Oxalate Stones

Question
Hi there, We have a shih tzu who has had two surgerys for Oxalate calcium stones in his bladder. We are trying to find a kibble food for him to eat other than the Hills or Royal Canin food as they are filled with corn and by products, and he has itchy paws, recurrent ear infections and hot spots that we suspect are coming from these ingredients. Unfortunately home cooking is just not an option. Do you have kibble food that you can recommend that will help in preventing him from getting more stones? Thank you.

Answer
Hello there!
I certainly do not mean to be rude at all, but I must ask you why home cooking is not an option??? Time? Skill? expense? I truly thought this same thing when my little male Yorkie refused TO NOT BE SICK and finally, after months and months of the nutritionist I use PUSHING ME TO CHANGE MY MINDSET ABOUT CHANGING HIS DIET AND beginning to home steam for him, I finally listened. I just paid over $4K in tests to try and figure out how serious his digestion problems were and I did find out...very. And since I rescued him, it's been money, antibiotics, medications and you name it to give him just short periods of relief. My little boy suffers from serious IBD (not just a little irritable bowel either) and lymphoplasmacytic rhinitis...BOTH ARE INFLAMMATORY DISEASES that cause him great grief. When he had a bad episode of either or both together his poops were bloody, mucousy and soupy. He vomited a lot from both of these maladies and well, I was at my wits end. Then I met Donia and let me tell you. MY DOG'S LIFE CHANGED IN A BIG WAY.

I, like you, told her constantly that homecooking/steamiming was NOT AN OPTION..until finally, it became an option or had to become one. I suspect this might happen with you also. I fought this wonderful woman's advice with every fiber of my being because I was NOT GOING TO HOME COOK..NO WAY. Thank God I came to my senses.

I certainly do not want to tell you anything you already know because I don't want to insult you. But please allow me to say this--I believe, with every fiber of my being that KIBBLE IS CAUSING YOUR DOG'S STONES..the end. ALL KIBBLE IS LOADED WITH CHEMICALS/SYNTHETICS AND YOUR DOG IS NOT DIGESTING NOR ABSORBING THESE ingredients. For a compromised dog, such as you have, there are just TOO MANY INGREDIENTS for his little system to handle, let alone all the non real food and chemicals. This is not going to get better no matter WHAT KIBBLE IS ON THE MARKET. The more you feed him this stuff the more you will need meds, the more set backs he will have, the more pain he will have. It simply is a fact that commercial kibble (and most soft foods too) are garbage--it's like feeding your dog twinkies as his main diet. So this has to change...but ever so slowly. The kibble is stressing his kidneys and liver to the max. I do NOT WANT TO UPSET YOU AND HOPE I AM NOT. I just want you to make a change in his diet..to something simple and nutritious...NO KIBBLE.

I don't mean to be so long winded but I feel very bad for you and your pooch. You sound like you are stressed and have little time for cooking or other stuff. I understand this. I also realize that reaching for a handful of kibble is infinitely easier than spending time at a stove. I was EXACTLY THE SAME WAY--DIDN'T EVEN COOK FOR MYSELF. But now, I have changed and my little Yorkie is finally digesting and ABSORBING what I feed him and I am thrilled, I really am. The expert I used had two dogs that lived to be 19 and neither dog every tasted commercial dog food nor had one vaccine...go figure, right? In fact, they never saw the inside of a vet's office...amazing!!!

What I would like you to do is consider a very, very simply diet of steamed,skinless, organic chicken for your dog. You would start out VERY SIMPLY...JUST THE CHICKEN and then very slowly add an organic veggie that is good for dogs such as zucchini, yellow squash, cukecumbers, spinach, kale etc...the veggies would be fed RAW WITH SKIN AND PLACED IN A JUICER. A dog cannot digest raw veggies unless pulverized. I am trying to say that you need to get your dog on a diet with just a few ingredients and not the zillions in kibble that is very hard, and actually impossible for him to digest. The proof is that he is getting stones..obviously kibble is wrong for him...all kibble. Your dog is loaded with acid and you must begin to neutralize this with REAL FOOD without all the chemicals which are cause the acid, which is causing the stones. Am I making sense??

You would need to supplement this simple diet of course. But before I go there,. let me know if this is something you would be willing to try. I KNOW IT IS WORTH IT FOR YOUR DOGS LONGEVITY but I don't know if you are open to this. I will also send you my mentor's email address and she will be happy to talk with you also about your situation. My personal email is: DazzlinDaawg@aol.com. PLEASE WRITE ME AND LET ME KNOW WHO YOU ARE IN THE SUBJECT LINE so I don't delete. I want to help you and know I can. I know Donia can also. If all else fails and you are not interested in what I am suggesting then at least get your dog off kibble and onto a food such as Primal or Nature's Variety (careful with this one cause there are bones that you must take out)--try and find Primal if you can. Both of these foods are ORGANIC and Raw BUT I lightly steam the primal when I get it. Right now, I have decided the hell with all dog food and simply buy antibiotic, hormone and steroid free meats that I lightly steam. I am mostly using boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a variety of pulverized organic veggies.

I know this was not the answer you wanted but I had to let you know that I have walked in your doggie nutritional shoes and learned the hard way, that I HAD TO CHANGE BUDDY'S DIET...finally, Donia was able to convince me that I could find the time to save his digestive life...and now, as they say in NY, "he is kicking A**"--I AM THRILLED. Please let me hear from you again and if you like I will send you my mentor's email address too. YOu will never look back. She charges zero because she adores dogs, she really does.

Bye now, Sue aka DazzlinDaawg@aol.com