Bladder stones are a serious health condition that impacts many pet parents and their dogs. This condition is most often caused by feeding lower quality foods. Unfortunately, many pet parents are not even aware of the importance of hydration for their pets and may be neglecting this area by accident. By making some changes to your dog’s diet you can both get rid of existing stones and help to prevent new occurrences.
In today’s article we’ll be going over the cause of this ailment and what you can do to make sure that your dog’s bladder stone issue is no longer a problem. We’ll make some recommendations for new foods you can try and even some ideas to help your dog with staying hydrated.
What causes bladder stones in dogs?
The cause of bladder stones or struvite crystals is usually a combination of things which impact the PH levels in the animal’s urine and also potentially bacterial infections. However these are the symptoms of a larger problem regarding your dog’s health. This PH balance is often caused by things such as dehydration and improper diet. As a pet parent, making sure your dog is drinking enough water and offering them a higher quality food can help to combat these problems, and it can also improve their overall health.
One of the biggest problems for pets are dry food diets. While these diets are very convenient for humans since they last a long time and are generally cheap, they aren’t the best for dogs. In many cases animals actually get a good deal of their liquids through eating, and a dry food only diet can leave them very dehydrated, causing potential health issues like bladder stones or crystals. An easy way to almost instantly begin improving your dog’s health is to offer them a fresh or wet food.
While this is easy enough for smaller dogs, sometimes the cost of wet food can be a great expense for larger breed dogs. If you can’t afford to feed your dog a wet or fresh food diet all the time, then you should at least consider offering them a portion of their diet this way. You could mix it with a dry food to make it last longer or perhaps offer them a wet food meal in the morning and a dry food meal at night. This added moisture will be quite beneficial to your dog. Adding as much moisture as possible is key when creating a dog bladder stones diet for your pup.
Best dog food to prevent bladder stones
Now that we know what causes these issues for dogs we can start looking for a good food. Pet parents should try to keep in mind that while we have tried to make the best picks that we can that animals are individuals just like people. There may be cases where your dog simply doesn’t like or doesn’t respond well to a particular food and you may need to try another solution.
All of our picks use only high quality ingredients, are low in carbohydrates, do not use empty calorie foods like corn or wheat and provide exceptional moisture content for your dog. We’ve chosen a variety of products in different price ranges to help you choose something that’s right for your dog.
#1 – NomNomNow
Without a doubt, the best possible food for any dog is a fresh food diet. You simply can’t beat the nutritional benefits, and these diets are often the most digestible. NomNomNow is a fresh pet food delivery service which sends meals to your house every week. They use only human grade ingredients and everything is made fresh. The ingredients are also super limited, and this is great for sensitive animals with allergies or food sensititives. If you’ve noticed that your dog has loose stools, constant itchiness, skin irritations or problems with vomiting, then this will likely benefit them.
Below you can see the ingredients for the Chicken Chow-Wow diet. As you can see it has only four main ingredients. There are no empty calories here like with traditional commercial dog foods, and everything is balanced to give your dog an excellent and easy to digest diet.
The company also offers consultations to help you choose the perfect diet for your dog, and everything will be shipped perfectly portioned so you can always be sure you’re feeding your pup the right amount. If you’re looking to feed your dog the absolute best possible diet, then this is it. If you’re interested in feeding your fur baby little a doggy king or queen, then you can learn more here.
#2 – Halo Dog Food
This excellent pet food company uses only human grade, whole food ingredients to create their recipes. If you’re looking for a more affordable canned option that is of superior quality, then this is a great choice. These foods are also very easy to digest, making them a great choice for pups with common upset stomach issues or older dogs for whom digestion may be a chore these days.
Their canned diets are also very palatable, helping to coax dogs with poor appetites to eat. It should be noted though that most of the canned diets for this brand that are targeted to dogs do not seem to be grain free for whatever reason. All of them contain oats, which is not bad per say, but if you want to feed your dog an exclusively grain free diet, then this is a no go.
If you have no problem with a little grain, then this is an excellent product though. They also sell a very nice kibble food, and if you need to feed your dog a mixture for cost reasons, then this is a great brand to do it with. The flavors compliment each other, and it won’t give your dog any digestion problems to mix and match the flavors either. Learn more about this great and affordable dog food on Amazon.
#3 – Wysong Archetype
This excellent product is actually a raw food diet. If you’ve ever been curious about the benefits of a raw diet for your dog but did not have the time or knowledge to create such a diet for them yourself, then this is an excellent way to do it. Wysong allows for you to get the benefits of a raw diet for your dog with the convienence of a dry food.
Archetype is a dehydrated meal for your pup that is 95% real meat. There are no fillers or other undesirable items here, which is great for dogs with allergies or food sensitivities. While you can feed this food dry, it would be much better to rehydrate it with water first, especially for a dog with bladder stones or struvite crystals. This will essentially turn it into a wet food, giving them both the raw diet benefits and the wet food benefits.
While this food is excellent for most dogs, it should be noted that dogs who are ill would likely be better off eating a fresh food diet such as NomNomNow. The reason being that even with good safety practices, there is always some risk of food-borne illness. For healthy dogs this is no problem, but for a dog who is battling something that impacts their immune system, such as cancer, this could present a real health risk for them. If your dog is otherwise healthy, then this is a great option though. You can learn more about this great raw food for your dog and see the full ingredients list here.
