My mini schnauzers calcium oxalate stones

Question
My dog has calcium oxalate stones, which has been removed surgically.  Now, I would like to inquire about a healthy diet for her.  She was eating California Natural.  I am currently cooking homemade meals for her i.e. chicken, rice, green beans, sweet potatoes.  Someone told me I should add baking soda in her food to balance her ph level.
Can you recommend a particular food that would be benefical to her.

Thanks,

Mindy

Answer
Hi Mindy,

What breed of dog do you have?
Are you looking for a balanced home made diet for oxalates, or for a commercial food? I would prefer to see this dog on home made, but it needs to be correctly formulated for both nutritional needs and the prevention of reccurrence.  

If you are going to try to do the diet on your own, please join my yahoogroup where we have a tutorial set up to help owners make nutritionally complete dogfood. This means adding trace minerals(but you have to be careful with this, if you have oxalates!) fatty acids and so on to ensure the diet is properly balanced.

There are better ways to alkalinize the urine than baking soda. I restrict protein, reduce sodium, use foods with low oxalate content, and add some phytate-containg food to the diet. Don't add vitamin C, but do add salmon oil, Vitamin E and Bvitamins.

It's quite a bit more complex than this but these are a few pointers to get you started. All dogs with stones/crystals need to drink a good amount of water. Home made diet contains more water then does  kibble, so the dog may drink less; try adding a Tbsp or so of unsalted chicken stock to the water to encourage drinking.

If you were looking for a commercial diet let me know - that's a lot harder to locate without resorting to Hill's special formualtion, because most commercial foods are very high in minerals. But let me know and I'll see what I can find for you.
The yahoogroup is a good idea for more information:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePossibleCanine

Hope this helps! Catherine