Hi,
I just learned I've been accepted to join this group. I became interested
when I was searching foods for dogs with crystals in their urine. I have 3
of my 6 dogs on c/d food right now. The vet and i thought this was rather
odd, since my dogs have been on Solid Gold Holistic for 5 months now and
their was no problem before.
Let me tell you a bit about me. I live in Mankato MN with 6 dogs and a
husband :o) We have had dogs for 34 years and have had only one other dog in
those years with the crystals in the urine problem. We eventually got him
off the c/d when I started making their food at home.
As time has gone by, I've gotten lazier as we now have 6 dogs. That's a
lot of food to make and store. And I don't even like making food for us
humans....Like I said I've gotten lazy...sigh.
Let me introduce you to my dogs.

Rudger: A 3 year old blenheim cavalier king charles spaniel. Shortly after
we got him we found out he had mega-esophagus. We nursed him through it
(including pneuomonia) adn he was one of the lucky ones, his esophagus
started working. We also found out he has 3 discs out of alignmnet in his
back and has severe hip dysplasia. You wouldn't know he has these problems
or that he ever was so near death. He is one of them with crystals in his
urine.(although ph was normal)

Mika: A very large(22 lbs) chocolate and tan pomeranian. He is very healthy
but unless kept on a strict diet tends to overweight. He is also 3 years
old. And one of them with crystals in his urine.(his ph was high at 8)

Sabrina: Another large pom(16lbs) red sable pomeranian . She is 2 years old
and another very healthy pom....Except for the crystal in her urine(ph a
little on the high side)

Skylar: A tri-color 2 year old cavalier girl. She is healthy , but is our
little garbage can. She loves all food particulary fruits & vegetables.

Kiefer: Our very first tibetan spaniel. He is black & tan and just turned 1
years old. He is very healthy. Although I've been noticing him scratching
more than usual lately. his favorite food is meat. And when he ate mostly
meat he didn't itch as much.

Tasha: Our female sable tibetan spaniel. She is 6 months old and very
active. She is hard to put weight on and was looking undernourished when we
got her. She still is on the lean side. We feed her 5-6 times a day. She has
been spayed and still needs a lot of food. She's another one who loves all
foods.

All my dogs are spayed & neutered.
As I said above, my vet and I cannot figure out what the problem is with
the crystals. At first we thought it might be something in the line since
the 2 poms came from the same line. But when one of the cavaliers showed up
with the crystals too, we began to wonder about the food. We had even added
BERRY BALANCE to the diet. It didn't stop them from coming back.(Our male
pom has had to be treated twice now)
On the c/d program they have stayed crystal free for 2 weeks. They were
tested 2 weeks after the antibiotic regime was ended. I will have them
checked again in a couple of months.
I'm open to any suggestions. None of them object to the c/d food and in
fact love it. But i am curious what could be causing the problem.

Ginny