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Originally Posted by maggiecc  Winnie is going on 10 months old now. She was spayed about 4 months ago and had all test run on her. If that includes a bile acids test, I am not aware.
Since her pH was 7, isn't that normal then? Why did she get the crystals? This is why i wish my vet would have talked to me! I'm guessing the crystals won't go away on their own even if I do change her diet so I will have to get a perscription diet from another vet. |
I wish your vet would have talked to you too, because you are in-limbo right now, and that is not right. But, since this vet is not available and thinks he/she is too good to talk to customers directly, I'm glad you are moving on.
The main cause of struvite crystals is a urinary tract infection. However struvites can also show up in normal urine so just because Winnie's pH was normal is not the end of the story.
Bladder stones (which form from crystals) can be due to genetics and our breed is prone. The bladder if alkaline can create an ideal environment for struvite formation. The Rx diets (or the uro-eze product) change the condition of the bladder, making it acidic, so that struvites can't form.
As someone else said, dogs with liver shunts can also have stones. But, dogs without shunts can have crystals and stones too. For example, my Barney who is 10 years old has another kind of crystal right now in his urine and he does not have a liver shunt. Teddy also has had crystals in the past, and he does not have a liver shunt. Daisy has never had crystals and she does have liver shunting. So, in my experience, none of my dogs with liver shunting have crystals and my dogs without shunts do. That is why it is so important that someone look at the whole clinical picture along with the blood work when treating our babies.
I have no experience with the RC diet - I am not sure if they are struvite specific and I know that we were advised to use the Hill's S/D diet for about a month. As I have said and told you directly, I did not want to do that because our breed is prone to pancreatitis, and Teddy has a sensitive stomach, so we went with the uro-eze and it worked. He is having some testing done today, and I can let you know if the struvites returned when the bladder went back to its normal condition.
Whatever you decide should be based on good vet advice so I hope you find someone you can trust to work with on this. I too am choosy with my vets, and am on my 4th one in 10 years and she was well worth the wait.