Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, been a ghost on here reading all the posts. We are dealing with somne urinary track issues with Kaia and the vet has suggested we go to Royal Canin SO for the crystals in his urine. We don't like the ingrediets in the food. It has mostly grains and fillers. Does anyone know of anything better that we can give him that will help with this?

Other than that all the pups are doing good. Will post more about them.
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David owned by Kona, Kiko & Kaia

We have battled crystals a bit in the past, one of the key aspects to getting rid of them is getting more water in your dog. For this reason, all our kibble is now soaked in water before feeding for prevention of crystals. Yes, there are different kinds of crystals, and the type does make a tiny bit of difference, but the principle is the same- hydration helps no matter what and my Shibas do not drink enough on their own.

Yet, when trying to first get rid of crystals, a diet change was needed for Taiko. We use Honest Kitchen's Embark. It's a dehdrated raw diet. I know Kaia has a liver shunt, so the grain free may not be the best option for him, but there are many formulas of Honest Kitchen and I have been happy with all of them. Sojour Farms also has a dehydrated diet where you can either add your own meat to a premix or a complete meal with turkey as it's main meat ingredient. There is another dehydrated raw food by Addiction. I know less about it, but the ingredients are good.

If you have a problem with the raw concept, then I would try Ziwi Peaks diets and add water to those. They are not raw, but not a kibble either. Their cooking process is dehydration as well, but their ingredients are cooked.

These dehydrated diets are more expensive than most kibbles, but I find my dogs do very well on them and you do not use the same amount you would of kibble. I find a 10 lb box lasts me over a month when feeding one dog. Not a huge investment.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles www.freewebs.com/performanceshibas

Hi Chelle, we tried Kaia on a raw diet and he didn't do good on it. Im not sure what else to try for this little guy.
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David owned by Kona, Kiko & Kaia

The Ziwi Peaks food is not raw and has a higher moisture content than regular kibble. If you can afford canned food, that may be a good option for him. Almost any canned food will give him the moisture he needs to help with the crystals. soaking his regular food may be enough for maintanance once he is stable from this episode. To get him over the hurdle, a chicken/rice diet for a month will not hurt him.
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Chelle and the rest of the crew including, but not limited to Kita and Taiko (the shiba inu wrestle maniacs), Adi (reserved and dignified tabby cat), and all 28 reptiles www.freewebs.com/performanceshibas

Chelle, thanks for all the advice. We are going to look into this for him. We are still waiting for the latest results from his urinie test. They sent it out to do a culture and some other things. Hope we hear back today.
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David owned by Kona, Kiko & Kaia

You can even add more water to the wet food. Keep the fluids going to flush him out, then just the wet food as is once you have the UT problem under control.

Crystals are so not fun - watched a couple of our male cats have that problem back when I was a teenager, before my mom learned to stop giving them the dry food.
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Maureen's furry pack:
MoJo (THE Shiba Imp)
Risa (Chocolate Demon Child..I mean Lab)
Pyewacket (Bengal Cat)
R.I.P. Kitties: Cricket the Tabby and Puff the Russian Blue
www.scottsbt.com/maureen/mo2.htm