I have a six month old dalmation puppy.  I have just been told she has crystals and we are to change her diet.  She currently has Burns (which I thought was the best you can get).  Any advice anyone?

It depends which crystals - if they are uric acid\urate which are the ones that dalmatians have a tendency to - either a prescription diet or one formulated specifically to avoid purines - hopefully JG will see this as she has a dalmatian with this problem and has done a lot of research into it. :-) Will see if I can find an old post on it. The diet does depend specifically on which crsytal type it is.

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/95259.html

If you look down to Jeangenie's post 22.1.07 made at 11:17 she has put some links on there about dalmatians, crystals, stones and food, if that's any help. :-)

It's vital that you find out what sort of crystals she's forming, because the treatments vary accordingly. Try not to worry - it's not an uncommon problem; it just needs vigilance by the owner. :)

Just to add: make sure she has plenty to drink. Wet her food (about half the volume of water to food) and make sure her water bowl never runs dry. Two or three times a week give her a really big drink (a pint or two) - she might be more willing to drink it if it has a splash of milk in it. Whatever sort of crystal they are, it's important to keep her urine dilute and plentiful - ideally she'd be encouraged to wee every 2 or 3 hours during the day. Then any crystals that she does form are flushed out before they have a chance to clump and form stones.

http://www.aplus-flint-river-ranch.com/article-healthydalmatiandiet.php
all the info you need to help make your mind up over food i would also look out for a food with cranberries and  ZEA MAYS(corn silk) as this helps with urinary tract infections and kidney stones, i also look for a food with a ph of 5.5 as that helps. i feed both my boy and girl dalmatians on food with them in from puppys and never had issue with stones (maybe just luck)

>i also look for a food with a ph of 5.5 as that helps

Why? You need to keep a dalmatian's urine neutral. Urate stones form in acid urine (pH less than 7). Struvite stones, however, form in alkaline urine (pH more than 7). This is why it's vital to know what sort of crystals are being made.

"foods having a pH of about 5.5, which is naturally mildly acidic and well suited to the maintenance of healthy bladder function in both cats and dogs."
knew i read it some where admitly not about stones but in general urinary health, but i see what you mean it depends on type of stones you have. luckly something i have never had to deal with, and hopefully wont.