High Protein Diet and Urinary Stones?

[GAOMariposa]

Hello everyone. I have a quick question: does a high protein diet (Innova Evo) cause stones to develop in urine? I noticed my little girl had stones in her urine the other day. They were very fine, sugary looking and I only noticed them when the urine had dried and the sun hit it in a right way. I took her to the vet with a urine sample and everything came back negative. They didn't see any stones in her urine sample. The vet wants to put her on Hills SD for 30 days and then switch her to the Hills CD as maintenance.

I just want to know if anyone knows if the Innova Evo could have caused this? I have her eating the Evo and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. I also give her veggies pretty much everyday. I don't really want to have her on the Hills CD forever. Any recommendations? Or can anyone tell me what maybe could have caused this? If it was the food? Thank you to everyone.

[ArmyWife313]

Originally Posted by GAOMariposa

Hello everyone. I have a quick question: does a high protein diet (Innova Evo) cause stones to develop in urine? I noticed my little girl had stones in her urine the other day. They were very fine, sugary looking and I only noticed them when the urine had dried and the sun hit it in a right way. I took her to the vet with a urine sample and everything came back negative. They didn't see any stones in her urine sample. The vet wants to put her on Hills SD for 30 days and then switch her to the Hills CD as maintenance.

I just want to know if anyone knows if the Innova Evo could have caused this? I have her eating the Evo and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. I also give her veggies pretty much everyday. I don't really want to have her on the Hills CD forever. Any recommendations? Or can anyone tell me what maybe could have caused this? If it was the food? Thank you to everyone.

Yorkies are more prone to Oxalate crystals aka urinary stones.
"According to Ron Hines, DVM, PhD, an increase of calcium in the urine is a major factor in the formation of calcium oxalate stones. A diet high in salt, protein, lactose, sucrose, fructose and magnesium causes a higher urine calcium concentration. If there is less phosphorus in the diet, the urine calcium concentrate will be higher as well. A diet that is too high or too low in vitamin D can also increase urine calcium. A vitamin B6 deficiency can cause blood oxalate levels to increase.

Be cautious about using a commercial prescription diet for dogs; some of them contain ingredients that are no longer recommended.

Encourage your dog to be active; calcium oxalate levels can rise in a dog that does not exercise. Watch for situations that may cause her to be stressed; studies have found stress raises oxalate levels in rats. Vitamin E may be helpful in reducing the crystallization of oxalate in kidneys. Encourage her to drink a lot of water, which lowers urine calcium; exercise can help make her thirstier. Your veterinarian may prescribe potassium citrate, which will give your dog's urine a higher pH. Moist foods are better than dry for dogs with oxalate stones, but dental hygiene must be carefully monitored."

[GAOMariposa]

Originally Posted by ArmyWife313

Yorkies are more prone to Oxalate crystals aka urinary stones.
"According to Ron Hines, DVM, PhD, an increase of calcium in the urine is a major factor in the formation of calcium oxalate stones. A diet high in salt, protein, lactose, sucrose, fructose and magnesium causes a higher urine calcium concentration. If there is less phosphorus in the diet, the urine calcium concentrate will be higher as well. A diet that is too high or too low in vitamin D can also increase urine calcium. A vitamin B6 deficiency can cause blood oxalate levels to increase.

Be cautious about using a commercial prescription diet for dogs; some of them contain ingredients that are no longer recommended.

Encourage your dog to be active; calcium oxalate levels can rise in a dog that does not exercise. Watch for situations that may cause her to be stressed; studies have found stress raises oxalate levels in rats. Vitamin E may be helpful in reducing the crystallization of oxalate in kidneys. Encourage her to drink a lot of water, which lowers urine calcium; exercise can help make her thirstier. Your veterinarian may prescribe potassium citrate, which will give your dog's urine a higher pH. Moist foods are better than dry for dogs with oxalate stones, but dental hygiene must be carefully monitored."

Thank you for the information. My little baby is actually a Chihuahua. I'm working on getting her a Yorkie sister sometime this year or next. But I'm sure the same information applies to this breed as well.

I'm really not happy with the diet change. Especially since I liked the diet I had her on. But if that caused the stones, which from reading the above may have, then I can just have her on the Chicken Soup until I go home in December and find something else. Royal Canin is the best I can find here in Mexico and she hates it. Back to the drawing board I guess. I don't want to even think about how hard it will be finding a food that Itzel and my future Yorkie will like.

[GAOMariposa]

I'm supposed to start with the Science Diet SD for 30 days but they didn't have any at the pet store, so I'm going to have to wait until Monday. I switched her over to the Chicken Soup food. I think she'll be okay on it. I'm guessing the lab work came back negative because for the last week or so, I've been feeding her veggies and salmon. That made her eat less of her kibble, so it probably may have helped correct some of the problem.

Is there a food that picky eaters love that's not high in protein? I wanted to feed her Orijen with the Chicken Soup, but I couldn't find it. But that one has too much protein, so I guess that one is off the list. I tried to get samples last year on some of the high quality foods but could only get a sample from Chicken Soup and a pet feed store person let me have a small sample of the Innova. I wanted to try feeding her Wellness or Canidae, but the smallest bags are still 5lbs. Feeding a mixture of Chicken Soup and Innova for 4 months and the bags of 5lbs each are still over half full. Any recommendations on where I could find some samples? Thank you.

[Zanders' mom]

Hmm, not sure why you are mixing those 2 foods, I wonder if that could bring up the protein values.

Getting her to drink a bit more water can help... or putting naturvet - cranberry relief, I have used this for Jazzie, on and off since she first started with crystals in her urine March 2008. With a change in diet, and this cranberry relief, we have not had issues with crystals.

Good for you for giving her veggies and fish. Look into the home cooked recipes on YT, it may be the way to go for you and your furbaby.

The honest kitchen sends samples, they have a formula which has veggies, you just add the meat, it is freeze dried, you mix that part with water and then mix in your choice of meat. Pretty nice.

Good luck.

[GAOMariposa]

Originally Posted by Zanders' mom

Hmm, not sure why you are mixing those 2 foods, I wonder if that could bring up the protein values.

Getting her to drink a bit more water can help... or putting naturvet - cranberry relief, I have used this for Jazzie, on and off since she first started with crystals in her urine March 2008. With a change in diet, and this cranberry relief, we have not had issues with crystals.

Good for you for giving her veggies and fish. Look into the home cooked recipes on YT, it may be the way to go for you and your furbaby.

The honest kitchen sends samples, they have a formula which has veggies, you just add the meat, it is freeze dried, you mix that part with water and then mix in your choice of meat. Pretty nice.

Good luck.

I really hope mixing the 2 foods didn't cause the crystals. I bought both so she wouldn't eat too much protein, since the Innova Evo is high protein and the Chicken Soup is lower protein. This food thing is super complicated.

I'm going to have to wait to get the cranberry stuff from the States when I go home for Christmas. I can't find a lot of that stuff here in Mexico. That's why I brought food with me when I went home in April. I couldn't find a food better than Royal Canin over here.

The Honest Kitchen food sounds like a good alternative. I can freeze it before I come back to GDL and it should stay nice and frozen during the trip. But I probably couldn't bring enough with me to last a few months. I'll try to get a bit and maybe supplement that with some kibble. I think I might just leave her on the Chicken Soup, unless I find something else so she doesn't get bored with it.

But seriously, this food stuff is really hard. I'm going to have so much fun finding a food that Itzel and the future new puppy will like (sarcastic)

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by GAOMariposa

Hello everyone. I have a quick question: does a high protein diet (Innova Evo) cause stones to develop in urine? I noticed my little girl had stones in her urine the other day. They were very fine, sugary looking and I only noticed them when the urine had dried and the sun hit it in a right way. I took her to the vet with a urine sample and everything came back negative. They didn't see any stones in her urine sample. The vet wants to put her on Hills SD for 30 days and then switch her to the Hills CD as maintenance.

I just want to know if anyone knows if the Innova Evo could have caused this? I have her eating the Evo and Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul. I also give her veggies pretty much everyday. I don't really want to have her on the Hills CD forever. Any recommendations? Or can anyone tell me what maybe could have caused this? If it was the food? Thank you to everyone.

yes high protein can cause stones but they did not find any correct in the urine ? If they did not find anything then i would not worry and was your dog peeing on a wee wee pad is that how you saw it as wee wee pads have absorbing crystals in them and they can be misconstrued as to what you are seeing maybe

[Wylie's Mom]

Do you think she's drinking enough water? Dehydration is a big component in stones....

[GAOMariposa]

Originally Posted by dwerten

yes high protein can cause stones but they did not find any correct in the urine ? If they did not find anything then i would not worry and was your dog peeing on a wee wee pad is that how you saw it as wee wee pads have absorbing crystals in them and they can be misconstrued as to what you are seeing maybe

Hi. I actually don't have wee wee pads...not the disposable kind. I bought an incontinence sheet and cut it up and turned it into the washable pads, at least temporarily. The disposible pads are so expensive over here. She only uses those when we go home to the States. But how I actually saw the stones was when she peed outside the pad and the urine landed on the floor. It dried up and when I was walking over the clean it up, the sun hit it just right where I saw the crystals. Also, my baby doesn't just go on the pad. I actually have to put newspaper on top of the pad for her to go on it. We tried just using a disposable pad last year and it was like she wasn't even potty trained. She kept going on the carpets. So I have to put newspaper down, no matter where she's going. But I also noticed the newspaper had some shiny crystals on it.

I don't know how long she had it. I noticed she was a bit itchy down there about 2 weeks ago, but I took her to the vet and he said she was allergic to something because her whole tummy was red. So he had my giving her baths 2 times a week with a special shampoo. I thought that was maybe why she would lick the area around a bit more than usual.

I have been feeding her veggies and fish for maybe a week before the urine sample was done. But I saw the crystals on Wednesday and then Friday I took a urine sample and took her to the vet. The results said the urine was a little turbid. But that was it.

I'm just giving her the Chicken Soup and stopped the veggies for a bit. But I'm really glad it turned out to be nothing. Although I am not putting her on the Science Diet. I think removing the Evo will help. And when I go home for Christmas, I'll look for the raspberry powder. Thank you for your help.

[GAOMariposa]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Do you think she's drinking enough water? Dehydration is a big component in stones....

It's pretty warm over here so she does drink a lot of water. Even if I take her for a walk at 6 p.m. it's still pretty hot so that helps with her drinking water. The weird thing is that I noticed she drank a bit more water these last few weeks. She does have a small bowl for water, but I have to refill it every day (and wash it off course She does drink bottled water. The vet had said tap would be better because if one day she drank water from the ground or something, it could really cause a problem. I just don't really like the idea of her drinking tap water in Guadalajara. If it's not fit for human use, then why should I give it to my baby. I'm just going to have to keep an eye on her. Thanks for the tip.

[GAOMariposa]

Hi everyone. Thank you everyone for the suggestions. I just noticed today that the problem is back. I went to change her newspaper and the top later had crystals. I checked to make sure the washable pad wasn't the one that had the crystals, but the bottom newspaper piece was clean, so that theory is out.

I've been feeding her only Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul since the 10th of Sept. Since last Sunday, I've been feeding her veggies (carrots, brocolli, and cauliflower) and a little bit of ground beef, along with her kibble. I hadn't noticed the crystals until today. I hadn't feed her veggies for like 3 days after I saw the stones. When I took the urine sample, I had stopped the veggies 2 days before.

So I'm wondering, are the veggies causing this? I just put out her Innova Evo and took away the Chicken Soup one. I don't know what else I could do, short of feeding her the Hills S/D. Does anyone know where I can purchase the cranberry powder? Hopefully a site that delivers to Mexico? Thank you again for your help, everyone. I truly appreciate it.