“We were told certain breeds develop stones and along with diet, they can be prevented but not a guarantee no matter the food they eat”
Ditto with 2 of my cats. The problem was, one of my cats has a grain intolerance and the SO (or Hills C/D) is loaded with grains.
So now I make her food, but also add 750 mg of l-methionine a day. (This is for an 8 lb cat, amounts for dogs will be different! She is also theoretically supposed to need 500 mg, but that doesn’t get her urinary pH low enough.) The l-meth acidifies the urine.
With a pH over ~7, struvite crystals can form; with a pH under 6, calcium oxylate crystals can form. I’ve read the optimum range is 6.0-6.5. I test her urine every few months, now that I know how much l-meth she needs with the diet I give her, to make sure she is in the safe zone.
My boy has been on SO and loves it. I tested his urine, because I wanted to start adding canned food to his diet so he gets more liquid, and it was a bit too acidic. Could be because he eats more than he really should!
So I’m a big believer in testing the urinary pH and being sure all is well! Low phosphorus and magnesium in their diet is important too, since that is what the struvite crystals are formed from. But they will only form is the pH is off.
This issue is something I never heard of until it happened to our little guy. It is expensive but it is keeping him alive.
He loves SO so much that he turns his nose at other things (turkey) that he used to love. Every night my Husband makes him a bowl of dry SO, some canned SO, hot water to make a gravy and cubed (boiled) chicken breast. Snickers lops it up. He is gaining weight after 2 yrs of this but we aren’t too concerned because he is healthy and he pees a lake.
All together, canned, dry and a 10 lb chicken breast, cost us about $60 per month to feed him. But when you see your poor animal go through a stone blockage, $60 is nothing. through