We took Anastasiya to the vet a few days ago and they told us she has crystals in her bladder. She is only 5 months old and I am wonder what causes this. We have read a couple of reviews about Blue Buffalo Puppy Chicken & Brown Rice maybe being the link to these crystals, has anyone ever heard of this? We alternated between Blue Buffalo Puppy and Blue Buffalo Wilderness for Puppies but currently have to put her on a special diet, Urinary SO by Royal Canin and have to find a new brand after a month if everything clears up. Any advice on a new brand of food, Royal Canin maybe?

Most of the people on this forum feed grain free - I personally have to because Delilah kept getting UTI's from grain inclusive foods (for what i noticed of course) - we fed Blue Buffalo Wilderness without an issue. But, we didn't feed puppy, we always fed duck and salmon, even to our puppy. They both did great on it, but now we are feeding raw.

For now, I would assume that its okay to feed the RC, but I wouldn't try to make it long term - its packed with corn and rice. Dogs are carnivores and need animal protein.


I have also heard this is a link between water from the tap and crystals - do you have hard water that stains your bathtub? This may not be helping, perhaps you should try distilled water to flush out the toxins. Distilled has no minerals, so it really helps this situation.

IMO, I wouldn't feed the royal Canin. I would feed a grain free food, for sensitivities get him filled with distilled water, but that's just me.

I'm going to leave the suggestions of foods to others, although I will say that I wouldn't feed Royal Canine and I would check out sources such as www.dogfoodanalysis.com for a 4-6* food.

However, I'm not sure that I'd say with any amount of certainty that dogs are carnivores. That's a highly debated topic. Many believe they are omnivores. Others say that they are simply scavengers and will eat anything.

I would just say that huskies, especially, tend to do better on less processed diets with as little to no fillers as possible. If grains need to be included, high quality grains are preferred.

Megan makes a great point with the distilled water.

Koda wrote:

I'm going to leave the suggestions of foods to others, although I will say that I wouldn't feed Royal Canine and I would check out sources such as www.dogfoodanalysis.com for a 4-6* food.

However, I'm not sure that I'd say with any amount of certainty that dogs are carnivores. That's a highly debated topic. Many believe they are omnivores. Others say that they are simply scavengers and will eat anything.

I would just say that huskies, especially, tend to do better on less processed diets with as little to no fillers as possible. If grains need to be included, high quality grains are preferred.

Megan makes a great point with the distilled water.

Absolutely understand that - but their bodies are made for processing meat. They aren't obligate carnivores, but opportunistic ones - they can survive on grains and veggies, but they can't thrive. Does that make sense? It's not meant to be taken the wrong way but IMO and after a lot of research, I would say dogs are carnivores.

mheath0429 wrote:

Koda wrote:

I'm going to leave the suggestions of foods to others, although I will say that I wouldn't feed Royal Canine and I would check out sources such as www.dogfoodanalysis.com for a 4-6* food.

However, I'm not sure that I'd say with any amount of certainty that dogs are carnivores. That's a highly debated topic. Many believe they are omnivores. Others say that they are simply scavengers and will eat anything.

I would just say that huskies, especially, tend to do better on less processed diets with as little to no fillers as possible. If grains need to be included, high quality grains are preferred.

Megan makes a great point with the distilled water.

Absolutely understand that - but their bodies are made for processing meat. They aren't obligate carnivores, but opportunistic ones - they can survive on grains and veggies, but they can't thrive. Does that make sense? It's not meant to be taken the wrong way but IMO and after a lot of research, I would say dogs are carnivores.

I hesitate saying anything as "Dogs are this." It's one thing to say, "I believe dogs are carnivores after much research and reading." It's another thing to say "Dogs are carnivores." One is an opinion; one is stated as fact. On a debated topic, I prefer we make sure that we identify them as such

ETA: For argument's sake.. if they were truly carnivores, they wouldn't be able to eat any fruits and veggies or survive at all on them. Look at cats... cats are carnivores... dogs seem to be somewhere in between.

Koda wrote:

mheath0429 wrote:

Koda wrote:

I'm going to leave the suggestions of foods to others, although I will say that I wouldn't feed Royal Canine and I would check out sources such as www.dogfoodanalysis.com for a 4-6* food.

However, I'm not sure that I'd say with any amount of certainty that dogs are carnivores. That's a highly debated topic. Many believe they are omnivores. Others say that they are simply scavengers and will eat anything.

I would just say that huskies, especially, tend to do better on less processed diets with as little to no fillers as possible. If grains need to be included, high quality grains are preferred.

Megan makes a great point with the distilled water.

Absolutely understand that - but their bodies are made for processing meat. They aren't obligate carnivores, but opportunistic ones - they can survive on grains and veggies, but they can't thrive. Does that make sense? It's not meant to be taken the wrong way but IMO and after a lot of research, I would say dogs are carnivores.

I hesitate saying anything as "Dogs are this." It's one thing to say, "I believe dogs are carnivores after much research and reading." It's another thing to say "Dogs are carnivores." One is an opinion; one is stated as fact. On a debated topic, I prefer we make sure that we identify them as such

ETA: For argument's sake.. if they were truly carnivores, they wouldn't be able to eat any fruits and veggies or survive at all on them. Look at cats... cats are carnivores... dogs seem to be somewhere in between.

Absolutely - but we can agree to disagree on this one Tori Just my opinion

I'm not asking you to agree. I'm asking you not to state opinions as fact. That's all

Koda wrote:

I'm not asking you to agree. I'm asking you not to state opinions as fact. That's all

Yep, gotta work on that. Sometimes, I suck at wording things!

mheath0429 wrote:

Koda wrote:

I'm not asking you to agree. I'm asking you not to state opinions as fact. That's all

Yep, gotta work on that. Sometimes, I suck at wording things!

Such is the life of a forum poster

Oh, btw could your vet offer Wysong? They have a full live of RX diets - and if I had to feed prescription I would feed it.

http://www.wysong.net/prescription-cat-dog-foods.php

All they had was the Royal Canin prescription dog food as far as I saw. She only has to be on it for a month unless she continues to get crystals in her bladder after she has finished the month and we put her back on regular puppy food. The vet told me that at her age they recommend them staying on puppy food and that I should probably find a new one. All I know is Anna loves this prescription food. The vet told me nothing about the water but sometimes I do give her tap water and others I give her bottled water. I do put solely tap water in her food though since I need to keep her very hydrated because of the crystals and I can make the water a little warmer.

Before we purchased Anna that website was what we used to find Blue Buffalo since Anna is our first puppy. I was just wondering if anyone had any other preferences since almost everyone pushed me towards Blue Buffalo in the beginning.The vet told me Royal Canin was a good food but I am still not sure what I am going to do. We tend to like the Blue Buffalo but if the vet thinks that her body might not being agreeing with the food I really am at a loss.

I like Blue Buffalo Wilderness, and my dogs did very well on it .

Don't give bottled or tap - give distilled. The minerals are going to create more crystals. I went through a lot of issues with my female and her bladder - believe me, the distilled water works. It's even recommended for humans who have bladder issues.

I also suggest a cranberry supplement, as they are very good for the urinary tract.

How much of a cranberry supplement? I take them myself, the cranberry soft jells for my own problems so I know what you are talking about. I asked the vet about those too but of course they aren't to keen on herbal remedies so they don't tell me much....

And okay, I will have to pick up some distilled water next time I visit the grocery store. Thank you guys so much for your help by the way.

Of course, that's what we are here for. Which. Supplement do you use and what milligram is the dosage?

Also how much does the pup weigh

She weighs about 27 pounds.

I use the AZO Cranberry Maximum Strength, here is the link:
http://www.drugstore.com/azo-cranberry-maximum-strength-softgels/qxp342146

Also do you think we should consider a raw diet? I asked a trainer this and of course she pushed me away from it.

I think nearly everyone on here would promote a raw diet over commercial foods if it's within your means. Just make sure you do your research on how to ensure your dog is getting everything it needs before taking the plunge. But do what you are comfortable with and what you feel is best for both your dog and you. Though raw in my opinion is superior to everything else available, it's not for everyone and there are good kibble brands available. Just wanted to note that as I've heard a lot of people say they feel pressured to do raw.

I agree with Heather... I of course feel raw is superior but that doesn't mean that if you DON'T feed raw you're doing your dog a disservice. There are plenty of kibbles out there that if I can't feed raw for one reason or another I would feel OK feeding.

I would 100% advocate a raw diet, over anything else. But as the other ladies stated, it is completely up to you. Search your area for Co-ops and Blue Ridge Beef - They should be able to help cut the cost.

I have a question. Anna is done with the special food for now and the vet told us to put her on a different food than the one she was on. She told us it was okay to put her on BlueBuffalo Wilderness Adult Duck and we started yesterday. Well last night she didn't really want to eat it then, this morning, or now, she still gets plenty of exercise we think maybe she doesn't like it? Or maybe she just isnt hungry? She has always kind of been this way. She stopped eating lunch at maybe 3 months. Any tips or advice will be appreciated. I do make her eat the food, we still wet it and sometimes Ill add a small amount of beef or chicken bouillon. I was just wondering if anyone else had this problem.

Oh and she gets 3/4 cup in the morning and the same at night. She will eat no more than that.

Be careful with the bullion... those are quite sodium heavy!

If she's not interested in lunch that's fine. Usually I stop feeding it when my dogs begin to show little interest in a 3rd meal or if they're 6 months+

Huskies are notoriously picky. Cheyenne in particular would barely eat a cup a day up until we started raw but even in the beginning I had to trick her into eating the amount she needed to be eating... I would look for a higher quality food (which doesn't necessarily have to be grain free if that's not in your price range.) And add warm distilled water to her food to entice eating by releasing the "natural" aroma of the kibble as well as to up the amount of water in her diet.

I don't do the bouillon often. Because I know it's got tons of sodium.

And I already add water to the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Adult Duck she eats. It just doesnt seem to interest her any. I mean if I add pumpkin or some plain cooked chicken she will eat around the kibble. Do you have any kibble in particular that you recommend? And do you think it could be that she doesn't like it? Or that she isn't hungry? Towards the end of the dietary kibble she didn't want to eat that either. I am not sure what it is.

Wilderness is really good kibble. perhaps she is very disinterested because you have provided her with variety (chicken, pumpkin etc). Did you decide against the raw?

Also, do not feed Buillon to a dog who has already had issues with bladder crystals. Buillon as you know is sodium, which is a mineral. That will cause them to form.

Okay thanks for sharing that I'll be sure not to give that to her anymore!

We haven't really decided against raw we just haven't really talked about it. Things got kind of hectic here with school just starting back and still trying to get into a new routine. And we like the wilderness, well everyone but Anna who actually eats it. Money has also been tight and we aren't really sure how much raw is going to run for a 6 month old puppy. I have still been looking into it periodically we just aren't completely sure yet. Do you think that's our best bet? Or that we should just stick to kibble?

I would think it was because I give her variety but she was never too interested from the beginning before I started trying different things to make her eat. I am not sure what the problem is, it could still be the variety thing.

The only thing she was happy to eat was when I had to feed her the canned dietary food. She gobbled it up. I ran out of kibble and I was taking her to the vet a few days later so I was not going to buy a big bag to waste it.