A Vet’s Guide: What to Feed Dogs With Bladder Stones 2025 🥣🐾

By Dr. Duncan Houston BVSc

Hi, I’m Dr Duncan Houston BVSc, veterinarian and Ask A Vet founder. Bladder stones can be painful and recurrent—but the right diet plays a powerful role in treatment, prevention, and comfort. In this **vet-approved guide**, I’ll explain how stone composition influences dietary needs, highlight therapeutic and homemade food options, and share hydration strategies, supplements, and lifestyle tools to support urinary health—and reduce stone risk in 2025. 🩺🐾

1. Why Diet Matters in Bladder Stones

Urine composition—driven largely by diet—dictates stone formation. Stones form when urine becomes oversaturated with minerals or infected. Tailoring diet based on stone type helps dissolve some stones and prevent repeat episodes.

2. Types of Bladder Stones & Dietary Strategies

🔹 Struvite (Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate)

• Often caused by UTIs and forms in alkaline urine.
• Diet plan: Low magnesium and phosphorus, acidify urine below pH 6.5, increase hydration.
• Prescription foods: Hill’s c/d or s/d, Royal Canin Urinary SO, Purina UR/StOX.

🔹 Calcium Oxalate

• Cannot be dissolved via diet; use post-removal prevention.
• Goal: Reduce excess oxalate and calcium, dilute urine, maintain a mildly alkaline pH.
• Preventive diets: Lower calcium/oxalate foods, wet food, potassium citrate supplements.

🔹 Purine (Urate/Xanthine)

• Associated with dogs like Dalmatians or liver disease; forms in acidic urine.
• Plan: Low-purine protein (avoid organ meats/fish), low sodium, alkaline urine.
• Diets: Similar to u/d or those for cystine stones (Hill’s u/d, Royal Canin UC).
• May also use allopurinol medication.

🔹 Cystine

• Rare and genetic; forms in acidic urine.
• Diet: Low protein and sodium, alkaline urine to pH >7.2.
• Diets: Hill’s u/d or Royal Canin UC; potassium citrate or tiopronin may be prescribed.

🔹 Calcium Phosphate & Silica

• Cannot be dissolved; rely on dilution and reducing absorption risk.
• Plan: Keep urine dilute, mild alkalinity, avoid high-silica plant ingredients.
• Diets: Prescription urinary foods like Hill’s c/d or Royal Canin SO.

3. The Role of Hydration

• Canned or moistened diets promote dilute urine, reducing stone formation risk.
• Target a urine specific gravity (USG) less than 1.020; monitor via vet or home refractometer.
• Freshwater and water fountains encourage hydration.

4. Prescription vs Homemade Diets

Prescription formulas are precisely balanced, validated for stone types, and easy to feed.

Homemade diets can be tailored for picky dogs but require a veterinary nutritionist's guidance to ensure nutrient and pH balance.

5. Supplements & Add‑Ons

• Potassium citrate: Raises urinary pH, useful for calcium oxalate or cystine stones.
• Cranberry extract: May prevent UTIs—linked to struvite stones.
• DL-methionine or ammonium chloride: Acidify urine for struvite dissolution.

6. Urinary Health Tools & Meal Enrichment

• Ask A Vet Telehealth: Ideal for reviewing lab results, adjusting diets, and vet guidance.

7. Monitoring & Follow-Up

• 💧 Check urine pH and USG monthly at home or vet visits.
• 🔬 Perform urinalysis to check for crystals and infection.
• 📅 Re-X-rays or ultrasounds every 3–6 months to ensure stones are dissolving or absent.
• ⚠️ Adjust diets with your vet based on stone progress, weight changes, or side effects.

8. Case Study: Bella’s Struvite Success

Case: Bella, 5‑year‑old Cocker Spaniel
After an episode of straining and blood-tinged urine, the diagnosis confirmed struvite stones. We switched her to Hill’s Prescription c/d, added water to her meals, and encouraged frequent drinking. In two months, her urine crystals resolved, and ultrasound indicated stone dissolution with no further UTIs. Enrichment using puzzle feeders and telehealth check-ins via Ask A Vet helped maintain progress.

9. Prevention: Beyond Diet

• Immediate treatment of UTIs to avoid struvite formation.
• Ensure plenty of clean water is always available and bowls are fresh.
• Aim for frequent urination through daily walks and bathroom access.
• Maintain optimal body condition to lower stone-forming risk.
• Reevaluate diet annually or after any stone recurrence.

📌 Final Thoughts from a Vet

Bladder stones can often be managed and even prevented with targeted dietary strategies, hydration support, and veterinary oversight. When stone type is known, prescription or carefully balanced homemade diets—combined with proper hydration, supplementation, and lifestyle modifications—help dogs live healthier, stone-free lives. With support from tools like Ask A Vet, owners can proactively manage urinary health in 2025 and beyond. 🐾❤️