to start with just the cranberry first. Vitamin C in excess is flushed away, but you may wish to be a little more limiting there due to her being a pup still.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

was your dog checked for diabetes???



PiedPiperInKC said:


> Saturday, the vet looked at the urine more closely than they did 3 weeks ago and saw a lot of sediment/crystals in it.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

What's the level of calcium in that food?
Nature's Domain Pet Food | About Nature's Domain

Check the puppy food sticky in the puppy food section for more info.


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## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

JeanKBBMMMAAN said:


> What's the level of calcium in that food?
> Nature's Domain Pet Food | About Nature's Domain
> 
> Check the puppy food sticky in the puppy food section for more info.


Here's what the website says:

*Guaranteed Analysis*

Crude Protein24.0%minimumCrude Fat14.0%minimumCrude Fiber3.0%maximumMoisture10.0%maximumZinc150 mg/kg
minimumSelenium0.4 mg/kg
minimumVitamin E150 IU/kgminimumOmega-6 Fatty Acids*2.4%minimumOmega-3 Fatty Acids*0.3%minimum


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Yes - that's what I linked to - no calcium information. You need to email them and ask maximum calcium. Just because they say all life stages doesn't mean the calcium levels are optimal for puppies.


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Are you giving probiotics? That's really important in replenishing the digestive tract after the antibiotics and also in treating the UTI. 

Solid Gold makes a supplement called Berry Balance and I used that to treat UTIs. There is also a great herbal product from Animal's Apawthecary called Tinkle Tonic.

Here are some additional options. Be sure to read the reviews: Urinary Tract Infection at Only Natural Pet Store


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## Klamari (Aug 6, 2010)

When Rayne had puppy vaginitis for a while, I started giving her Vitamin C and cranberry concentrate supplements at, I think it was 11 or 12 weeks? I wasn't so concerned about the PV, I just wanted to prevent a UTI if I could. I just use the human kind (Spring Valley) for both supplements, and the cranberry supplement has Vit C in it, so I made sure to factor that in when measuring out how much Vit C she was getting.​ 
I just googled, and tried to find a concensus about the dosing on the cranberry, then I gave her less that was recommended just to play it safe. And sometimes with the dosing recommends, it was unclear whether they were talking about cranberry concentrate or not.
She was probably 20-25lb at 12 weeks, I was giving her 600mg Vit C + 40mg of cranberry concentrate. This dosing actually cleared the PV up in just a couple days. It would come and go, but it never came back as bad as it was in the beginning. And it went away all together after maybe a month and half.​ 
She is now 6 months, over 50lb, and she's getting 1200mg Vit C + 80mg cranberry. The PV is totally cleared up, but she manages to find ways to be wet and dirty ALL the time, so I'm just giving her the cranberry prophylactically and to use up what I have.​ 
Cranberry for Urinary Tract Infection in Dogs | eHow.com
" Dosing
Dogs will typically not drink cranberry juice, so giving tablets or capsules is the next best option. Give one 400-mg capsule per 20 pounds of dog each day. If the dog is less than 20 pounds, cranberry tablets can be purchased and then broken in half or fourths."​ 
This one has some dosing info for both Vit C and cranberry
Urinary Tract Infections in Dogs and Cats​


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## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

Klamari said:


> When Rayne had puppy vaginitis for a while, I started giving her Vitamin C and cranberry concentrate supplements at, I think it was 11 or 12 weeks? I wasn't so concerned about the PV, I just wanted to prevent a UTI if I could. I just use the human kind (Spring Valley) for both supplements, and the cranberry supplement has Vit C in it, so I made sure to factor that in when measuring out how much Vit C she was getting.​
> 
> I just googled, and tried to find a concensus about the dosing on the cranberry, then I gave her less that was recommended just to play it safe. And sometimes with the dosing recommends, it was unclear whether they were talking about cranberry concentrate or not.
> She was probably 20-25lb at 12 weeks, I was giving her 600mg Vit C + 40mg of cranberry concentrate. This dosing actually cleared the PV up in just a couple days. It would come and go, but it never came back as bad as it was in the beginning. And it went away all together after maybe a month and half.​
> ...


 
Great, great info....thanks SO much!!

Now I'm wondering if I got too strong of a cranberry pill. Here it is...what do you think???

Walmart.com: Spring Valley Highly Concentrated Cranberry Dietary Supplement 60 ct: Diet & Nutrition


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Not sure if you saw my post about probiotics especially but I would start those immediately.


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## Klamari (Aug 6, 2010)

PiedPiperInKC said:


> Great, great info....thanks SO much!!
> 
> Now I'm wondering if I got too strong of a cranberry pill. Here it is...what do you think???
> 
> Walmart.com: Spring Valley Highly Concentrated Cranberry Dietary Supplement 60 ct: Diet & Nutrition


hmmm , I don't really know. I have these:
Walmart.com: Spring Valley Plus Vitamin C Urinary Tract Health* Dietary Supplement Softgels Cranberry Fruit, 100ct Twinpack: Diet & Nutrition

Each capsule in that concentration only has 40mg of cranberry concentrate, so that's how I was able to give her such a low dose. 

It's completely up to you. I know human medical info so much better than I know canine. So because of that, I was just being really conservative. If the low dose I had been giving her hadn't cleared it up, I probably would have talked to her vet, and then increased the dose as long as the vet didn't see any harm in it. Just off the top of my head I can't really see much harm in giving a bigger dose, except for making her urine acidity levels swing too high maybe?


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## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

BowWowMeow said:


> Not sure if you saw my post about probiotics especially but I would start those immediately.


Just out of curiousity - do you think that not giving her probiotics has something to do with what's going on with her? She started a 7-day round of Amoxicillin on July 16th...so she's been through with her antibiotics for a couple of weeks.


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## PiedPiperInKC (May 1, 2011)

JeanKBBMMMAAN said:


> Yes - that's what I linked to - no calcium information. You need to email them and ask maximum calcium. Just because they say all life stages doesn't mean the calcium levels are optimal for puppies.


The company just emailed me back. Here's what they said about the calcium (she's on the Turkey Meal):

The calcium content for the dry formula on an as-fed basis is 1.2% for the Salmon Meal and 1.4% for the Turkey Meal formulas.


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