Things that make you go, "Huh?"

I don't think I'll ever be surprised again by the odd things that turn out to be important to anybody's health, be they human or not. On Wednesday, while I was at work, my vet called about the report on the stones they removed from Tony's bladder. His stones were oxalate, not struvite. Struvite stones can be dissolved; oxalate stones must be removed surgically. I already knew that whichever it was, I was going to have to change food, but I was hoping that we were not looking at more surgeries in the future to remove stones.

I spent yesterday morning researching the situation. I wanted to know the right questions to ask Dr. Kroll when I returned her call. She had told my mother that she wanted to switch Tony to Royal Canin Urinary SO food, so I read up on that, and I realized that there were going to be problems. This food has meat by-products and corn, both of which I have scrupulously avoided since they are linked to various health issues, and this remains a concern. As Tony eats around half a can of food a day, the $1+ increase in the price per can was not as bad as it would be for a larger dog; I checked around online for suppliers who might have a better price than the vet, but that didn't work out, thanks to shipping charges. The food is supposed to adjust the ph and dilute his urine so that stones don't form, but I was still worried about the diabetic aspect. Tony's diabetes has been under good control, and I have no idea how the Royal Canin food would work in that regard. However, the bottom line was, and is still, that more stones are almost inevitable, at least according to my research, so I'm going to switch.

When I spoke with her, Dr. Kroll expressed some of the same concerns I had about the potential for more stones and about the effect the new food would have on Tony's blood sugar. I asked her about alternatives (she guessed that I wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of the Hill's brand of anti-stone food; she was right), and she said that if I wanted to try it, we (she and I) could consult with a nutritionist to develop a diet that specifically addressed both problems. While I wouldn't mind cooking for Tony, I decided to try the Royal Canin first, to see how that worked before going the homemade route. But there are still a few details that I expect will be hard to deal with because of the food. For one thing, Urinary SO is supposed to increase thirst and frequency of urination, which in itself can affect blood sugar, and we've already had a few incidences of Tony having accidents in the house during his recovery from the surgery and the bladder infection. I'm going to look into "doggy diapers," but he still has the mysterious irritation on his skin, and the diapers might exacerbate that condition. He's also lost some fur recently, and I wonder how the new food will affect that. She is still looking into the skin problem, so I should have more about that later, but for now, she recommends continuing the antibacterial shampoo. In regard to the urinary situation, she wants him to drink only the reverse-osmosis water (we have a household filter system for that because our water comes from a well) that we drink, which means all three dogs will have to switch to that. The only problem I can see with giving them the r/o water is that they seem to prefer their water straight from the well, even though it is extremely hard water with lots of iron and a horrible phosphorus smell. We'll see how that goes.

I'll be picking up the new food this afternoon. Based on Dr. Kroll's instructions, Tony will switch over slowly, over a two to three week period. He'll also have some new restrictions on his diet to eliminate oxalic-acid-producing foods, like spinach and peanut butter, which are particular favorites of his. I sure hope this works!