ok- i found out that the magnesium also has to be low.
low phos, low magnes and low calcium. these values are low in the innova senior canned dog food. samie eats very little. maybe 1/4 cu[ dry a day and I feed her the canned as a treat and to give her allergy pill in the morning. she has approximately 3 tbl total of the canned per day. i don't want to start mixing it in her food just yet because then she will get used to that. it's too sad to spoil her with something good and then find out that i will have to take it away from her. but she LOVES LOVES LOVES the canned. She is so funny! :-) so until i talk to the vet again on monday... i just keep researching away and relying on anyone that gives me info. i am not giving up and giving in to the hills pres diet with corn and chemicals. the ingredients are just awful. just think- my other yorkie was on the pres diet too (not that she needed to) Sadie- she weighed 15.5 lbs. she was a littld chubby... we had to cut out all treats (milkbones) in Feb. and they both started the corn based pres food. well sadie now only weighs 11.4 lbs. that was a lot of weight for her to loose. the thing i can't figure out is sadie lost and samie did not. samie stayed right at 7 lbs. she didn't gain...but she didn't lose either.?? samie needs to lose 1-1.5 lbs. she would do so much better. she is such a mopey little dog. i can't walk her anymore with her trachea problems. her breathing is just to scary and she turns blue sometimes. and all she does is lay around and sleep. she walks in the kitchen and follows me around sometimes... but she is a mopey little dog.

Did Donia respond as she helped a lot of other yorkies - i am on ytlist@yahoo.com and yorkiechat@yahoo.com and liver-mvd list as dd has liver issues.

Donia really knows her stuff - has she responded to you?

if she is not scooting then you know it was the food if that is all you changed so stay strong as most vets do not know a lot about nutrition - you can also go to www.balanceit.com which is ucdavis as that is where the specialists in nutrition for animals practice - check it out

Hi! No Donia hasn't responded. I emailed her 7/4 and still waiting. :-) i hope she can help me. I don't know what to do?

The vet told me today that since i don't want to try the hills pres W/D food with adding 1 teas potassium citrate granules to her food once a day, then to pick a food that i want to feed her and have her tested again in 4 wks. But i told the vet that i don't know what to feed her??? She said she is against the raw b/c she has seen a lot of pancreas problems feeding raw.

She pretty much made my options pretty cut and dry and I am a little upset about it. We can't just say ok lets switch vets again b/c I don't like what she is saying since it is too stressful on Samie. and they have been wonderful meeting us at the door right when we get there. we are usually in and out in 10 min. with samie's trachea issues it makes me nervous. she is a great vet but i do strongly feel that we are not on the same page. she told me again that a dog takes 6-8 wks to adjust once changing their food. But i told her AGAIN. my husband is my witness. this dog completely stopped scooting and acting weird after we stopped the food. (I am going to figure out how to send you the video) it was like as if we were feeding her poison the way she got. And i am going to tell you something... We litterally changed her diet abruptly! i went 2 days doing the phase out of the old and introduce the new and she still did the scooting thing but it was just only not as bad... so once we took her off of the purina nf food completely which was JUNE 22nd. she has not scooted since then. then the vet tells me also today that i need to figure out what's more important the scooting or the crystals. she said herself if it were her she would deal with the scooting.

well let me tell you... it's not a little scooting that goes on with her... she scoots, makes herself raw. sit's abruptly and even cries and she looks at me with those "help me pleassseee" eyes. so right then and there i know this vet knows nothing about nutrition. i have wracked my brain, repeated myself constantly... i don't know what to do.

each day i think i will find a solution and to make things worse and add to my nerves and stress level... samie went running after my other dog (hey- she is feeling better) and she was limping for 3 days. they told me i could give her 1/4 tablet of tramadol. A couple weeks ago we found out she had a yeast infection (which is almost cleared up the vet said) and an ear infection in both ears. we have been giving her drops 2 x's a day for that. She had her ears checked again this past Monday (while we were there doing xrays to see if she had stones) vet says still a bit of infection- continue with the drops... well after 2 wks of giving her these ear drops called tresaderm her poor little ears... i noticed over the w/end she was shaking her head and you could tell her ears are bothering her. the outside area and in her canal were really red. So- no more drops until i can get her back to the vet saturday.

I found a pres diet called ROYAL CANIN Veterinary Diet™ canine VEGETARIAN FORMULA. It says is a complete and balanced diet for adult dogs formulated to aid in the management of canine lower urinary tract disease due to urate urolithiasis.

I have no idea if this would be good to try.. here are the ingredients:

ROYAL CANIN Veterinary Diet™ canine VEGETARIAN FORMULA:
Oat flour, brewers rice, potato protein, canola oil, yeast culture, tomato pomace, beet pulp, flax seed, calcium carbonate, natural flavor, carrot pomace, potassium citrate, dicalcium phosphate, citric acid, inulin, lecithin, sodium chloride, taurine, vitamins (DL-alpha-tocopherol (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), vitamin A acetate, inositol, niacin, calcium pantothenate, vitamin D3 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), vitamin B12 supplement] minerals [zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, copper proteinate, calcium iodate, cobalt carbonate, sodium selenite], L-carnitine, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, and citric acid.

this had definitely been the biggest challenge i have faced in quite a while. i feel defeated... but i am not giving up. i will cut this here... my responds are sometimes long. ;-)

i checked out the site but wasn't able to see much. it was looking for vet info.

I got some help for Mitzi's skin and allergy problems on this site...

http://www.justanswer.com/

We all hope your problems can be solved and your precious Sammy will be a normal healthy puppy soon!

I do have a cousin which is a Vet and he told me once that in vetenarian work there is a lot of guessing involved. They also have to think about their wallet and sometimes that dictates their actions... Maybe a little "step back - take it easy - give it time - listen to your guts" might help to clear your mind a little and help against the confusion...

About the pancreatitis with raw food, that might be the case when the dog gets meat thats really fatty. Mitzi gets the leanest beef I can find (ground beef 97/3), tuna in water, chicken breast (without the skin). You might also try cook it if you are not comfortable with raw chicken in your kitchen. I also mix a spoonful of plain non fat yoghurt in and very little oatmeal. As treats Mitzi gets home dried jerky without any salt or spices and she just LOVES those. This way I know exactly what goes in her belly and don't have to worry about any preservatives or other chemicals.

Mitzi sends kisses! :aimeeyork

Im so sorry your baby is having so many problems and the vets seem to not be helping her at all. Be very careful what you give her,You dont want those crystals/stones coming back. My Mickey had the same type of Crystals He is on U/D Prescription, I wondre why your vet hasent tried putting her in that. I will keep her in my prayers I hope she gets better and all these problems go away.

update
 

Samie is still on Canidae all life stages. The vet wanted to put her on hills w/d pres diet and add 1 teas of potassium citrate granules to her food 1 x a day. I was very presistant with the vet and i raised my concerns to her about putting her on that food that samie did not do well on (purina nf diet)
I was too nervous!! I told the vet that she needed to get back on the phone with the hills nutritionists and figure out a different plan. In the mean time. i discovered Canidae and immediately took samie off the pres diet. Then we continued to find a food compariable to the same values of sodium, magnesium, and calcium and all the ingrediets that were in the pres diet as close as possible.

I do not know what it was exactly that samie was allergic too in that food??? but it literally was poisoning her. And i also knew that whatever it was i was? I was not wanting to put her on a food that was so very similar as the one I just had to take her off of.

samie's ph was 6 a few wks ago. My husband talked to the vet this time b/c she was telling me that I needed to decide b/w the scooting or the crystals. she made me rather upset and i told her that it had been 2 wks since my dog was not eating the pres food and she has done a complete 360! she continued to tell me that it takes 6-8 wks for a see changes in a dogs diet. i told her NO. my dog is a different dog. she isn't sick anymore. you can tell she feels better. and it wasn't like samie was just having a few good days. each day that passed she got better and better it was crazy!!

Now I am not going to argue whether or not she needs to be on a pres diet or not. i would want whats best for her. I just didn't feel like the vet took enough time to research the best food for her. So in the mean time.. waiting for her to get back in touch with hills nutritionist... i couldn't "not" feed my dog. that's after researching here that i read about canidae. (well you know i went out the very next day and got it)

I continued to research foods for about 200 hrs. neglected my poor husband for weeks b/c every night I came home from work i was on the computer- determined to find a different pres diet we could give her. comparing foods. Geez!!!so many of them.

finally my husband talks to the vet and she tells him that she is not overly concerned with samie's food values at the moment and to continue feeding her the canidae. Her goal here is to raise samie's ph closer to 7. she suggested feeding her 1 food for an entire month and then do another urinalysis after 4 wks. Of course this waiting peroid of an entire month makes me nervous.

I also read that giving distilled water is better than tap water. we have very hard tap water and i thought hey- maybe this is causing samie to form crystals and have problems? who knows?
so i go out and buy distilled water too. Then after more research I find that yt owners use acv (apple cider vinegar) in the water. So this past w/end i go and buy acv and also some ph test strips.

I came home and tested samie right away- i know i need to wait until first morning urine but i was anxious to see what her level was. 5.5! oh no.. that is not good. that made me a nervous wreck b/c a couple wks ago she was a 6. ok- so i will do this correctly and test MORNING urine and try not to let that worry me.

So now today is day 3 on acv... I also do have to say that I got a little scared giving the distilled water b/c i read a different thread over the w/end and I read things like distilled water has ALL minerals removed.
Ok now i am scared... samie's ph was 6 then after I switched her to distilled water for 2 wks or so she drops to 5.5. maybe this is just coincidence??

so yesterday i give them tap water with the acv added to it.. b/c now i am nervous to give them the distilled. This morning i tried to test her and she wouldn't pee. I also had just let them outside at 2:30 am so maybe she just didn't have to go... so i couldn't test her.

well- as soon as i got home from work i just had to test her! They stay in the front of our house and i gate off the kitchen so they have 3 rooms that are not carpeted. i just can't confine them to a cage all day long and this way they have access to food and water and little steps to get up on the couch to see the outside world :-)

I have no choice but to leave them for 10 hrs all day alone and i hate it so bad. Sometimes they have accidents but they usually they do not.
So I come home today and tested samie and her ph was 6.5! I literally used 5 test strips b/c i just couldn't believe it????!!!!

I gave them tap water and acv last night and this morning...
in just one day could her ph go up?

i am still undecided about what water i want to give my girls. my husband sees nothing wrong with the tap. I am nervous about distilled now... so today i picked up some spring water. and honestly... i don't know what to do. If samie didn't have kidney issues i would not be so scared. but i want to make sure i am doing everything right with her to though.

what i don't understand for the life of me???????? is this:
if the vet was only concerned with her ph level why change her to a food that she may not do well on? why in the world wouldn't she suggest adding anything to her water? like acv???

If the ACV is definitely raising her ph... why wouldn't the vet tell me to do this?? My husband is worried about giving her the acv b/c the vet told us strictly to feed her one food for one month and then recheck. He was a little upset with me for not asking her if i can do this. the vet said that we might have to make changes to her diet. if so they we are going to try a different hills pres diet- either dd or zz. can't remember the exact ones.

I didn't ask the vet about the acv b/c i was too scared she would say NO- don't give it to her and everyone on this forum raved about the benefits of acv...

if the vet is only concerned with raising samie's ph level closer to 7... I wonder if by doing this it will stop her from producing calcium oxalate crystals??/ If all we have to do is add the acv to her water...Then i don't know what???? b/c God knows i have been so sooooooo worried about my little girl to the point this whole last year i have worried myself sick. i can't help it. I worried and stressed it was crazy.

my little samie is a different dog now that she is off of that food that made her so sick. it's nice to have my frisky, cuddly, yappy, playful, little bundle of luv back. it's been so long since she was herself.

(maybe it is wishful thinking to believe that samie could continue on the canidae and just simply adding the acv to her water to stop the crystals from forming ??) i do not know the answer to that. but i guess we will find out in a month.

i am just glad samie is feeling better. i've missed her kisses and little nibbles on my nose. she hadn't felt good for so long...7 mos.
i tell you! I NEVER would have questioned the food the vet prescribed her to be on.

We honestly were thinking that samie has such bad kidney problems with finding crystals that maybe the end is coming and it's going to be time to put her to sleep.

Samie has not scooted, looked ill and uncomfortable for 4 whole weeks this Friday!

She continues to amaze me every day how good she is feeling. My husband asked her last week: "where has my lil' Samie been for so long??" it's nice to have you back little baby. it's like as if someone gave her a "welcome back to life shot" :-) cRaZy!!!

So glad to hear such a good news you guys are such a wonderful parents is such a blessing that she have you as a mommy, is nice that she is back, sending prayers your way:hands:

I am so happy to hear how well she has been doing :)

P.S. I honestly don't know much about different kinds of water...BUT...I honestly do not think that you will be hurting Sammie in any way what so ever by giving her the ACV. It is natural and very healthy, it has lots and lots of benefits. I give it to my everyday. Also, I have been drinking a tablespoon and water myself pretty much everyday. ;)

We are really glad to hear she's improving. We'll keep you and your precious baby in our prayers!

scooting
 

Im having same ussue with my yorkie girl, she seems fine but seems scooting for weeks, i see sticky black stuff by privates also.
I used anti fungal on her and clean her off, i guess its a trip to vet?

My baby is going through the same thing!!
 

My little Sasha is going through the same thing as Sadiesami mom is going through, Ive tried cleaning her, she runs and hides. I scheduled an appointment with my vet but they are on vacation and I cant get her in until the beginning of February. I feed her pedigree and dry mix but im really worried, I think Im going to take her to the vet hospital. Is there any advice to help? Antibiotics and cranberry juice is what Im reading. I just hate having to wait, I don't want her to be in pain. Thanks and when Sashi wakes up from her nap, Ill add a picture.

I would find a vet NOW & get this baby seen ASAP as this could be a UTI & if so she could die before your appt date. A UTI is very serious same as in people & you dont wait & see, you treat ASAP. I'l be praying for her. Just take her to any vet as a walk in & tell them you want to rule out a UTI.