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About Susan
Expertise
Positive: understand dog food ingredients, types of supplements for different situations (mostly organic), types of home cooking, premium commercial foods, single/novel protein sources and switching to this diet, have represented Healthy Pet Net Company for two years and Simplexity Health Supplements for one year. Negative: Cannot and will not diagnose but via my experiences, strengths, trials with my own pets and discussions with nutritional experts will share my research and learning with you.

Experience
First and foremost living with rescue pets who came to me with a multitude of nutritional, dietary and physical problems. I still spend every free moment I have learning even more about how to make my pals even healthier and happier. But when something is not "broken" I do not try and fix it. I will write to people who have questions and ONLY share my own experiences with a food or product. The rest is up to them.

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NEA ASPCA HSUS

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Have not tried to get published yet but that is coming soon.

Education/Credentials
Masters/Special Education Masters/Counseling Psychology PHd Core courses completed in psychology

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Wimbledon Tennis competitor--not exactly applicable here LOL

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Mostly friends and animal people in distress. And only if they ask me, since I do not solicit my knowledge or "expertise"

You are here: Experts > Animals/Pets > Dogs > Dog Food (Canine Diet and Nutrition) > calcium oxalate stones

Dog Food (Canine Diet and Nutrition) - calcium oxalate stones

Expert: Susan - 11/2/2009

Question
I have a 9 year old Pomeranian who has just had his 2nd surgical removal of calcium oxalate stones. The 1st surgery was March/09. So as you can see, this has become quite a concern for me. He is on Waltham o/s presciption diet and has hypothyroidism and Addisons Disease. My vet thinks he should begin taking allopurinol and potassium citrate. Any thoughts on whether this would be the proper protocol under the circumstances described. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

Answer
I am not a vet but I want to help you. I can refer to someone that I KNOW would be happy to discuss your Pom's issues with you--gratis. She is and has been my mentor as two of my dogs (Yorkie and shih-Tzu) have struggled with medical and digestive issues. She doesn't charge for her time because she ADORES ANIMALS--both of her small dogs lived to be 19 because of her expertise with diet and nutrition. She is a top dog at a supplement company out West and she is dynamite. Her advice saved both of my dog's digestive and inflammatory lives. They were a mess.

while I am here I will share what I think. I know about Walthams but like all of those type commercial and prescription dog foods they have too many ingredients most of which are chemicals. Have you been feeding your dog kibble? Are you feeding kibble now?

There are several important nutritional and health issues to consider before making the switch from a premium healthy dog food. First and foremost, give both the ingredients label and the guaranteed analysis listing close inspections, as many of these formulas utilize substandard proteins (meat byproducts, chicken byproducts, animal digest, etc.) or fail to include protein sources of any kind in their first six ingredients. Many of the prescription-based vet pet food diets also include chemical preservatives, corn and other unnecessary fillers as major ingredients, high-purine ingredients, added salt, and/or potential allergens in the form of soy, corn, and/or egg products.

This last sentence is VERY IMPORTANT. I have sent a kazillion ingredients to my mentor from RECOMMENDED, SUPPOSEDLY HIGH QUALITY DOG FOODS only to discover that I was actually not doing my dog any favors. Please be careful, even about Walthams.

As far as the allopurinal and potassium citrate, this IS SOMETHING THAT DONIA CAN AND WILL ADDRESS MORE INTELLIGENTLY THAN i CAN. So, Please write to her and seek her advice. You will NEVER LOOK BACK..SHE IS TREMENDOUS.

If your Pom were my dog, I would consider going RAW. Short of that, I would home cook or steam for him and add veggies, supplements and natural vitamins and minerals. This is what I do for my own dogs and I suspect that Donia will suggest a variation of this for you too. I KNOW THAT your pooch would do better if you feed him only REAL FOODS instead of a commercial or prescription diet. Add to this REAL FOOD SUPPLEMENTS such as a great probiotic, digestive enzyme, CoQ10 and APA Blend for vitamins and nutrients and you have yourself a really healthy diet. I KNOW you have to watch the protein intake and this way you could do just that.

Here is Donia's email address! Tell her that Sue (Henry, Buddy and Dixie's Mom) referred you and then tell her EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING ON. You won't be sorry. Here's her address:

DoniaSea@aol.com and her name IS Donia (rhymes with Sonia). My name is sue and my direct email is DazzlinDaawg@aol.com. All the best to you. Please let me know how things go. Sue

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