will_454

Interesting, I might do a ring around to see if any of the Pet Barns locally stock it. Asha was always on Royal Canin as a pup, however since switching her to Cannidae we have seen improvements in everything but the struvites. Having said that she hasn't tried the Hypo before - so it might pay to trial it for a month while i explore options.

Thanks for the links, the third one is an interesting read, and funnily enough that second thread is also my topic. I wanted to start this one separately to focus just on the food.

Thanks for the heads up, thread title changed.

So over the past 6 months we have been feeding our French Bulldog Canidae Grain Free Pure Land which has a 25% protein content, she seems to do really well on this (no chicken, chicken products or grain) and her itchiness has reduced substantially. However as she has had reoccurring issues with struvite crystals and our vet wants her on a lower protein kibble and has suggested Royal Canin Hypoallergenic (21%). Im not overly keen on this food especially if it is going to be for the long term, however I don't want the crystals to become a problem either. I am on the hunt for a lower protein grain/chicken free kibble's that is around the 20% mark, I have found Dick Van Plattens Natural Balance however I can seem to find if it is available in Australia. Any other suggestions?

So we went to the new vet had a lengthy discussion and took a urine sample and spun it. No bacteria or crystals, however the pH was 8.1. Asha is on an Acidurin equivalent, the name escapes me at the moment but they are brown chewable tablets that she takes half in the morning and night with food for a month. The vet (hollistic) told us that we seemed to be doing everything right, and they only additional step she could suggest may be introducing raw in the morning in place of the kibble, we could also look at a supplement such as Wysongs Biotic pH-, however it is very difficult to find in Australia. We are going to go for a follow up in a month and see what the outcome of the acidifiers is. Just to note the acidifiers is urimav 400mg.

Great, thanks for the advice. I will have a discussion with the vet tonight and get onto it.

I think going down the path of diet modification with an emphasis on foods that lower pH is the next step - there is a holistic vet on the other side of town that I am hoping to call tonight when I get home from work. I will have a discussion with them about the problem and talk about the X-ray, as this has not been done as far as I am aware.

I will try that, sounds like a good way to increase fluid intake... I haven't looked into milk for dogs. My wife uses lactose free milk so I'll do some reading about that one. We have tried most if not all of the prescription kibbles - Science Diet (wet and dry), Eukanuba, Royal Canin (wet and dry) and Hills. She hasn't done well on any of them - what I mean by well is that they have reduced and or got rid of the crystals but she itches like crazy on them because they all contain grains and chicken and/or chicken by-products, they seem to flare up her paws and face and she gets a bit yeasty on them. Since september we have been doing a treatment of Royal Canin Urinary SO for 2 weeks along with a course of acidurin (2 tabs per day) every 3 months to keep things in check - which it seemed to be. The leaking urine stopped, and she would go to the toilet normally. Having said that I am not happy with how she responds to the prescription food in her diet and it takes a further 2-3 weeks to get it out of her system and the itchiness to stop. She gave herself an eye ulcer from scratching so much last time.

Ok so I am digging this thread up from the dead.. I have completely read over it again and wanted to not only update, but touch base. It's been about 9 months since I was on the forum and it is mainly because of life.. I (my wife and I) have been super busy with not only a wedding and a honey-moon but a new addition to the family of the human breed this time. Asha was spayed about a month ago, however we are still having the crystal problems. Having said that they have only occurred once since last september, however this week I have noticed her leaking urine and urinating while walking like she doesn't quite know she is doing it. From previous experience these were the first signs of her urine pH increasing and sure enough when my wife tested it today it gave a reading of approx 7.5, higher then I would like but not over 8 yet which is good. I am going to revisit some of the suggestions, and specialists mentioned in this thread this week to try and knock this one the head once and for all - in the mean time I am thinking of getting her on a course or Acidurin or Methio-form, I have also read great things about Wysong Biotic pH- but I am struggling to find an Aussie supplier. Another possible contributing factor is water intake or lack of, being winter she is definitely drinking less so I might try adding a pinch of salt to her breakfast, and also increase her exercise to force her to drink more water (this is the harder once the achieve with the new baby) At this point in time Asha's dient consists of the following: Breakfast: half a cup of Canidae Grain Free Pure Land (also chicken free) + 2 teaspoons of natural yoghurt + 1 cranberry capsule Dinner: 1/8 cup Canidae + 165gm PetCafe Kangaroo mince Allerblend (Allerblend Details) + 1 capful ACV + 1 teaspoon coconut oil At the end of the 5 pages of discussion and advice last year my aim was to go full RAW but with the baby finding the time is always hard. It may be that I stick with the pre-packaged PetCafe Roo mince and look at a BARF option for the morning. I am thinking a consult with a holistic vet will be the first step, and dealing with someone in person (after a gauge their response over the phone) would be my preference initially. I still have a keen interest in exploring the two names that dancinbcs suggested and look into alternative methods, but I want to try one thing at a time to make sure I can easily identify the solution. Ok so that ended up being longer then I first thought... I will keep everyone posted on progress this time and won't let 9 months lapse. If there are any other suggestions or ideas please feel free to pitch in.

brilliant..

Its one of my favourites to.. Ace is the biggest clown. Asha is going well, check my post #65 before the photos for the latest update.

Funny you mention that, I was only thinking this over the weekend. I myself keep away from processed foods as much as possible and try to shop only in the first part of the supermarket (deli/fruit and veg) because in the end humans aren't meant to eat proceed rubbish food either and I would say 98% of people still do.

I had the same issues with our frenchie, and it was definitely food based. She would regurgitate (rather then vomit as she wasn't heaving to bring it up) Royal Canin kibble daily with multiple times a day (just kibble and clear liquid) - the food just didn't work with her, maybe it was too rich. We tried quite a few kibble options (to also combat itching and allergies) and finally settled on the Holistic Select which worked well with her stomach as the regurgitating stopped and her itchiness went down. She still tends to burp once she has finished eating or drinking, and sometimes a small amount of 'something comes up, but she just swallows it down again so I can not be sure what it is. I think over the last 3-4 months I can count on one hand how many times she has regurgitated again, and it is now only one or 2 biscuits and mostly clear liquid. I am now looking at transitioning her to a completely raw diet, and changing her from the Holistic Select to a Canidae grain free kibble for emergencies or when we go away and cant take her food.

here are a few quick snaps, I don't want to photo bomb the thread too much :laugh:

just a quick update, Asha has been doing well over the last week and a half, the Nizoral has completely taken care of the yeast infection with a 5 day course. She rarely licks or chews her paws and her face roll is looking much better. For breakfast we have been feeding her a cup of the Holistic Select anchovy with a spoon of natural yoghurt and the powder from a cranberry capsule. For dinner she has 150gm of the low allergy kangaroo mince from Pet Cafe with a spoon of ACV. Her ph is still hovering around the 6-6.5 (I haven't checked in a few days) but hopefully once we get her completely over to a raw diet the ph will come right down. After this week once I have some more time on my hands I am going to follow up some of the alternative treatment options and speak to some of the vets listed in the thread, I am also looking at switching her dry kibble to a Canidae grain free for emergencies, which Pet Care also stock. I also want to book her back into the vet in a week or so for urine spin from a sterile sample to see how the crystals are going with what she is being fed at the moment. I really appreciate all of the help and suggestions in the 5 pages of this thread, you guys are great.

apologies, that's what happens when you reply to a thread whilst on the phone at work...

Ok that's interesting, we try to keep Asha away from chicken anyway as it makes her itchy. The antibiotics also seems to really get stuck into her, she loses quite a bit of hair and can have problems with her bowel/vomiting when on them. Last time she had the crystals she was tried on a different antibiotic and she didn't suffer from the vomiting, but had the hair loss again. I think the broth idea is a good idea, she is probably more likely to drink more of that then just plain water, however I have noticed her water intake seems to have increased with the addition of the cranberry to her breakfast and ACV pls a pinch of salt to her dinner.

interesting, I will definitely talk to the vet about this at the next appointment, may be worth it to see exactly what is going on.

You are right with that one, it really has a distinctive smell.

Thanks for the link - that's quite interesting. We went through a stage of washing Asha's feet in the calendula/dandelion tea which did seem to help quite a bit. There are so many things we are doing at the moment, we have to pick and choose which treatments to stick with. I also know there are quite alot of forum members who have had good luck with calendula tea.

interesting, next vet visit I will speak with them about it, I completely forgot to ask when we were in last. Great thanks for the feedback, it seems as though the holistic and alternative therapies are also a worth while path to look down, now its trying to decide how I approach this whole thing. Because we were short for time this weekend, we went to Pet Cafe here in Adelaide who supply raw foods and ended up with a pre-packaged low-allergy kangaroo, barley mix with vitamin supplement, we are going to slowly add a little to Asha's meals over the next week or so and see how she handles it. I am keeping up with the cranberry and ACV and so far she has had the new food last night and this morning and will go for that first over her kibble which is a good sign. This morning her ph is at 6.5, so it still needs to drop but its much better then Saturday when it was at 7.5.

Thanks for you input, and the tip about barley that's great, ill have a look into Dr Anne and touch base it's her. I have a lot of people to call and see what sort of responses I get. The raw diet is the biggest constant in all of the replies in this thread, so I definitely think this may be the way to go - or at least transition her into it. We went to the vet this morning and had her urine spun, they were really happy with how much her crystals had reduced in two weeks on the S/O food and gave us Nizoral for the yeast infection. We discussed a raw diet and the response was quite positive from the vet, she didn't want to keep her on the S/O if it is causing her problems with allergies. I am going to look into goat or rabbit with possibly barley or sweet potato and veg (ones that mat help lower pH) are there any supplements or additives I should be looking at in addition to this apart from the cranberry powder, ACV and salt?

Thanks Will but the Frenchie I was concerned about is Cid-from-Victoria who is owned by Natalie, not Sid-from-Qld who is owned by Huga, I know - there are two frenchies called Sid and there was some talk in the thread about Cid and his prolapse, sorry I should have checked the spelling of his name.

I believe there may be some updates in the French bulldog thread as Natalie frequents that thread quite a bit, I remembered reading about Sid a week or so ago... http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/106362-french-bulldog-thread/page__st__15825

Thanks for the advice and tips - I will keep them in mind and have a look for that book online. I think the RAW elimination diet is the way to go, Another point I guess is that whatever I do with Asha I will also have to do the same with Ace, because if she is getting meats, fish and veg that smell great I can't imagine he is going to want to eat his kibble.. but he won't be transitioned over until we find something that Asha is stable on.