My papillon is dying!!

[GlendaSmith]

Lexi is 5 years old and had 30 kidney stones removed 6 months ago. Vet said 90% of all her food was converting to stones. We put her on a special diet, but stones are starting to form again. Vet says she might not survive another surgery.

Has anyone had experience with this or know of a diet that works? We don't want to lose her!!

Please respond to gbloghouse @yahoo.com

Thanks,

Glenda

 

[Doberluv]

What a freaky thing that is going on. I'm so terribly sorry.

 

[Saje]

I'm so sorry to hear that.

I moved this to the food forum so Mordy can give you some advice when she gets on.

 

[Mordy]

What type of stones, and what kind of drugs have been used in addition to the prescription food?

 

[GlendaSmith]

Kidney stones were "magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate". No drugs, just CD canned food. I found that white vinegar dissolved a "smaller than a pea" stone in a dish after 48 hours. I cooked some green beans with vinegar and she ate them all. Don't know if it was right, but I have to try!

 

[Pomp]

There is a section in Dr. Pitcairn's "Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats" about kidney stones and diets to help deal with them.

http://www.drpitcairn.com/books/pitcairn_book.html

 

[Mordy]

These are struvite crystals, which form when the urine is not acidic enough. SO you have the right idea, but since the vinegar is pretty much neutralized in the stomach, it won't get to where it's needed to be effective. There are products that adjust urine pH, but they require a prescription.

If I were you, I'd look for a different vet, since one who does nothing to combat these stones but give a prescription diet (that may or may not work) doesn't seem to be competent to me. If you are open to holistic methods, traditional chinese medicine etc., look at http://www.holisticvetlist.com and see if there's someone in your area.

 

[GlendaSmith]

Pomp and Mordy,

Thanks so much!! I'm on it now!

Glenda

 

[yoko]

keep us updated on how it goes!

 

[Amstaffer]

Wow... poor little girl. I have had kidney stones and its no fun. I sure hope you fine out how to stop it.

Is there a Vet out there that can Zap the stones with ultra-sound like in humans? It hurts but it sure beats surgery. With that many stones maybe it can't be done. I wish I had more ideas for you.

I'll pray for her....please let us know how it goes.

 

[wolfsoul]

I am a believer that a raw, natural diet will help almost any ailment. I would look it up and try it out. Good luck, I hope you find a cure for your pup!

 

[Mordy]

Sadly a raw diet isn't a miracle cure for everything.

A little off topic here, but one of my cats is prone to bladder stones from struvite crystals, which form when the urine is not acidic enough. Theoretically a good meat content in the diet lowers the pH level to be more acidic, which would be beneficial in this case.

In practice the whole thing looked a lot different though, and a raw diet did not solve the crystal/stone problem - even when I formulated the recipes to specifically acidify the urine by including chicken gizards for example. My cat had to have surgery for stone removal and even after that the raw food did not influence the urine pH on a significant enough level.

The OP's dog is having a far more serious problem that needs to be addressed on an entirely different level. I'm suspecting a genetic issue.