Schnauzer With Stones, Listener Comes to Aid

Thanks for taking my call tonight. Per your request here is a little history on Sebastian (Sabi) my 3 1/2 years old Mini Schnauzer – 14 lbs. (+ -)

On and off for a year he had blood in his urine, appearing the last few drops after he had emptied his bladder. This in addition to accidents in the house – my vet thought it was bladder infections coming and going or crystals. My Vet prescribed Clavamox (spelling) on and off in various doses with no results. After a Radiograph stones were discovered (16) and they were removed surgically Jan 2, 2008.

His diet since has been vet prescribed Hills Science Diet G/D wet with some Dry mixed in. I do add water to make it juicy to get more liquids in him. He does drink but not a lot.
You are right, I read the G/D bag/can after I got home and there is clearly bad stuff in his food. I feel awful feeding him this now, what I thought was “helping” (and vet recommended) is not. When you know better you do better and hopefully you can assist in pointing me in the right direction!!

You mentioned Honest Kitchen – Ice pups: Can you fill me in again on how to give this, I think you said mix with water to encourage drinking. What about daily diet for my little guy to hopefully prevent more stones. Which I know can return. Thank you so much for asking me to write!

PS: I’m off to order the DOG BIBLE Book via your site link now….I so enjoy listening to you in my car and on my I pod!  Now I can enjoy reading too.
Chrissy, Sabi’s Mom in Atlanta, GA

The great thing is that even before I could answer, my wonderful listener Helen, the Doberman rescue lady, jumped right in!  I did tell Chrissy about Ice Pups from the Honest Kitchen- a delicious chicken and herb powder that you can put just a little of into a bowl of water and your dog who never drinks will slurp to beat the band! My Scooby Doo nearly died of struvite stones in his bladder, so it’s a big issue for me, too, since he has no natural appetite to drink.

Tracie

Last night on CAT CHAT® you had a caller with a schnauzer who has calcium oxalate stones. One of my Dobies had calcium oxalate stones removed two years ago, and the first thing the highfaluting surgeon did was shove some canned Science Diet at me. He told me to feed Luigi that, but also said “It won’t work and he will be back for surgery to remove more stones in a year or so. No diet works on these stones.”

Well that was BS!

I immediately went onto the net and some people I knew mentioned the “Fuzzer Diet.” I found the person who created that diet on her yahoo list where she outlines the diet and her story. Luigi’s been on the diet now for two years, and is doing very well.

This group is very supportive. These are real people helping other dog owners who love and want to do the right thing by their dogs. The Fuzzer diet is particular to oxalate stones, and they also help/support other people whose dogs have struvites and other kidney/bladder problems. They’re the best!

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/K9KidneyDiet/

The owner of this store, b-naturals supplements for dogs, is also a member of the list. She has the diet spelled out here on her site by the originator of the Fuzzer Diet, Leslie Bean.

http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/calcium-oxalate-uroliths/

Great group for owners of dogs with these issues! Great diet for oxalate dogs! Eegads, not enough people know about the Fuzzer diet and the yahoo list that supports people with dogs with these problems. It is a wonderful resource, and the woman who devised it, Leslie Bean, is a gem. She’s in the medical field, and had two little dogs that had wall-to-wall oxalate stones. Inoperable. Vets said nothing to do but watch them expire. She said, “Like hell!” So went to work and through her own knowledge and her contacts in the medical field, put the Fuzzer diet together, and low and behold, those dogs’ stones shrunk! Fuzzer was one of her beloved dogs who had the stones.

I sent the diet to my regular vet and that uppity surgeon. I’m sure they glanced and tossed it aside. I’m SO sick of the attitudes of these vet-gods. Argh! The advice I got was to have the urine tested every few weeks for “stuff,” but found out, like you, that doing an ultra sound IS the way to test for these stones and urine testing is money out the window. My vet said x-ray, but I said I didn’t want to expose Luigi to that much radiation. “Oh, well, dogs don’t live as long as us, so if they get cancer from it, they’ll be old anyway.” Did I mention how sick I was of these attitudes?

I was strolling along the Net yesterday and found an interview you did in April on the Conscious Dog network. You’re everywhere, and thank God you are! Keep it up!