Bladder problems

Alkaline urine burns lawns. Some urinary bacteria split the urea to form ammonia, a very strong base (alkali), causing irritation, ammonia smell , and burning the lawn, and possibly stone formation. Struvite stones form in alkaline urine. Presumably they are using the C/D to make the urine more acid and perhaps dissolve the stones.(?) Have they discussed removing the stones or are they trying to dissolve them? If that is the plan, and the urine is still very alkaline, then it may need to be rethought. I would test the pH of the urine every other day , and let the veterinarian know if it is alkaline. (ie - "I got a pH of 9 yesterday, what should we do?") As always,I am trying to explain, not interfere. Just suggesting questions you might ask your veterinarian to help you understand.
Incidentally interstitial cystitis is VERY common in cats, it is a stress reaction. Generally not a problem in dogs, though it does occur. If you have stones I would not worry about an interstitial reaction, there is an elephant in the room. .
 
The Quahog said:
Alkaline urine burns lawns. Some urinary bacteria split the urea to form ammonia, a very strong base (alkali), causing irritation, ammonia smell , and burning the lawn, and possibly stone formation. Struvite stones form in alkaline urine. Presumably they are using the C/D to make the urine more acid and perhaps dissolve the stones.(?) Have they discussed removing the stones or are they trying to dissolve them? If that is the plan, and the urine is still very alkaline, then it may need to be rethought. I would test the pH of the urine every other day , and let the veterinarian know if it is alkaline. (ie - "I got a pH of 9 yesterday, what should we do?") As always,I am trying to explain, not interfere. Just suggesting questions you might ask your veterinarian to help you understand.
Incidentally interstitial cystitis is VERY common in cats, it is a stress reaction. Generally not a problem in dogs, though it does occur. If you have stones I would not worry about an interstitial reaction, there is an elephant in the room. .
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Ah, stress cystitis - I have a cat that gets that.

Yep that makes good sense, I will test the urine pH as it's something I can do at home - the vets are so busy atm that it's easier to do what I can before going in. The UTI she has atm is a staph, I got the susceptibility test to make sure she is on the right antibiotic (turns out it is antibiotic resistent staph). She does smell like urine atm, even though the peeing got a little better last couple of days. I'm assume the UTI cleared up but not the struvites. The hardest thing is her anxiety levels are so high.

Della's been on c/d for months and still had struvites so I really don't think it's working. Vet said the stones were all too small to surgically remove (the vet behaviourist did an ultrasound because I was worried Della's anxiety). Something more pro-active has to be done though, she's been like this for so long it's exhausting. Admittedly that's partly on me, with Tully being sick and having a hock fusion tomorrow so I haven't been pushing enough.
 
Don't know if this is of any help, but I have noticed over the years that certain foods seem to cause my dogs to lose bladder control. I can't seem to pinpoint what ingredient causes this, but as soon as I switch foods it stops completely. This has happened with several different dogs over the years and these were completely housebroken dogs. One of the foods was FreshPet and the other was Dr. Bob's Wisdom food. I think there was a couple of others, but it was years ago and I don't remember which ones. I wish I know what ingredient was causing this.
 
Bailey had bladder issues like that when she was younger. Her urine was not acidic enough, she would have crystals and constant UTI's. She gets 1/8th of a 500mg vitamin C pill a day. Switching her to bottled water also help. Supposedly, tap water can have minerals in it that can build up in the bladder and cause crystals. Not sure what kind of tap water you have, but might want to look into that. Lastly, I give her a supplement from Dr. Mercola. It's a liver & kidney support. She gets a scoop a day. They also have a bladder support supplement. https://www.chewy.com/dr-mercola-liver-kidney-support-dog/dp/162901
 
take4roll10 said:
Bailey had bladder issues like that when she was younger. Her urine was not acidic enough, she would have crystals and constant UTI's. She gets 1/8th of a 500mg vitamin C pill a day. Switching her to bottled water also help. Supposedly, tap water can have minerals in it that can build up in the bladder and cause crystals. Not sure what kind of tap water you have, but might want to look into that. Lastly, I give her a supplement from Dr. Mercola. It's a liver & kidney support. She gets a scoop a day. They also have a bladder support supplement. https://www.chewy.com/dr-mercola-liver-kidney-support-dog/dp/162901
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Thanks, I will do the vit C. I got same dog vit-C the other day but they don't list how much is in it, which I think is a bit dodgy and so I don't know the dosage other than what they say. I hadn't thought about the water, atm I can't because my back is too sore to lift containers and I go through about 20L a week with 5 pets. Although I could ask the dog walker to fill up the bowls with the 10L emergency bottle in the garage and try it for a few days. Should probably use that water anyway, it's been there since the 2019/20 bushfires.
 
Caro said:
Thanks, I will do the vit C. I got same dog vit-C the other day but they don't list how much is in it, which I think is a bit dodgy and so I don't know the dosage other than what they say. I hadn't thought about the water, atm I can't because my back is too sore to lift containers and I go through about 20L a week with 5 pets. Although I could ask the dog walker to fill up the bowls with the 10L emergency bottle in the garage and try it for a few days. Should probably use that water anyway, it's been there since the 2019/20 bushfires.
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Because I cut a 500mg vitamin into 8ths, Bailey gets about 60mg of vitamin C a day. She is 14lbs. If you add vitamin c, you may want to do a urine test after a few weeks because too much vitamin could make her urine too acidic and then she'll have a different type of crystals. The key is finding the right dosage to increase her urine acidity, so that is in the normal range.

Good luck!
 
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