[az4x4runner]

Hello,

My 1 year old Terrier mix (Riley) suddenly started wetting in the house and having to go more frequently, which was quite strange for him. I took the vet a urine sample and he said Riley had small crystals forming in his bladder. He figured it couldn't be due to minerals in the water because I already give my dogs reverse osmosis water, so he switched him from Canidae to Royal Canin Urinary SO 14.

The first couple days he ate it no problem, maybe he liked the change, but now I am having difficulties getting him to eat it and he trys to eat my other dogs Canidae. It is a mixture of wet and dry I feed him. I am looking for any ideas on howto get him to eat it.

Thank you,
Bryan

[RawFedDogs]

Originally Posted by az4x4runner

He figured it couldn't be due to minerals in the water because I already give my dogs reverse osmosis water, so he switched him from Canidae to Royal Canin Urinary SO 14.
The first couple days he ate it no problem, maybe he liked the change, but now I am having difficulties getting him to eat it and he trys to eat my other dogs Canidae. It is a mixture of wet and dry I feed him. I am looking for any ideas on howto get him to eat it.

I went to the Royal Canin web page and couldn't find Urinary SO 14 but I did find SO13 which I assume is close to the same. That stuff is unbelievably bad. The kibble is no more than corn, rice and chicken fat. Terrible!!

The canned is even more repulsive. Meat by-products and animal fat are two of the worst ingredients you can put into a dog food. There is no control to where those ingredients come from. They could be road kill, animals too diseased for human consumption, euthinized pets and farm animals, farm animals that dropped dead for unknown reasons, etc. The canned also contains BHA/BHT as preservatives. They are cancer causing ingredients that are not allowed for human consumption.

I think your dog is smart. Instead of trying to get him to eat that stuff that is less than garbage, find a better food for him. Crystals are not caused by diet anyway.

[az4x4runner]

Originally Posted by RawFedDogs

I think your dog is smart. Instead of trying to get him to eat that stuff that is less than garbage, find a better food for him. Crystals are not caused by diet anyway.

What do you suggest I do? I would like to keep feeding him Canidae. I was reluctant to do this switch.

What about mixing the Urinary SO dry with Canidae wet?

Also, is the chicken fat really that bad? I thought it was a source of Omega 6 fatty acids for skin and coat health or something?

The dry also is naturally preserved and does not contain animal by-products as far as I know.

[RawFedDogs]

Originally Posted by az4x4runner

What do you suggest I do? I would like to keep feeding him Canidae. I was reluctant to do this switch.

What about mixing the Urinary SO dry with Canidae wet?

I can't answer that. I don't feed kibble and I don't like any kibble but that SO stuff is worse than worse.

Also, is the chicken fat really that bad? I thought it was a source of Omega 6 fatty acids for skin and coat health or something?

It's Omega 3's you want for skin and coat. Chicken fat in and of itself isn't bad. My dogs eat it every day with the chicken I feed them. However this is very large porportion of chicken fat. I can't remember ever seening chicken fat so high on the ingredients list. Normally chicken is about 14% fat. I think in this food, it's much higher.

The dry also is naturally preserved and does not contain animal by-products as far as I know.

You are absolutely correct.

[irzi]

last year my pup (also terrier ) , like yours fed with Canidae, had crystals in urin and 2 bladder stones.
my vet reccomended S/D from hills, but it is even crapier than SO from Royal Canin, so i switched to royal canin for 3 weeks until stones and crystals melted.
Vet said he should eat that diet for 6 months, but i couldnt stand feeding this crap to my pup.

As i have heard from several people that Canidae didnt do well for their pups, and it didnt work for my pup either, i started to feed him Arden grange for pups until he was 11 months old. he was then put back on Canidae and Canidae is now doing great for him for the last 8 months.

try and put him on different low protein, low ash, low calcium and low phosphorous PUPPY food, and supplement vitamin C, this will lover pH in his urin and help to prevent forming of new crystals and melt those which already exist. there is one good vit C supplement "supet vita vet C" from Vetnil. But this is just one, i am sure there are plenty of different supplements.

bladder stones and crystals are common thing with young pups of small breed, but they rarely become that large that they cause problems.

[Lorina]

bladder stones and crystals are common thing with young pups of small breed, but they rarely become that large that they cause problems.

I'd think passing what amounts to sand out your urethra is a problem. Have you ever had a UTI? They're unbelievably painful. And bladder surgery is a very big (and expensive) deal. It's not something I'd take a chance on.

Are/were you feeding Riley anything other than the Canidae? Any cheese, icecream, dairy products? Those can contribute to crystals in the urine. Sometimes even the water your dog drinks can be a problem. Filtered or bottled would be best. I would check with the vet to see if there's any other diets he'd recommend.

Also, sometimes the UTI can be caused by the crystals, and sometimes the crystals can be caused by the infection. Be sure to have another urine sample checked when you're finished with the antibiotic.

In my opinion, it's best to get the crystals disolved first, then worry about finding a better quality food that agrees with Riley.

[Yorkie Fan]

Did the vet say what type of crystals they are?