How does diet affect pH?

[irotas]

As I mentioned in a separate thread, my dog has a pH of about 7.5, and the vet says he should be closer to 6.5.

The vet indicated that diet affects pH, but did not give me any specific information. What I'm looking for is a guide as to what particular foods cause the pH to increase, and which cause it to decrease.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[irotas]

I read online that fish is strongly acidic. I was already considering giving him fish oil supplements, so maybe this is another good reason to do it.

 

[darci]

Eagle pack fish formula is a good one as well as Timberwolf Ocean blue formula.
Timberwolf has the lowest ash content that I have found so far which helps to lower a dogs urinary ph.

Also you can give one cranberry capsule daily, you can pick it up at any drug store.
We also switched to bottled water, we go through about 3 gal each week at 65 cents a jug its no big deal.

Good Luck.
Cindy

 

[irotas]

Timberwolf has the lowest ash content that I have found so far which helps to lower a dogs urinary ph.

I didn't realize that ash was related to urinary pH. Thanks for the tip! I looked up the ash content for Timberwolf Ocean Blue, and it's 6%. However, the Innova Large Breed Dry is 4.68%, so I think we're already doing OK on ash content.

Also you can give one cranberry capsule daily, you can pick it up at any drug store.

I Google'd this and you're right, many sites recommend using cranberry juice/capsules for short-term urinary acidification. Thanks!

We also switched to bottled water, we go through about 3 gal each week at 65 cents a jug its no big deal.

Yeah, I was also thinking about switching him to bottled water. We live in a really old house with lousy plumbing, so I wouldn't be surprised if the water quality is poor.


Thanks for the advice!

 

[irotas]

So we started adding a touch of pure cranberry juice (not from concentrate) to his water bowl. He was a little unsure, but he drank it anyway. If it seems the taste is really bothering him, we'll switch to a capsule.

Thanks again for the tip!

 

[darci]

I agree with the cranberry capsules, mine didnt care for the juice either. I give one cap daily.

I checked our tap water ph and it was 8.5, that was my reason for changing to bottled water, as well as my vet recommended it.

I was unaware of Innova large breed adult's ash content. I know Evo is 12 %.

I looked on their website and was unable to find the ash content of the formula you are feeding. Is it listed on the bag or did you e-mail them ?

I know their canned senior formula is really low in ash though.

I think changing the water and adding cranberry will do the trick, would have the vet check the ph again in a week or so.

I check Darci's every so often and we are much better now. No problems after changing her food, water and adding cranberry.

 

[irotas]

I checked our tap water ph and it was 8.5, that was my reason for changing to bottled water, as well as my vet recommended it.
...
I check Darci's every so often and we are much better now.

I probably should know this from grade-school science, but how did you test your tap water pH?

Also, do you check Darci's urinary pH yourself, or do you take her to the vet?

I was unaware of Innova large breed adult's ash content. I know Evo is 12 %.

I looked on their website and was unable to find the ash content of the formula you are feeding. Is it listed on the bag or did you e-mail them ?

Here's how I found it:
http://www.naturapet.com/
--> Innova
--> Large Breed Adult Dry
--> Details

No problems after changing her food, water and adding cranberry.

Do you always give her bottled water, or only when her pH gets too high?

What pH range do you allow her to be in before you adjust her diet?

How quickly do you typically see results when you change her diet?


Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Luvntzus]

If you write to your dog food company they can tell you what the target ph of their food is. I know that Wellness is on the high side and Eagle Pack Holistic has a good ph range (around 6.5 I think).

I can definitely testify about how well cranberry works. I'm prone to urinary tract infections myself and if I take a few cranberry capsules when I first feel one coming on, it's nipped right in the bud. It works by preventing bacteria from sticking to the bladder's walls.

If I were you I'd make sure I was feeding a food with the proper ph, change to bottled water and add a cranberry supplement. You're already doing the last two, so that's great!

 

[irotas]

If you write to your dog food company they can tell you what the target ph of their food is.

That's a great idea! I just emailed Natura Pet to find out what ours is. I'll post their reply when (and if) I get it.

Thanks!

 

[darci]

When Darci had a UTI Her urinary ph was at 8.5, tested at the vets office.
I work in a doctors office and brought home the strips to test her urine with.
At the time of the vet visit, they advised me to change her diet and add bottled water and cranberry.

She had 2 UTI's in a 8 month period. After making the above changes I made she hasnt had one since. It's been around 5 - 6 months aprox.

I used pool strips to check the ph of my tap water, as well as the office urinary strips.

Now Darci's urine stays around 6.5. I havent checked it though in about 6 weeks.

Since the food is in a good range for ash levels, I would do the cranberry and water changes then test the urine and see if it has fixed the problem.

Does he drink enough water ? I also add a little water to her food both am and pm feeding. ( about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of water )

The high ph levels over time can cause crystals in the bladder which can cause inflammation and lead to UTI, urinary incontinence, bloody urine (hematuria ), bladder stones etc.

We didnt know Darci had a problem until she starting wetting in the house and had hematuria ( blood in her urine ).

I am no expert by any means but these are things that worked for us, I learned alot from our vet and through some help from other dog owners on boards like this one.

I had some people suggest distilled water and some say only distilled water for no more than a week, I couldnt find a concrete answer either way so I went with bottled water.

I tested our bottled water several times and it was always around 5 or so.

As far as testing the urine, I follow her during potty breaks, and slide a plastic bowl under her when she squats, then dip the stick in her urine.

I get strange looks from the dog and my neighbors....lol

I hope this info has helped.

 

[darci]

I missed 2 questions sorry, I've kept her on this schedule of cranberry and bottled water since her last UTI.

I rotate between Eagle pack holistic fish formula, and Timberwolf Ocean Blue.

I saw her ph starting to come down by the next day of changing her water and adding cranberry.

 

[irotas]

I used pool strips to check the ph of my tap water, as well as the office urinary strips.

Is there any reason why you can't test urinary pH with a regular pool strip? I found the pool strips at Home Depot, but not sure where to get the special "medical" urinary pH strips.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[darci]

I dont know if you can buy urinary strips at the drug store, you can check. The used to sell strips you can buy to check your sugar in your urine at the store and I think they also had protein and ph on them, not sure 100 % though.

 

[irotas]

Here's a reply from Danielle Marshman at Eagle Pack:

"Thank you for contacting Eagle Pack Pet Foods. All Eagle Pack formulas are
geared to meet the 6.0-6.4 Ph levels. If you have any other questions,
please feel free to contact Eagle Pack Pet Foods again."


Still no reply from Natura Pet, however.

 

[irotas]

Finally got a reply from Veronica Moreno at Natura Pet:

"Thank You for contacting us about our products. All of Natura’s canine formulas are formulated to produce a slightly acidic urine with the average urine pH being 6.6-6.8."

 

[darci]

Good deal, thanks for the info on Natura.

 

[irotas]

For those that may be interested, the following is a reply from Sarah Wadleigh at OnlyNaturalPet.com:

"More recent studies have suggested that cranberry juice's effectiveness against bacteria is not in its ability to acidify the urine, but in its ability to prevent bacteria from sticking to the lining of the urinary tract where they can multiply and cause infection. Two anti-adhesion factors have been isolated from cranberry juice, fructose and another polymeric compound of unknown nature. Several fruit juices have been tested, but only cranberry and blueberry juice contain the latter inhibitor."


She didn't say whether or not blueberry juice is safe for dogs.

 

[jojo the pogo]

When Darci had a UTI Her urinary ph was at 8.5, tested at the vets office.
I work in a doctors office and brought home the strips to test her urine with.
At the time of the vet visit, they advised me to change her diet and add bottled water and cranberry.

She had 2 UTI's in a 8 month period. After making the above changes I made she hasnt had one since. It's been around 5 - 6 months aprox.

I used pool strips to check the ph of my tap water, as well as the office urinary strips.

Now Darci's urine stays around 6.5. I havent checked it though in about 6 weeks.

Since the food is in a good range for ash levels, I would do the cranberry and water changes then test the urine and see if it has fixed the problem.

Does he drink enough water ? I also add a little water to her food both am and pm feeding. ( about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of water )

The high ph levels over time can cause crystals in the bladder which can cause inflammation and lead to UTI, urinary incontinence, bloody urine (hematuria ), bladder stones etc.

We didnt know Darci had a problem until she starting wetting in the house and had hematuria ( blood in her urine ).

I am no expert by any means but these are things that worked for us, I learned alot from our vet and through some help from other dog owners on boards like this one.

I had some people suggest distilled water and some say only distilled water for no more than a week, I couldnt find a concrete answer either way so I went with bottled water.

I tested our bottled water several times and it was always around 5 or so.

As far as testing the urine, I follow her during potty breaks, and slide a plastic bowl under her when she squats, then dip the stick in her urine.

I get strange looks from the dog and my neighbors....lol

I hope this info has helped.

Great advice. Adding water to your dogs food or even feeding some canned food will "de-concentrate" your dog's urine and will prevent urinary crystals from forming.

I would give all of your pets spring water or distilled water. Make sure the spring water says no added minerals. Tap water both city and especially well contain minerals that can raise the Ph in the urine. Spring water at Wal Mart is $.79 a gallon. That's what I buy.

I would not go with a fish formula, because as it does acidify the urine, it also contains more magnesium than other meats and magnesium raises PH. I would go with Innova, as others have mentioned. Innova's senior canned diet contains cranberry and glucosamine, both of which help prevent crystals from forming. A vet in my area sells Innova Senior canned as her urinary tract infection/crystal diet.

 

[irotas]

So we've been mixing pure cranberry juice (not from concentrate) into Manni's water for about the past 2 weeks now. He didn't like it much at first, but he got used to it and now I think even enjoys it.

Anyway, finally yesterday I got around to testing his urinary pH. I was pleased to see that it's down from about 7.5 to somewhere between 6.75-7.

If anyone is interested, I used "Alkalive pH Test Stix" made by Phion Nutrition to test his urinary pH (I got them from Amazon).

Also, I used "Poolmaster 4 In 1 Test Strips For Testing Free Chlorine, Bromine, Alkalinity and pH" from Home Depot to test the pH in his waterbowl (which, not surprisingly, a little on the alkalive side).

Anyway, hope this thread is helpful to folks who may come across it in the future.

 

[irotas]

I would not go with a fish formula, because as it does acidify the urine, it also contains more magnesium than other meats and magnesium raises PH. I would go with Innova, as others have mentioned. Innova's senior canned diet contains cranberry and glucosamine, both of which help prevent crystals from forming. A vet in my area sells Innova Senior canned as her urinary tract infection/crystal diet.

If you're interested, the Eagle Pack Holistic Select Large & Giant Breed Adult Formula contains both cranberries and glucosamine:
http://www.eaglepack.com/Pages/HS_LGAdult.html

It's cheaper than Innova around here and seems to be better pH balanced, so I think we'll be switching him to it when this bag of Innova runs out.