# Switched food due to crystals in urine



## good_snow (Jun 9, 2012)

So about two weeks ago our then 13 week old starting having frequent accidents in the house when he was pretty much already potty trained. We took him to the vet and sure enough they said he had crystals in his urine and she said it was due to the food we were giving him. We were feeding him Earthborn Holistic Puppy. She said we needed to switch food to Science Diet in order to get his pH level back down. 

His pH level is back down to normal and I'm thinking we will continue feeding him Science Diet until he's an adult. My question is whether he will be ok if we switch him back to Earthborn when he is an adult? I just don't want to keep him on Science Diet since it's not the best food. I also read a blurb somewhere online that it's possible to get pH strips at a pharmacy and just do the test at home?


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## Pattycakes (Sep 8, 2010)

My dog had struvite crystals in her urine as well. I was told that I had to switch foods. My dog has a very sensitive tummy so I opted not to switch food. Instead I added Solid Gold Berry Balance to her diet and so far...her ph level is normal. I just add some to yogurt and she eats it right up.

Did you ask your vet if your dog will have to be on the different food always. If not, you may want to talk to your vet.


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## CainGSD (Nov 15, 2003)

I had a male adult GSD who developed struvite crystals in his urine. My vet also felt it was the food he was being fed. At the time it was considered a premium food. There was discussion between the vet and myself that it could be water related since I did not think it was food related. I made changes to bottled water and he was on Uroeze (?sp) to acidfy his urine. Crystals cleared and in a short time they were back. I changed his food to different premium diet and he did not have another episode with the crystals.

I decided while the first food was a premium food it for whatever reason did not agree with his system. Doesn't make a particular food good or bad just not a good match for my dog.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I would ask the vet specifically why they felt it was the food as the Earthborn looks like a good food with low numbers for both Calcium and Phosphorus. Which SD was the puppy put on? I don't know much about those crystals as I live in an area with soft acid water and I imagine hard warter could really contribute to minerals in the urine.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

SD prescription (I"m assuming that is what he was put on) was not meant for long term feeding. I would do what I needed to do to get his crystals out of his system and then look for a better quality food. Have you considered RAW?

Yes, you can order pH strips from amazon.com/


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## EastGSD (Jul 8, 2001)

I assume your vet did a urinalysis and culture? Struvites are usually caused by bacteria in the urinary tract and until that is addressed the crystals, progressing toward stones, will continue to appear regardless of the food being fed.


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## good_snow (Jun 9, 2012)

I'm not sure if he has to continue to be on SD food even through adulthood, we'll have to call the vet again and ask. We took him back in last Weds to get another test done and they said he was back to normal. It was initially at 7.5 and it went down to 6. We think his level still might not be normal though because he's had two accidents inside the house since they said he was back to normal. I was trying to look online to see if we could get pH test strips somewhere locally but I haven't found any stores that sell them. Are the ones used for pools the same thing?


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I *really* question feeding this food to a puppy and vets are notorious for not having a good nutritional background. I think it is below the AAFCO protein recommendations for growth and those are very low. I agree that everything I found online said INFECTION for dogs, pH for cats. There are plenty of good foods out there that are low in calcium, phophorus and ash that your vet might like. Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold (I get mail order) and Innove Large Breed Puppy are both foods a lot of folks like............


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

Wow, I didn't know that dogs get crystals too. My cat has this problem for over 12 years. The ONLY thing that had worked so far is feeding him raw and Dasuquin- I don't know why it but it works. The vet prescribed (you can buy this on Amazon) Dasuquin 2 years ago and so far, he hasn't had an episode.

BTW, my cat still gets dry food- I feed him raw at night and mix in the dasuquin. I know there's Dasuquin for dogs, who knows it might work for yours?


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## good_snow (Jun 9, 2012)

So our guy is all better now. Our vet thinks he had some sort of infection so we had to get additional medicine for that. 

Due to the crystals we had to switch him to the Science Diet food which I know is crap so I'm wondering if we should try switching him to something else now that his infection is gone. I guess it would be safest to find a food with a low pH but I'm not sure what that would be. One lady at a small local pet store recommended Taste of the Wild because it uses filtered water so I might look in to that. Does anyone know if this or any other food would be good?


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## SiegersMom (Apr 19, 2011)

I have not feed Taste of the Wild but I have heard only good things about it. We Use grainfree Blue Wilderness (salmon) and it is great. It has been a lifesaver for bowl issues. He was sensitve to corn and had large loose stools. But I do not know if it would help with the problem you are having. Taste of Wild is a little less expensive and I may switch over someday but I did not find a store locally that sold it until we were on Blue and I hate to go through another diet change yet since the Blue is working so well.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

TOTW is NOT to be fed to puppies. they have a new puppy food out but I haven't looked at it so don't know how good it is.


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## good_snow (Jun 9, 2012)

Yea now that I've discovered that TOTW is made by Diamond I don't think we'll be switching him to that. From what I've read so far I think Acana sounds like a good option? They have a Puppy Large Breed formula as well.


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## Sir Bear (Mar 9, 2012)

My dog had the same struvite crystals around that age on Innova LBP and the vet convinced me to switch to royal canin (which he sells in his office of course)...I let that go on for about a month before switching back to Innova and he hasn't had a problem since.


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## good_snow (Jun 9, 2012)

We finally asked our vet today about switching him back to something better and he seemed to think that Science Diet is actually a fairly good food. He said that if we want to switch it would be better to wait until he was around a year old. I'm not really sure what to think. I don't really know how much vets know about food and nutrition and what to believe.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Science diet is a horrible food. Their prescription diets have their place but overall, the food is simply corn, chicken by products and added vitamins/minerals because they food itself doesn't supply it.

Personally, I would look for a new food.


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## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

Science Diet may be crap according to most on this list. Let me just say that Aggie, my border collie, was two months short of 16 yrs old when she died of a disease that was not nutrition related. Cheers, my cat turned 20-yrs in May and is still doing fine. She has never eaten anything but SD in her life. Her two litter mates died last year at 19-years, all raised on SD. The crap did a pretty good job for them. These are facts. A lot of what you here is speculation by untrained people who have read some articles and feel they are very knowledgeable about nutrition. They are VERY vocal about their beliefs. I know very little about nutrition but I do know that facts are facts in the case of my bc and cats. I agree that SD Specialty Diets are not usually for puppies or any dog on a long term basis.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I was also feeding SD...and saw terrible coat, poor digestion, cloudy eyes, hanging corn fat belly...THAT is what I based my opinion on so yeah...I am VERY vocal about my beliefs. There are some facts for you too.

And to be quite honest...I'm incredibly sick of seeing nothing but snark and attacks on the board in every thread. People can have different opinions based on different experiences without being attacked every **** time.


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## Marnie (Oct 11, 2011)

Jax08 said:


> I was also feeding SD...and saw terrible coat, poor digestion, cloudy eyes, hanging corn fat belly...THAT is what I based my opinion on so yeah...I am VERY vocal about my beliefs. There are some facts for you too.
> 
> And to be quite honest...I'm incredibly sick of seeing nothing but snark and attacks on the board in every thread. People can have different opinions based on different experiences without being attacked every **** time.


You are a very sensitive individual if you think what I said was snarky. Now, what you said is snarky. I gave the OP the facts as I know them so they could make a choice between SD and something else. What bothers me is when lay people give info about nutrition. I didn't tell the OP to buy or not to buy any particular food. I didn't give any alarmist opinions. I did not personally attack anyone. I just gave the OP my experience. You certainly could have done the same without all the drama and emotion.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Well Marnie...when a person posts their opinion on something and right below it are comments such as



> A lot of what you here is speculation by untrained people who have read some articles and feel they are very knowledgeable about nutrition. They are VERY vocal about their beliefs.


it certainly appears as an attack that is also filled with drama and emotion and snark. Maybe I am overreacting but there is certainly alot of drama and crap on this board lately in every topic. I apologize if what you posted was not directed at me. And there certainly are alot of internet experts out there. No, actually I'm not an overly sensitive individual and yes, I was being snarky in my post. But it wasn't the part you highlighted.


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## MooshiesMommies21 (11 mo ago)

NancyJ said:


> I _really_ question feeding this food to a puppy and vets are notorious for not having a good nutritional background. I think it is below the AAFCO protein recommendations for growth and those are very low. I agree that everything I found online said INFECTION for dogs, pH for cats. There are plenty of good foods out there that are low in calcium, phophorus and ash that your vet might like. Fromm Large Breed Puppy Gold (I get mail order) and Innove Large Breed Puppy are both foods a lot of folks like............



I 100% agree! Been a vet tech for a loooong time. 
This comment caught my eye because we feed our dog, Mishka, FROMM. We LOVE IT! She LOVES it! Her hair is so beautiful. I worked for a natural pet food store and learned A LOT -not just about the foods but the companies etc. FROMM is a great food. Great family owned business. 
Just PLEASE PEOPLE- do your due diligence... The vets don't know nutrition if they're pushing Hills.


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## Rabidwolfie (Apr 9, 2021)

Marnie said:


> Science Diet may be crap according to most on this list. Let me just say that Aggie, my border collie, was two months short of 16 yrs old when she died of a disease that was not nutrition related. Cheers, my cat turned 20-yrs in May and is still doing fine. She has never eaten anything but SD in her life. Her two litter mates died last year at 19-years, all raised on SD. The crap did a pretty good job for them. These are facts. A lot of what you here is speculation by untrained people who have read some articles and feel they are very knowledgeable about nutrition. They are VERY vocal about their beliefs. I know very little about nutrition but I do know that facts are facts in the case of my bc and cats. I agree that SD Specialty Diets are not usually for puppies or any dog on a long term basis.


My cats (first time cat owner although my parents had cats when I was a child) are still pretty young, so I can't really say anything about their longevity yet, but my last pup was a rescue mix. Before I knew anything at all about kibble, I fed him crap like Gravy Train and Ol' Roy. Thought I was giving him good enough food since that's what was normal for our dogs when I was growing up, whatever was the cheapest 50 lb bag. He lived to be nearly 21 years old, about 15 of those years were spent with me.

Some animals are hardier and longer lived no matter what they eat.


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## Roscoe618 (Jan 11, 2020)

I am sorry your pup had this issue and has been resolved. I stopped reading the comments after your mentioned your vet put the pup on Science diet. That food is total garbage. Feed your pup well balance raw food and throw that SD kibble in the trash...I wouldn't even feed that to the squirels!


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## SMcN (Feb 12, 2021)

Edited: I didn't realize this was an old post that was reactivated. But I am going to let my post stand as I think the information on foods is important for people to be aware of.

I would look into the hard vs soft water notations in this thread. I hadn't, personally, considered the relevance there, but it makes sense to me. Although our puppy does not have any issues with our hard water, yet, I am taking this thought to heart and will change her over. We capture rain water, filter and use it for drinking and cooking. As that means the resource has a limit, we will try to budget that in for Ilita. Rain water has a natural pH of around 5.6. Which is what ours reads, living in a fairly pollution-free environment. Back east, it could be considerably lower due to contaminants.

I am also on the side of paying attention to the labels on dry and canned foods and learn to understand exactly what they are telling you. If they have a whole list of vitamins and minerals listed as add-ons, then you have to question why. Generally, that is because the processing of the food, which is higher in dry, has destroyed any or much of the nutrients. No, I am not an expert. Just a concerned pet owner who has been doing my homework and knows better than to trust the manufacturer when they tell you how "good" a product is. Do your homework.

Also, the carbohydrate needs of dogs are zero. So if a product has one meat listed as the first ingredient and then a whole bunch of other stuff (I will refrain from calling it crap), then you have to question that. And I don't care if it claims to be 'grain-free' or not. Some of the 'grain-free' product lines have a high carb percentage as well. Understand when they say 'by-products' that is just exactly what it sounds like and is the residual leftovers of multiple heat treatments and considered ultra-processed. The more refined and processed, the less nutritional value. There are many other subtleties it would benefit you to know when purchasing food for your pets.

I am with the 'go raw' crowd. We have had four dogs prior to our current GSD and numerous cats. All fed on kibble. The Rottie died at 11.5 years from a heart defect diagnosed when he was 2. Our first JRT died at 10 years from acute full organ failure, suspected related to kibble. However, we stayed with kibble, feeding our next 2 JRTs with it. They lived to be 15 yrs, 7 months and 15 yrs, 10 months. But they self-supplemented raw almost every day of their life until the one's eyesight went and the other, his hearing. Then it slowed down. 

Did we stick with kibble for our GSD puppy? Nope. Started looking into raw as a healthier, better alternative and transitioned her over from 8 weeks. As she is young, almost 16 weeks, we will see how it goes. But she is strong and healthy so far, with a coat to die for, 

Good luck with your pup.


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