Just like with humans, bladder stones also occur in dogs. They are commonly brought about by some urinary tract infections, which form crystals or stones in the dog's bladder, thus causing trouble when peeing.
Urinary problems can be very straining to your dog. They are usually caused by a change in the pH of the dog's urine. However, the pH disturbance causing the infection can't be linked to a single cause.
Food has a direct effect on the urine acidity of your dogs. Some dog food contains an excessive amount of ingredients that can lead to bladder stones. Likewise, there are food options that improve bladder health and help cure bladder stones.
To help address urinary problems, we've listed the best dog food for bladder stones. These are the ideal options that, when appropriately consumed with the right medication and utmost care can alleviate and treat your dog's condition.
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Top 6 Dog Foods for Bladder Stones
Dog foods can either make or break the well-being of your dogs with urinary problems. Here are our top picks among the numerous options of dog food for bladder stones.
Editor's Picks | Product Name | Price |
|---|---|---|
Best Choices | Hills Diet C/D Urinary Tract Health Dry Dog Food | |
Best Wet Food for Dogs with Bladder Stones | Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Natural Adult Wet Dog Food | |
Best Natural Diet for Dogs with Bladder Stones | Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary Diet Dry Dog Food | |
Best Bladder Stone Diet for Small Dogs | Royal Canin Canine Urinary SO Dry Dog Food | |
Bladder Stone Diet for All Dog Stages | Purina Canine UR Urinary Dry Dog Food | |
Best Wet Food for Puppies with Bladder Stones | Merrick Lil' Plates Grain-Free Small Breed Wet Dog Food |
Hills Diet C/D Dry Food uses the finest formulation and natural ingredients to ensure optimum bladder's health and promote a healthy immune system.
It contains high amounts of phosphate and magnesium, which reduces the acidity level in your dog's urine. This also limits the formation of stones and crystals in their bladder.
Another ideal feature of Hills Diet C/D Dry Food is that it comes with a minimal amount of calcium, which prevents calcium oxalate stones formation. It is formulated with the right amount of minerals to help maintain a healthy bladder.
Moreover, this low protein dietary formula is best suited for dogs with bladder stones. The presence of higher protein in the blood will slow down its dissolution process, leading to harmful and detrimental effects.
Other than the urinary functions of Hills Diet C/D Dry Food, this meal also helps in maintaining a normal blood pressure due to its low sodium content. The antioxidants present in its formulation control the cell oxidation that occurs while promoting a healthy functioning immune system.
However, this dog food contains soy and wheat, which is not suitable for sensitive dogs.
- Contains sufficient amount of minerals
- Reduces the risk of stone formation
- Low-protein composition
- Promotes a healthy immune system
- Contains traces of wheat and soy
Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Wet Dog Food is a delicious treat made with the finest ingredients to ensure the optimum and proper functioning of your dog's systems.
As its main ingredient, this dog food is made with turkey chunks, thus providing your dog a good quality of protein. The oatmeal and potato components give a good source of easily digestible carbohydrates.
Moreover, Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Wet Dog Food contains a precise blend of micronutrients that come from farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to provide dogs with complete and proper nutrition no matter what breed your dog may be.
Being a holistic and natural dietary meal, it dramatically minimizes any food sensitivities while increasing the nutritional value in every bite. In fact, it contains no wheat to meet your dog's needs from pup to golden years.
This handy and hearty treat is covered with savory gravy to ensure the goodness and the taste that your dogs will enjoy. The Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Wet Dog Food is a single-serving and divine delight with a big appetite appeal for any dog breed.
- Holistic and natural ingredients
- Highly digestible carbohydrates
- Tasty and delicious
- Handy and easy to open treats
- Contains traces of controversial components
Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary Diet is a top-notch dog food created to prevent stone formation as well as to help dogs suffering from bladder problems.
Its main ingredient is fresh chicken, which serves as a supplemental source of protein. Also, it comes with an ideal and well-balanced level of calories and healthy fats to ensure optimum health and proper weight loss.
As a natural and wholesome diet, Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary Diet is grain-free. This makes it beneficial for dogs suffering from urinary tract infections. The formulation also contains highly digestible carbohydrates to promote proper digestion and nutrition.
Additionally, this dietary formula has controlled mineral levels to support the urinary tract and ensure beneficial nutrition to your dogs. It comes with plenty of fibers to guarantee that your dogs are feeling full and satisfied for a longer time.
Just like any other veterinary diets, Blue Buffalo Natural Veterinary Diet has a unique formulation that lacks any artificial additives and harmful fillers that can affect your dog's system. This makes it the best choice for a wide age ranging from all life stages.
- 100% grain-free
- A wholesome and all-natural diet
- Controlled levels of crystal-causing minerals
- Tasty and delicious
- Expensive
- Needs veterinary authorization
Royal Canin Canine Urinary SO is designed to support various health conditions of your dogs, especially urinary health issues.
Each kibble contains compounds that prevent the formation of calcium and struvite crystals. These help increase the volume of urine and reduce the mineral concentration in your dog's kidney.
Its main ingredients contain safe, easily digestible, and a high amount of fiber, giving your dog sufficient nutrients that they need to build a healthy immune system.
Moreover, Royal Canin Canine Urinary SO has omega-3 fatty acids that fight infection and inflammation in the urinary tract. This also helps in maintaining healthy skin and luscious coat.
With its controlled amount of magnesium, protein, calcium, and phosphorus, this delicious diet can keep your dog's system running clean and healthy.
What makes this dog food even more special is its special Relative Super Saturation (RSS) methodology that balances the pH concentration of the urine, thus reducing the risk to urine crystallization.
Despite these fantastic features, Royal Canin Canine Urinary SO is not as wholesome as the other brands. It also contains a couple of controversial ingredients such as pork by-products that can be harmful to sensitive dogs.
- Prevents formation of urine crystals
- Effective post-UTI care
- Easily digestible ingredients
- Promotes a healthy immune system
- Tasty and delicious
- Contains controversial components
Purina Canine UR Ox/St is a complete formulation that offers urinary health and promotes other amazing health benefits.
Amazingly, this diet provides an unfavorable environment for bacterial growth, which prevents the formation of sterile struvite and calcium oxalate in your dog's bladder.
It comes with moderate fat content, grain-free components, and no added salt features, which promote an ideal solution for dogs with bladder issues. Also, the protein content of Purina Canine remains within the standard limits, thus reducing any risk of crystal or stone build-up in the dog's bladder.
As a balanced formula, this diet is created with a pack of essential nutrients needed by your dogs to ensure a healthy lifestyle. It comes with lean animal protein to ensure proper muscle growth. Complex carbohydrates are also present to sustain their health, even during adverse conditions.
Besides having a delicious taste and crunchy texture, this diet meal also offers low calcium, low phosphorus, and high antioxidants to maintain optimum health effectively.
Dogs already suffering from urinary tract problems can significantly have prolonged lives due to Purina Canine. Feeding them with this meal can significantly improve their overall wellness.
- Prevents stone or crystal formation
- Comes with plenty of essential nutrients
- Perfect for small and big dog breeds
- Crunchy and tasty
- A bit pricey
- Requires prescription
Merrick Lil' Plates is uniquely designed to meet the dietary needs of small dog breeds, especially those who are suffering from bladder stones issues.
This food recipe uses real and all-natural ingredients such as meat, poultry, and fish as its main ingredient, thus ensuring a high-protein meal in every bite. It comes with turkey broth and egg whites for added nutrient supplementation.
This dog food contains as well farm-fresh fruits and vegetables such as apples, blueberries, carrots, peas, and potatoes, for added nutrients.
As big nutrition for small dog breeds, Merrick Lil' Plates comes with a grain-free formulation. It has no added gluten ingredients for optimum health and easier digestibility of your dogs.
Additionally, this dietary recipe contains no artificial colors and no preservatives giving your dog the best nutrition that they always deserve.
To top it all, Merrick Lil' Plates comes with smaller sizes perfect for the tiny mouths. This dainty dish is also convenient to feed as it comes in single-serving trays with the balanced formulation. It is specifically designed to give dogs the right and satisfying portion of food at every meal.
- All-natural ingredients
- Added supplementation and nutrients
- Grain-free formulation
- A well-portioned and balanced meal
- A bit expensive
Bladder Stone in Dogs
Bladder stones are crystals made of mineral deposits. They are formed as a result of either too alkaline or too acidic urine. Some dogs may experience painless symptoms, while others can have severe pain, especially when the stones caused a blockage in the urinary tract.
1. Types of Bladder Stones
There are several types of bladder stones, but the most common ones were as follows.
2. Causes of Bladder Stones
Bladder stones in dogs are usually caused by one or more of the following reasons.
Dog's Breed
Some dogs are more prone to abnormal urine pH levels. Their genetic history also tends to be more susceptible to several urinary tract infections. Dog breeds that are most likely to suffer from bladder stones include.
Dehydration
Dogs getting less hydration than what is needed may have unbalanced pH levels. This can affect their rate of metabolism and overall diet plan.
The ideal pH level of urine should at least be lower than pH 7.0 to ensure proper dissolving of crystals that form in the bladder.
Bacterial Infection
Dogs suffering from bacterial infection are more susceptible to forming bladder stones.
It is best to have your dogs checked by an expert to know whether their infection can cause bladder stones.
3. Symptoms of Bladder Stones
The most common way to help determine if your dogs have bladder stones is through the following signs and symptoms.
How to Choose The Best Dog Foods for Bladder Stones
After knowing the basics of bladder stones in dogs, it's time to know the ideal food ingredients that you should avoid or look in dog food.
1. High Moisture Content
The more water your dog consumes, then the quicker their recovery and treatment will be. Considering the moisture level of foods, it is best to go for wet foods to treat bladder stones.
Since not all dogs love wet foods, try to balance the ratio between wet and dry options. Be sure to add extra salt to the meal to encourage your dogs to drink more water.
2. Low Protein Content
Some types of bladder stones are caused by high amounts of protein and amino acid. Avoid too much meat, poultry, and seafood as they are the primary cause of urate stones.
Moreover, the presence of protein in dog foods can hinder the dissolution of other types of bladder stones.
3. Low Fiber Content
The higher the fiber consumption, then the higher the moisture lost through the feces. Though it is helpful for easy digestion of food, too much fiber can cause loss of fluid, which can eventually increase the urine concentration. Thus, it is recommended to choose easily digestible food options.
4. Low Collagen Content
Even though collagen-rich foods are good for muscle building, it should be avoided by dogs suffering from bladder stones. This component can slow down the process of flushing out the bladder stones in your dog's body.
5. Various Mineral Contents
Go through the list of ingredients and understand what minerals should be avoided to ensure pH balance and prevent bladder stones.
Conclusion
While there are many dog foods available, some are not ideal for bladder stone conditions. Keep in mind that the stones are never the same for all dogs; therefore, professional help is highly recommended.
With that, the clear winner for the best dog food for bladder stones is Hills Urinary Tract Health Dry Dog Food. It is a great food option that promotes the nutrients needed by your dogs to ensure optimum balance in the pH levels of their urine.
This dog food also contains the essential minerals and proper amount of proteins to prevent the formation of crystals in your dog's bladder.
Hey there, I’m Ruby Smith, founder of Pet So Fun, and I’m here to provide you with useful information about your precious pet. All pets deserve the best care, don’t they? But not all pet owners have access to the right products and tips for their pets. And the central core of my work here is to change that.