Canine UTIs

[mcb]

...When I told her that she would not eat the Science Diet, she recommended trying Royal Canin s/d...

Oh great. Royal Canin Urinary SO is what our Cassie was eating (by prescription) when she developed diabetes. Nasty stuff. I don't know what's in the dog food, but the dry cat food's second ingredient was brown rice, and the canned cat food contained soybean oil if I remember correctly.

 

[Lilou]

I'm a bit off topic here, but I found a cat food that seems to be a good alternative for cats that have been raised on commercial cat food & won't switch to raw meat.

My 4 yr old, male cat was recently very sick with a respiratory infection. He flat out refused to eat any "regular" commercial cat food after he recovered. (It's like he knew the stuff would make him sick!) I tried all kinds of meat, raw, cooked. He wouldn't touch it. I finally found "Newman's Own" cat food. And he loves it.

The ingredients are organic beef, organic beef liver, organic beef broth and minerals (calcium, zinc, copper, manganese...etc). It seems to be the only one that doesn't contain grains and fillers. They have a few varieties.

I first found it at Wal-Mart. When I returned to purchase more, it was gone, no tag on the shelf. I ordered a case off Amazon, which ended up being cheaper delivered to the door than it was at Wal-mart! So for those looking for an alternative, this is the best I found so far.

 

[Lirpa]

I'm a bit off topic here, but I found a cat food that seems to be a good alternative for cats that have been raised on commercial cat food & won't switch to raw meat.

My 4 yr old, male cat was recently very sick with a respiratory infection. He flat out refused to eat any "regular" commercial cat food after he recovered. (It's like he knew the stuff would make him sick!) I tried all kinds of meat, raw, cooked. He wouldn't touch it. I finally found "Newman's Own" cat food. And he loves it.

The ingredients are organic beef, organic beef liver, organic beef broth and minerals (calcium, zinc, copper, manganese...etc). It seems to be the only one that doesn't contain grains and fillers. They have a few varieties.

I first found it at Wal-Mart. When I returned to purchase more, it was gone, no tag on the shelf. I ordered a case off Amazon, which ended up being cheaper delivered to the door than it was at Wal-mart! So for those looking for an alternative, this is the best I found so far.

Not sure about the cat food but Neuman's Own Dog Food has soy in it and soy is not very good for dogs. I think Neuman's Own was bought out by a corporation after he died because the ingredients in the dog food and the people food he makes has changed a lot with cheaper ingredients and the design on the packaging has changed. Lower quality ingredient and changes in packaging changes sometimes means that it has been bought out by a corporation.

I second what Megan says about Royal Canin Dog Food. It is horrible food. Corn is very high up on the ingredient list if not the first ingredient. That is the crap that my vet at the time wanted me to feed Charlie for his UTI. I thought it was Science Diet but it was Royal Canin. I fed it to Charlie once and he had a horrible time digesting it.

 

[mcb]

Not sure about the cat food but Neuman's Own Dog Food has soy in it and soy is not very good for dogs. I think Neuman's Own was bought out by a corporation after he died because the ingredients in the dog food and the people food he makes has changed a lot with cheaper ingredients and the design on the packaging has changed. Lower quality ingredient and changes in packaging changes sometimes means that it has been bought out by a corporation.

We are still feeding our cats the Neuman's Own Liver and Beef & Liver varieties, watching the labels carefully (although the label can hide quality issues). I am losing all confidence in it now, however, after discovering that they sell (human) salad dressings made with vegetable oil.

 

[Z...]

A straight forward 'Slap me upside the head' kind of thing! The truth is this Vet IS ignorant of my dogs nutritional needs.

Sadly wast majority of western vets are the same. This is the part of global "corruption of science" problem. I get very annoyed when I hear usual nutritional advice from my colleagues and I have to keep reminding myself that this is just one aspect of deep slumber humanity suffers from. In fact not so long ago I was the same.

As my vet says (and he practices chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, holistic medicine and allopathic (Western) medicine) - "the fewer times your pet sees a Western vet, the longer it will live".

Again this is sad but undeniable fact. My hair sometimes stands on ends when I see some usual therapy protocols. It is as if they are designed to make the animal more sick.
Come to think of it it makes sense as otherwise the big pharma and vets wouldn't be able to make such giantonormous revenues every year.

Freya your dog is doing fine. Its good the stones in the bladder have been ruled out and the course of specific antibiotic - after urinoculture and antibiogram should clear the infection.
You are totally right about sulfa preparations (bactrim) - these have very good spectrum for urinary pathogens, unfortunately it looks as if in veterinary prescribing antibiotics are prescribed according to what is "in fashion" at the moment and this is dictated by economic interests of pharmaceutical companies and their productional preferences. I use to love sulfa preparations, they had minimal side effects and were very effective unfortunately I cannot prescribe them anymore as they are difficult to find.

I wholeheartedly recommend acupuncture, I have seen it at work and it is nothing short of miracle even in much more serious conditions then the one your dog suffers from.
Keep us updated and good luck.