So, Ein is sick. I had to take her to the vet yesterday and it turns out she has a UTI. We started her on antibiotics and anti inflammatory while we waited for the full urinalysis to come back. I got the call this morning from our vet. Ein has a high alkaline PH and struvite crystals. The vet and I talked and we're both of the agreement that the prescription foods out there for this aren't that great. I completely refuse to feed it to Ein since I know she doesn't do well with corn and gluten. The vet said the best long term diet she's seen is a nice well balanced Raw diet. So, for those that feed raw, which brands do you like best? What info do I need? I'm looking at frozen raw as I do not have the time to make my own. I was doing some research and I really would like it to have cranberries and possibly apple cider vinegar, as I've heard both these things help with struvite crystals.

Also, we found out that Ein has a hooded vulva yesterday. So this basically means that I have to clean her lady bits once a day. I guess it's common way for infection to grow. I feel bad for my little girl. I want to do everything possible to keep her UTI free and healthy. Thank you!

Views: 449

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

I had the same problem with my Jeli when she was just 10 weeks old.  Had recurring UTIs, or it was never completely cleared up the first time.  For all the same reasons you stated, I put her on raw.  I use the Stella and Chewy's frozed patties.  She loves it.  If you go by the chart, it seems like you would be feeding them a crazy amount.  I'm trying purposely to keep her weight in check, so I feed one patty (the size of a small hocky puck, not the big patty) and two teaspoons of good quality wet dog food in the morning and night.  I also put a few carrots, brocoli, apples, beens, or whatever in it.  So far she is doing great with it.  I also give her a cranberry supplement that includes Dmannos to stave away UTIs, and I wipe her after she pees.  Seems like a lot of things to do, but I don't want her to get another one, and I don't want her to get the crystals either.  Good luck with your Ein, and please share if you find out any other good rememdys. 

Darwin's Natural Pet Products.

John has raved about them and I love them. I actually find them to be cheaper than kibble.

Darwin's delivers to our door in Seattle, monthly.  Helps if you have a freezer.  We add just a very little Wellness kibble (it does have grain, barley).

It is raw meat, so observe hygiene practices:  we keep the thawed stuff in a shallow lidded tupperware in an aluminum drip tray on the bottom shelf, don't allow drips, keep dog food stuff rigorously segregated, wash hands afterwards.  It's allegedly human-grade, but I trust nobody.  Basic hygiene practice is to pretend everything is contaminated.  We handle dog food in the "dirty" half of the sink and keep it away from human dishes.  We've had no problems, it's simple.

Tip: 

It takes about 1/2 day for those bricks to thaw in the refrigerator, so we always have 1 meal thawing inthe refrigerator.

At feeding time, open the NEXT meal FIRST, when your fingers are dry.  I can't grab and peel the little flaps apart if my fingers are wet (if they are wet, a scrap of paper towel makes them easy to grab).  Open the packages when they are frozen hard, else it's messy.  I used to use a knife to slice the packs, and used that knife for nothing else. 

I add a lot of water to the food, sometimes hot water in the cold season because the meat is usually ice-cold.

Thank you so much everyone! I ended up going with a local Raw company. They had some really nice blends, don't do HPP, and all ingredients are local and organic. Plus I can buy it in bulk. Now, the problem is that I'm going to buying them in big ole 10lb blocks. How should I handle this? Defrost a block and break up into 2-3 day portions? Keep 1 defrosted and refreeze the rest. Does that sound right? The lady at the store said Ein should be eating 6-8 oz per day. Does that sound correct as well? Thank you guys so much!!

I think with raw you feed 2-3% of their body weight daily. Make sure to transition slowly to the raw diet and weigh her regularly in the beginning until you figure out how much you can feed her without her gaining weight. 

I feed Franklin Natures Variety raw bites mixed with Honest Kitchen in the am. Honest Kitchen is a dehydrated raw that is human grade which is super awesome. I mix the two together because feeding strictly the Instinct frozen raw is really pricey. Honest Kitchen is just a tad more expensive than the Taste of the Wild. I use Force but they do a make a grain free and gluten free variety too, just more costly.

RSS

Rescue Store

Stay Connected

 

FDA Recall

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall

We support...

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by Sam Tsang.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report a boo boo  |  Terms of Service