diet to prevent bladder infections.

My dog has been having chronic bladder infections, and I 'm told that it could be due to her diet. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I should feed her...I heard something about wet food?

One of the biggest things is making sure that they get enough water and get out to use the bathroom very frequently. This combination helps to keep the bladder flushed out. Canned food comes into play because it has a higher moisture content. I've also has luck with adding water to dry food, sort of like a kibble "cereal." I've also heard of adding a bit of the water from canned tuna to the water dish to entice them to drink more.

Your vet should be able to give you recommendations for the diet. My vet has me give my hospice dog a daily cranberry tablet to assist with her bladder infections and Azodyl to help her kidneys.

I use Royal Canin Urinary SO dry food. And now since Shasta has crystals again we're deleting all treats from her diet as well and just using the food as treats. They had a good suggestion about taking the canned food and making little meatballs and freezing them for treats.

Brenda wrote:I use Royal Canin Urinary SO dry food. And now since Shasta has crystals again we're deleting all treats from her diet as well and just using the food as treats. They had a good suggestion about taking the canned food and making little meatballs and freezing them for treats.

My Dr. told me about that food (but the wet one),it is $50 for 13oz... We can't afford that! I wan't to help her desperatley, but she'll be more expensive to feed than the rest of my family.

kristin12 wrote:

Brenda wrote:I use Royal Canin Urinary SO dry food. And now since Shasta has crystals again we're deleting all treats from her diet as well and just using the food as treats. They had a good suggestion about taking the canned food and making little meatballs and freezing them for treats.

My Dr. told me about that food (but the wet one),it is $50 for 13oz... We can't afford that! I wan't to help her desperatley, but she'll be more expensive to feed than the rest of my family.

I'm pretty sure that price was for a case of 24 cans. Take a look at the 1st 2 entries on this page: http://www.google.com/products?q=royal+canin+so+canned+food&hl=en&aq=f

Looks like a similar price for a case of 24 cans. When Jackson is on his prescription canned food, he uses about 1/2-3/4 of a can a day.

Have you or the vet tested the pH balance of her urine? If her pH balance is off (either too acidic or too alkaline) that is something that can be fixed with diet by feeding her more acidic food if she is too alkaline and vice versa. You can easily test yourself - go to the pharmacy and buy urine test strips, then just dip them into the pug's urine. The test strips are very inexpensive.

I woudn't suggest fooling with her diet too much until you can figure out if there is some sort of pH imbalance in her urine. If there happens to be an imbalance and you don't know about it, giving her the wroge type of food can send her over the edge and give her either struvite crystals (too alkaline) or calcim oxalate crystals (too acidic).

Our Bruno had a bladder infection with struvite crsytals, and we had a good deal of luck feeding him Merrick's Senior Medley (mostly kibble with about 1TBS of wet and 1/4 cup of water) because a lot of senior food doesn't have as much minerals as regular adult food. With struvite crystals, we focused on minimizing minerals and calcium in his food, which also meant we cut out all yogurt and even marrow bones (since bones are pure calcium and minerals).

While I agree with Kendie about not wanting to throw off the pH of the urine without knowing what you're dealing with, the Royal Canin SO is pH neutral, so it is designed to be used by increasing water intake rather than by altering the pH. I had forgotten completely about the mineral connection, and that's a good thing to look at also.

I wanted to add that while the can foods are pretty expensive, the dry kibble is also a bit pricey. However, crystals can lead to bladder stones. If you think you can't afford the prescription food then you will be very shocked to pay for bladder stone surgery.

Chyna has had chronic urinary issues since we adopted her. My first pug also was on prescription food for his bladder for 9 years. Chyna also had surgery to remove excess skin from her vulva since the doctors thought that urine could be getting trapped in the skin and sending bacteria back into the bladder. She had that surgery and surgery to flush her bladder since it was loaded with sludge and crystals in April. Since then, she has had one infection but still produces two types of crystals. She can't eat the prescription food due to extreme food allergies. All we can do is test her urine every 2-3 months and hope she doesn't need surgery again.

You can also add D-mannose powder to her diet. I give all 4 of my females 1/4 tsp in the am and the pm and it's just added to their food. You can get it at a healthfood store (it is a people supplement) and you can order it from Amazon which I find is cheaper just be sure to check the shipping because that varies a lot. The D-mannose is supposed to coat the lining of the bladder to help them to avoid infection.

I also feed my pugs Merrick Senior Medley and I soak their food in the refigerator over night about 1/2 food and 1/2 water. They love it that way and they get lots of water. I also add about a capful of natural apple cider vinegar to the water and food mixture. It seems to help with the ph too.

I have been using this regimen for several years and it really helps to keep the bladder infections under control. I have a vet the does both traditional and holistic/homeopathic medicine and she seems to approve of this diet.

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions...I feel hopeful that they will work!

kristin12 wrote:Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions...I feel hopeful that they will work!

Kristin, unless you know what type of crystals your pug might be forming (if any), please do not start adding any supplements to the water or food. If you add things to the food or water that will acidify her urine, and she is developing calcium oxylate crystals then you could make things far worse.

I would call and ask your vet what they would recommend since they would know best for your dog... or i would try some of the other suggestions people mentioned above. Hope that your doggie feels better soon!

It is important to know what kind of crystals your baby has, all of mine get struvite crystals and the vinegar helps with that however, the d-mannose powder doesn't affect the ph, it just coats the bladder and helps prevent infection.

We have had way too much experience with bladder problems. With the 5 handicapped pugs, you have to watch them like a hawk, and be right on top of any problem. whether that is bacause they get less exercise or they don't get the same blood supply or maybe because I express their bladders manually no-one knows. But thru research and much trial and error this is what works for us

We give water with a pinch of tuna (anything in it that will encourage them to drink) 4 times per day. I use 1/3 cup water each time. They look at it as a treat and will sit in the kitchen waiting when the time is close. This not only helps their total daily intake, but also spaces it out and makes sure they have diluted urine in the bladder most of the time. Of course they also get free choice water 24/7. I am convinced that the water intake is the single most important factor in preventing bladder infections.

Along with this, they need frequent access to the great outdoors. Not only for exercise, but to empty their bladder.

I have had pugs get stones/crystals on Royal Canin SO, Hills c/d, and Home cooked. I am convinced that as long as the diet is balanced, it has nothing to do with it. The vets are always recommending canned food, the reason........it averages 80% water. Some of the food also contians high amts of salt to get them to drink more. Obviously this is not healthy, easier and healthier to feed water as outlined above.

Once your pug has had mulitple infections or one incident of stones, use the chemstrips to check the urine on a weekly basis. the strips cost about 15 cents each, well worth it. Takes one minute. A unexpected increase in the ph is a good early indication of infection. Once you test positive for blood the infection is already there. Early detection is the key. You can try to keep your pug.s urine in a neutral range (5.5-6.5), but I have found that a good balanced will do this itself in most cases.

The d-mannose is the active ingredient in the cranbery extract it works on e-coli which is the more common organism in UTIs. The bacteria tend to cling to the d-mannose instead of the bladder wall and since it is an indigestible sugar, the bacteria is then excreted with the urine.

CARTROPHEN (this is NOT rimadyl) is very good for cyctitis, also good for arthritis. this is esp good for those that have had bladder surgery. It helps to rebuild the lining of the bladder, which incidentally is the same material in the joints. It is given as a weekly injection for 4 wks and then once a month. You can give it yourself, with an insulin syringe, once your vet gets you started.

One of our girls that has a torn spinal cord, had multiple UTIs and stones, and after surgery developed interstitial cystitis. Evey few wks she would come up with a different bacteria, we would culture, treat and a wk after she was tested clear, there would be another one. for these type of cases, they are the worst, we finally found that NITROFURANTOIN can work. She has now been 2 months on it, and so far so good. It acts as a bladder antiseptic as opposed to antibiiotic, and can be given on low dosage for life. Only needed for extreme cases, but in this case it may have saved her life.

Since we have instituted all these measures, we have had great luck with these precious guys. While the handicaps are much more susceptible, the prevention is esactly the same for any dog. By the way, of my "normal" pugs, I have NEVER had any bladder problem of any kind.

Hope this will help someone

Joan