Calcium oxalate crystals

Question
The Dr. ran a urine test on our 11 year old Shih-Tzu & it came back moderate/high for calcium oxalate crystals.  The rest of the test was normal & the x-ray showed no stones.  The Dr. recommend Hill's UD food .  Is it safe for pets with this condition to take 1 PET TAB daily & to eat cooked (boiled) chicken.  The chicken is finely chopped and a little bit is sprinkled on top of his dry food daily---the piece of chicken breast lasts 5-7 days.  He also has 1 scrambled egg weekly.  Can he still have it?  What about protein deficiency--is that a danger when dogs eat UD food?  Thanks for your help.

Answer
First of all, I am not a vet, so whatever I say will be only my opinion... and there is a fair amount of controversy in some of the information I have found and heard over the years.

Calcium oxylate (stones) can be caused from many things... hereditary, supplements, diet, Cushing's Disease. I have had one dog with these stones, and at the time, I was supplementing everyone with apple-cider vinegar in their drinking water which I believe was the cause in his case. This dog also does not drink a lot of water (I never see him drinking). He now gets his food floating in about a cup of warm water every morning, and the vinegar, of course, was stopped when the stones were discovered. It has been over two years since he had his stones. I never altered his diet otherwise as I feel that I feed an excellent diet (Eagle Original; 25% protein/15% fat).

Most everything I have found says to increase the dog's water intake (flush those crystals OUT!), take him off of any soy products, give NO vitamin-mineral supplements (no vitamin C!), no foods with by-products or sugars, give no (people) foods containing oxylates. Many seem to recommend low-protein diets. Personally, I would eliminate the chicken if the dog eats well otherwise, but some say it is okay.

If I had to use a prescription food, I would choose Waltham's over Hill's. You might wish to talk with your vet about that. Maybe he would give you a prescription for one of the Waltham's Royal Canin diets so that you could get this food elsewhere.

Urinary pH should be around 6.5. You should get some pH test strips and check your dog's first urine in the morning periodically. Different foods will affect this, so keep experimenting until you find one that will maintain your dog's pH level around 6.5-7... no higher or lower.

Here are some links with more information (some controversial)... two are veterinary and one is not (from a woman with a calcium-oxylate dog):

http://www.2ndchance.info/oxalate.htm
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_canine_oxalate_bladder_stones.html
http://www.macatawa.org/~wilcox_k/custom.html