A question on feeding.

[B-boy]

Hello there,
Our new familia mamber B-boy has his hind end Paralized. His urine has had problems with crystals forming. We give him PH- to help control that with his food. Our question is, he does not seem to be into the raw food diet he has been eating. It is not due to stress cause he eats stuff like cooked ground beef or salmon. SO we were wondering, is hard food more of an issue for his digetive track? We feed our other dog "Origin" dry food. all natural and he loves it. Is there any suggestions as to what kind of food a dog like this needs? He does not need to be expressed and has no issues with his bowls at this time. Does anyone here cook for their dogs? if so what?
thanks again and love to all you.
S&S&P&B

[Paul Coover]

We don't cook for our guys, but I do know that lots of people are switching to raw after all of the recalls.

2 of our guys have very sensitive stomachs, but we have finally found a food that agrees with all of our gang, We feed Wellness Weight Management formula.

[Cindidoxiemom]

Do you express? Expressing would cut down on the amount of time the urine is in the bladder , and reduce the chance of crystals and infections.
Cindi

[Dianne]

Pedro and B-boy,

I agree with Cindi. If he is dribbling urine, or unable to go potty when HE wants to urinate, you should express his urine. Does he have accidents?

Expressing is when you gently push on his hind quarters/bladder to force urine to be expelled. A lot of us on this bb express our cats and dogs when they are paralyzed.

Here are instructions how to express urine.

http://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Express_a_dog_or_cat

Let us know if you need any further instructions.

Dianne

[B-boy]

Hello to you all,
Thank you for the advice and links. We do not express his urine as the agency that we adopted him from said it was uneeded. He does wear a male wrap and has it changed about twice a day due to "accidents". His urine was annalized by a vet recently and B was said to have no crystals in his urine anymore. The agency said to continue with PH- in his diet to control it. We will look more into the expressing option. Thanks again.
B&P&S&S

[Christine]

I cook for Bailey - chicken, hamburger, fish, sweet potatoes, rice, green bean, eggs, broccoli and also add powdered supplements to a little Boost before giving her her food.

I have for the past month added about a tablespoon of ORGANIC, unsweetened cranberry juice to this power shake for her urinary tract. (Although tests have not shown a UTI, she oftentimes has the burning rubber smell to her urine.) I gave her cranberry drops and UTI Free crystals with no real results, but within a week of giving her the tablespoon of cranberry juice twice a day, the smell is gone.

If you decide to try cranberry, be sure it is organic as traditional cranberry farming uses a lot of pesticides.

Good luck with your baby and welcome!