My friends' lab is having surgery to remove some bladder stones tomorrow. We were reading up on the problem and preventatives for future reference and discovered that a prescription diet was the only way to go to prevent them comming back.
I was wondering if anyone here knew of any alternatives as my friend hates lining the pocket of the vet (quite rightly and they havent done a very good job with the poor dog so far and their bed side manner leaves an awful lot to be desired) and the cost of these foods is just rediculous at £2.25 per tin from that particular vet. He is a much loved family member but the cost is a little high at £4.50 per day for the rest of his life.
Recent thread on this subject :- http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=486422;hlm=and;hl=struvite#486422 It would appear that although you need the prescription diet to disolve the stones the prevention is best done by regular monitoring for infection.