struvite diet for my pug

Question
Hi. I am trying to find something other than Hills Prescription c/d to feed my pug. She just turned 6 today. The vet essentially told my husband and I that she would need to be on it forever, after finding bladder stones that turned out being struvite after the surgery to remove them. She was overweight at the time (25 lbs) so losing weight was also a concern. She has been on this for 3 years now. At first everything was fine and she got back down to ideal weight (18 lbs) but now she is starting to plump up again and we are seeing "shiny" urine again, like before we found out she had stones. The vet's solution is to put her on a stronger food that actually breaks up stones (i can't remember the name right now), but I just don't see the benefit of continuing this cycle of changing her food every time we turn around, if there is something more permanent that she could eat and love and do well on. I have to tell you she certainly doesn't turn her little nose up at anything, but she lacks energy at times after the change, so I know somethings up. I am mostly interested in finding a recipe or something that I can do myself and not have to shell out more big bucks to buy some other kind of dog food. Also, BTW she loves raw chicken and meat. I don't give it to her that often though cuz I wonder if it might hurt the stone situation. Does it? is this a treat that I should stop giving her? Any help is greatly appreciated by both my husband and myself, as our 2 dogs are our babies (at least for now). Our other baby is a 65 lb, 4 y/o german shorthair pointer boxer mix. We would totally love some sort of food we could feed them both. The competition around here is terrible. Each one wants the other's food. Plus buying food for both is getting to be a crunch on our wallets, especially the c/d. Thanks sooooo much for your time! Look forward to any suggestions.

Answer
A proper home made diet is difficult to do.  And they certainly aren't cheap.  I really don't get into them or suggest anybody does.  Likely you need to go no further than some of the banner ads here for recipes and hard to locate ingredients. Bare in mind, these sources are in business to make money.  You could end up spending as much or more as on the C/D.  You will also be feeding and unproved diet and your Pug becomes the laboratory animal it is tested on.  You may not see any problem that crops up until it is too late.  I would far rather trust your vet and the Science C/D.  I had to feed it to one of my puppies, and it wasn't much more than the Pro Plan I would have been feeding.  You could even ask your vet if it was OK for the other dog too.  The raw chicken and other things you are feeding could be part of the problem.  Despite what those selling other things say, the healthiest diet for dogs is a dry, commercial dog chow.  Those insisting otherwise have no proof to back their allegations.

I do think you need to impose some discipline on the dogs too and watch how much they eat.  Letting the Pug steal the the other dog's food and become over weight is a problem.  I feed our 2 dogs the first thing in the morning.  I stand there making sure neither raids the others dish.  as soon as the one is done, I put her out allowing the other to finish in peace.  It is very important to keep the dogs lean, see http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx