Long story short, Greta developed a bladder full of struvite stones. These were recently removed surgically. Obviously, prevention is a concern. My vet is of the opinion that a special (expensive) prescription diet from now on will accomplish this. Luckily, his office sells it. There was no mention of any type of urine testing. Now, I don’t know if the food is a panacea or not, but I do know (being an instant internet expert) that bacterial infection and ph levels in the urine are key components to stones forming. I don’t mind the expense for the food, if, indeed it is the answer. I’m not convinced. The lack of any urine testing is also disconcerting. Do I need a new vet?
There are some threads here on stones, but they seemed to be feline related.
What’s the answer?
The prescription food is specifically formulated to adjust the urine pH and minimize the compounds that form crystals and thus stones.
I can’t give you The Answer, but can give you my experience. We had a dog with a similar problem and fed her the Prescription Diet c/d for a few years, till the damned stuff went up to like $80 a bag. Then we switched her over to a lower-protein store-bought kibble with…get ready for it…a Vitamin C tab incorporated in.
Vet seemed okay with it, pooch never had a recurrence, and everyone was happy.
I had a dog with bladder stones at about 4 months and fed him the u/d for just a couple of months and he never had problems again. He lived to be 16.5.
Do you have hard water?
There are now many easily available commercial foods that are formulated similarly to prescription diets. When my littlest cat was having issues, my vet recommended we try the limited ingredient diet (Duck and Green Pea) you could buy at PetCo because it was a bit cheaper than the prescription diet she carried in office.