10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

scarlet — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:35:57 GMT

as i mentioned he's on a proprietary brand - royal canin puppy to be exact. no other weird additives except occaisional table scraps. the thirst is continuous as in they have done serial measurements all of which are way over the expected daily water intake for his size.

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

Alex Allen — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:23:04 GMT

The diet being fed must be excluded as this will be the primary source of most of the building blocks of the struvite crystals - urea, phosphates etc. Poor quality protein in the diet will produce excess urea in the urine which would increase the risk of struvite formation. The pH is possibly a result of both dietary influence and bacterial urease - even though bacteria were not identified in your particular test I would still treat for 2 weeks with antibiotics - eg cefalexin as safety margin in this age group is good and urine concentrations should eliminate most of the usual infective organisms.

Once diet is changed onto one of the more well known brands I would then monitor the urine pH and SG - at varying points in the day - maybe there is another factor that incites a transient increase in thirst. From your test the SG of 1.036 implies urine is being concentrated so the reported water intake cannot be continuous else I would have expected the urine SG to be much lower - say 1.010.

If things don't improve then consider other ddx such as Polypoid cystitis - although rare I have seen it in a young Yorkie - also had a urolith but the question is did the polyp cause the urolith or vice versa??

Genetically this individual may be more prone to crystal formation but I would exclude all the more common reasons first before messing with dietary supplements that may predispose to other crystal formations - excess Vit C can incite Oxalate crystals...so care must be taken with any supplements that may change urine pH especially in a growing animal.

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

scarlet — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 17:07:37 GMT

yep definitely dog rocks - but even so must taste disgusting to give that sort of ph!!! they had stopped them for a week when second sample taken and ph no different

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

Rob Loxley — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:13:31 GMT

[quote user="scarlet"]they used dog rocks[/quote]

Are they definitely Dog Rocks, rather than some of the other similar products that basically work by making the urine more alkaline... And has anyone ever monitored the urine pH of a dog after the owners start to use them (I know what the manufacturers say, but I equally I am scepital on their claimed mode of action!).

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

scarlet — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 13:11:09 GMT

i didnt want to acidify the urine without trying to understand why it was happening in the first place. i can see no reason for such an extremely caustic ph in a young pup , and am worried i'm missing something metabolic..

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

Thomas Johnson — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:37:25 GMT

What about using Hexamine and Sodium Acid Phosphate tablets to reduce the pH, licensed and no contra-indications for age on the data sheet. I have also used VetPlus Urinaid in a puppy with recurrent cystitis and it did very well.

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

Charlotte Marshall — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:33:17 GMT

I use methionine to acidify urine usually if not going on urinary diet but I just checked and the Small Animal Formulary says young age is a contraindication. Not sure why, sorry probably not much help!

Re: 10wks samoyed pup urine ph 9.28!

Bob Russell — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:51:45 GMT

I use vitamin C tablets (I assume to acidify the urine).

I will probably be shot down in flames as I have done this for years and it is probably unscientific and not peer-reviewed etc. They seem to get better so I will continue to recommend it for the time being.