Hi folks,

My Golden Retriever suffers from Struvite (twice now) and the vet has said as he seems prone to it he needs to remain on a low protein diet.  initially he was on the Royal Canin Uriniary diet and this dissolved the crystals.  After this was successful I then moved him on to Royal Canin normal food.  Sadly after a few months he suffered from Struvite again and so now he's back on the Royal Canin Uriniary diet and the vet has now said that he needs to remain on this diet for the rest of his days... 

I have had to remove all of his normal treats too - no more raw hide flips, no more bones, no more bits of cheese... poor lad.

Does anyone know of a dog treat that is low in protein?  Or does anyone have a recipe for such a treat that I could make at home? 

Our Whippet X is making him very jealous sitting here chewing on a big raw hide bone (that was meant for him) and he's sitting looking very sullen.

Please help!

This Web Site suggest that although a prescription diet is necessary to treat existing stones the prevention is best achieving by continuous monitoring, with treatment when necessary, for urine infections.  Maybe something to discuss with your vet.

Hi Isabel - thanks I have seen that website before.  The vet said with the Hills S/D food you cannot feed it long term because it ends up being bad for the dog.  However, there are no long term issues with the Royal Canin food - he also mentioned that because Ollie (the dog) suffered a recurrence of the Struvite so soon after it was resolved previously (urine samples all clear etc..) then he would need to stay on the Royal Canin in perpetuity.

That's a shame.  I wonder if you emailed Royal Canin whether their nutritionalists would be able to suggest some suitable treats.

Now why didn't I think of that?!

http://b-naturals.com/Dec2002.php

This may help

Thanks tohme

If you don't mind making them yourself you can do a low-protein dog treat quite easily.  Buy either rice flour or ground rice and mix in enough baby or junior foods to make a moist dough.  I'd suggest you use any of the all-veg foods to keep the protein content low. Or, mash up some of your own selection of fresh or frozen veg and use it instead of the baby food.   Pat the dough out and cut into biscuit-sized pieces, bake at 170-180 until they are light golden on the bottom (15-25 minutes).

Stacey