# Calcium Oxalate Crystals - Help With Food



## Anic (Oct 31, 2008)

Hello.

I'm not sure where to begin, this may end up being a long post.

My oldest dog, Harley, was discovered to have calcium oxalate crystals in his bladder. I was unaware of them until the day that he ended up at the emergency vet. His urethra was completely blocked, so badly in fact that the vet had a hard time inserting a catheter for a urine sample. After four very stressful days, a full panel, x-rays, his surgery and all that fun stuff, my Harley-dog finally got to come home (he seemed fine, I was the stressed out mess). His bladder was flushed and the vet showed me the baggie of crystals they had removed. They could all have fit on a quarter and for an 18 lb terrier it looked like a ton. 

SO.

As I have read in other threads regarding these crystals, my vet also wanted Harley to eat Hill's SD U/D for the rest of his life. At the time I wasn't completely in my head and didn't think to question. I just wanted what would be best for my Harley. 

The vet wanted him on one can a day. With 12 cans in a pack and a pack being almost $30, it would have been cheaper if he just had surgery every year! Obviously I don't want to do that either so I started doing research and read that high protein diets contributed to oxalate crystal formation. This was months ago and I don't remember what I was that I read. So both my boys have been eating a combination of canned food and homemade chicken/beef and rice with carrots and green beans. Typically Pedigree was the canned of choice because they would go through 2 cans a day and given the other options (price/ingredients), Pedigree was about in the middle. 

I've picked up on researching COC again and now I'm finding that protein has nothing to do with formation! Some pages I read say that acidic urine will dissolve crystals (or prevent them from forming) while others say that acidic urine will increase the chances of more forming.

Since learning that supposedly protein doesn't have an effect with CO crystals, I want to switch my boys back to a dry kibble. I know that I will have to maintain a high water intake for Harley so I plan on mixing warm water with his food to soften it and increase his intake.

Previously they were on Nature's Variety Instinct Duck meal (which they loved) and I would like to get them back on it if it would be ok for Harley. Also... I will be getting a puppy in a couple weeks and I want to be able to have everyone on the same food if possible and NIV Duck is listed under puppy food on the food advisor site. 

Can anyone shed any light on this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Max had oxalate crystals form in a stale urine sample once, scary! His raw diet is naturally low in oxalates. Only organs, his favorite part of the diet are high in oxalates.

I make sure his bowl has water in it so he drinks as much as possible, definitely on the right track offering lots of water for this situation.

I am not sure why somebody told you that acidic urine dissolves crystals. Acidic urine probably dissolves some kinds of crystals but oxalate crystals either form in acidic urine or oxalate crystal forming dogs naturally have acidic urine.

You might want to read the article on dogaware about oxalate crystals. Loads of links to further reading too. http://www.dogaware.com/articles/wdjcalciumoxalates.html


----------



## Anic (Oct 31, 2008)

So... What I get from this is...

He can go back to NVI and I can help reduce crystal formation by giving him plenty of water, distilled or mineral (according to the article), he can have calcium citrate supplements (dispensed according to weight) and keep him away from too much Vitamins C & D..? With the other supplements listed in the article, I can give him those if needed. I already take flax seed oil, vitamin E and a b-complex so adding those won't be a stretch for me. 

That's what I gather from the article anyways. I'm actually going to call my vet and ask for copies of his bloodwork and everything. Once I receive them I want to take Harley to another vet for a second opinion on treatment/prevention for this.


----------



## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Remember the supplements were meant to be added to a home made diet. You could find a food using calcium citrate for calcium but adding it to an already balanced diet would unbalance it! At the very end of the article there were a couple of canned foods mentioned that seem to fit the diet guidelines. In a quick google Dr. Harvey's comes up as a commercial product.

If you are up for cooking I would stick to that. Lots of natural moisture that way and you can avoid high oxalate veggies and such.


----------



## Daenerys (Jul 30, 2011)

My dog Legend was found to have a calcium oxalate stone in his bladder and instead of feeding the Science Diet stuff I switched him to raw. We found the stone when he went to the emergency vet for a slipped disk in his neck so we couldn't do any surgery for the stone until his neck healed. We are going to the vet this coming Thursday for a check up, to find out about surgery to remove the stone, and to ask more questions about diet, appropriate supplements and such. I will let you know what they say.


----------



## Anic (Oct 31, 2008)

Kathyy, I don't have a problem with making their meals. My challenge is balancing it  I've tried to keep it as balanced as I could but I feel I'm failing. I have considered feeding raw but I have no idea where I would be meat for (fairly) cheap because even the less desirable cuts are kinda pricey. But I'm not much of a meat eater so I don't know what certain cuts SHOULD cost to begin with.

Then there's the puppy. Can she be on a raw diet or would she need everything in a puppy food? (I will start reading up as much as I can on raw diets. Before I only read one or two postings about it.)

Daenerys, I would appreciate any light you (and your vet) could shed on this. I have called my vet and tomorrow I'll be heading over there to pick of copies of his bloodwork so I can compare make sure he doesn't have high levels of whatever so that if he does, I can avoid foods that would make his condition worse. If that makes any sense. Soon, probably before the end of the year I will take him back for another panel and another x-ray of his bladder to make sure no more crystals are forming. Harley had no signs of stones, which makes me happy. Crystals seem to be a lot easier to deal with than the stones 

Thank you both. I really appreciate it.


----------

