This may be a stupid query, however I have a collie cross bitch who weighs 15kg, she is on a special diet for dissolving bladder stones (s/d) and I also put a handful of urinary complete dry biscuits in to try and slow her eating down.

I have noticed that she is probably drinking between 1 - 1/2 litres of water a day and I know this diet does make them drink more, but it is difficult to find out how much water consumption is normal or whether she may be drinking too much.

She did have a urine anaylsis done recently and a blood test done in July and everything was fine.

I am probably worrying about nothing but sometimes difficult to ask vets about things like this.

Any advice much appreciated

One of my dogs recently had emergency surgery to remove a bladder stone that was causing a total obstruction so I'm still researching the dietary changes needed to prevent a recurrence. I was told that it's vital that he drinks a lot to keep his urine dilute and his bladder flushed. If you're in any doubt please talk to your vet for advice on your dog's particular condition.

Sorry to hear about your dog and hope he/she is alot better now.  Cleo has had an xray of the bladder and there aren't any big stones thankfully so the Hills S/D diet is working and hopefully we will be able to change her to C/D diet that is a preventative diet as I understand that they cannot stay on S/D diet for too long.  I also have Cleo on Denes herbal kidney tablets which are supposed to help bladder stones, my vet has said he does not have a problem with me giving these to Cleo.  I have only just started giving her these so not sure about whether they will help or not.

I thought that it was better that she drinks a bit more than normal and I am pretty sure the S.D diet is designed to make them drink more, however vets don't always give you all the information and just give you the medication to resolve the illness.

Thanks for you advise and hope your doggie gets better soon

Piglet's stone was tiny; only 5mm by 3mm. I'd expected to see something rather more substantial when you consider the trouble it caused! Unfortunately urate stones (as opposed to struvite or oxalate or many of the other types) don't show up on x-ray so we don't know if he has any developing in his kidneys - we just have to change the diet - at the moment he's on U/D but I want to change him to suitable fresh food - , monitor the urine for crystals and hope for the best. Good luck with dissolving Cleo's stones!