Vet Doesn't Know Food?
So, Jenny and I took Leena to the vet today because she had quite a bit of blood in her urine. We took her in, and after urine analysis and an x-ray, the vet didn't find much. He said she did have crystals, so she's on a urinary tract health medicine. He said, "I'm not saying Blue Buffalo is a BAD food, but you should try something with meat as a the number one ingredient." Pretty sure the Blue Buffalo she's been eating has lamb as the main ingredient. He recommended Pro Plan (which she did just fine on) or Science Diet, both of which contain corn (which I'm not necessarily opposed to). I just think it's weird that he'd put down Blue, although I agree she probably needs to change foods when the urinary health stuff is used up. I wonder, could it be the lamb?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hi Bradly and Jenny, no, it could not be JUST lamb, crystal formation is not an allergy reaction, It solely depends on water intake and what the crystals are composed of, since Leena's food is causing her problem right now, it's only logical to avoid blue buffalo and eliminate further crystal formation.
What kind of UT rx is Leena on right now?
To answer your last question, no, not all vets know a lot about food, vets spend roughly 1-2 classes on nutrition in vet school, you may want to ask your vet for a licenced pet nutrition professional referral.
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Permalink Reply by Bradly and Jenny Boesen on
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They put her on Hills Prescription c/d. Thanks for the reply.
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Ok, Hills Prescription C/D is prescribed for struvite stones, it balance out the ph level with proper magnesium and calcium level, adding potassium citrate, vitamin B6 to stop crystal formation. There's also Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from fish to reduce bladder inflammation. here's my old reply on struvite stones, there's 1 article and 2 old threads on this subject. Hope it helps :)
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Permalink Reply by Katy on
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Maddie has this problem and will still on rare occasions but not since we switched from Solid Gold hundenflocken to Nutrisource chicken and rice.
She had both struvite and calcium ox crystals , though not at the same time. Took some balancing and ensuring she drank enough water.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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I think one of the problems is that vets don't know EVERY brand of EVERY food ever. They know more about the brands that have licensed veterinary nutritionists on staff formulating the foods (the ONLY brands that have this are Purina, Iams, and Hills). This is why vets recommend these brands, these are the brands doing the research in the dog food industry and the ones that have nutritionists formulating the various diets. Might be worth asking your vet if he would consider looking at the ingredients in the food you feed or a food you may want to switch to if you don't want to continue on a prescription diet, that way they can take a look at the ingredients and make a more educated decision about the food you are feeding. When I was feeding Franklin a higher protein food he developed struvite crystals but had no infection, I switched to a lower protein diet of the same brand and the crystals went away on their own.
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Permalink Reply by Kevan hudson on
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Hi,one of my big concerns over the years has been what we feed our animals,when we got our Benson I started to really look into it, I was quite shocked.I tried to find the perfect food, I looked at every producer,blue buffalo was one of them,they could not even tell me where their ingredients were sourced from, scarey,try to avoid hills products(science diet), lot of sawdust,look for a food producer that is more local,do you have access to acana or orijen? , I fortunately have found a combination of foods that works perfectly for my pups,corgi friend kevan
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I'm pretty sure we don't have access to Orijen or Acana here, which sucks, because we'd give them a try. I think we may go lower protein, however, whatever decision we make on brands.
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Hi Kevan, Cellulose is insoluble fiber, the main component of cell walls of plants,it is NOT simple "sawdust", don't let internet dumb down science misguide you. Yes, Hills's Science Diet uses cellulose as their main insoluble fiber but we human also eat commercial foods with cellulose and its from maple trees (Go Canada!).
You can find cellulose in human food, even reduced-fat or high-fiber ones. Ice cream, yogurt, breads, pancakes, syrup, waffles, chocolate milk, sauce, crackers, pizza crusts, muffins, scrambled eggs, mashed potato mixes, cheesecake, shredded cheese, salad dressing, of course... toothpaste.
Cellulose absorbs water, increasing the size of the stool and making it softer. This way, cellulose helps the stool to pass through the colon easier, you can read all the benefits here.
The legal term "Food Grade" does not distinguish between human and pet. When Hill's or any other pet food purchases Food Grade Cellulose, it is from the SAME source as the cellulose for human foods.
Yes, it's in our favorite Tim Horton's coffee creamer too :)
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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My vet told me it's not the amount of the protein, but the quality of the protein. Lilliput has the same problem, but it's under control. The only protein sources she gets are poultry and egg, no beef, lamb, fish or peanut butter. There's a lot more to her diet, but the idea is to balance the ph and get her to drink more. Corn is not allowed on her diet, by the way. Neither is sawdust
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Permalink Reply by Amee Nepomuceno on
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So wait, is Blue Buffalo not a good brand? I've been feeding Spex the chicken with brown rice puppy food & he's having a problem urinating on beds (mine, his own, my boyfriends, & my sister's) which he's never done before until about a month ago. This could be a behavior thing though, but are you going to take her off Blue Buffalo? I was recommended Nutro or Wellness if I was to switch Spex off of Blue Buffalo.
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Permalink Reply by Megan C on
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Blue is a good brand. There are no by-products in the food and the first 2-3 ingredients for that food are usually meat. Not every dog will do well on the same food. Wellness is a good food as well; Nutro has A LOT of recalls and their food is pretty rice-heavy.
Defferent vets have very different opinions about food. I go to a vet that advocates a raw diet while I have had others who kept pushing me to feed Science Diet.
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I really like Blue Buffalo, and Leena has done well with it up until now. If I can find Blue with lower protein, I'll switch to that, but for now I think I'll look for something else. I'll probably switch a million times through Leena's life. We'll see.
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