
Have a look at this
site it would appear that a prescription diet is necessary to break the crystals down, I don't know of any substitute, expensive it may be but I think you have to think of it in terms of medicine. If you have any insurance they should cover this I would say. The site seems to be suggesting that the real issue is infection and regular monitoring is the key to prevent the crystals forming by ensuring antibiotics are used sooner rather than later, perhaps you could discuss how you could achieve this but I would think one way is to buy testing strips from the chemist and check for proteins in the urine which usually signify an infection.