Lower Urinary Tract Diets

Lower urinary tract diets are a group of veterinary-exclusive dog and cat foods developed to nutritionally support your pets urinary tract and bladder health. It increases the amount of urine your pet produces to help dilute excess minerals that can cause crystals and stones such as struvites and calcium oxalates.

These diets can be used as part of a medical management for the treatment of stones and also as a way to reduce the chances of recurring formation.

Relative Super-Saturation

Lower urinary tract diets are effective due to relative super-saturation technology or RSS. RSS calculates and predicts the urine saturation of the minerals that make up urinary crystals and stones. The diets achieve this through the following methods:

• Diet creates a low RSS level, therefore, decrease concentrations of minerals
• Reduce urine specific gravity to be maintained below 1.020
• Promote increased urination
• Minimize the probability of molecules and crystals to aggregate

When starting these diets, pets should always have the opportunity to void their bladder because in some cases, urine output can double. Some of these diets have a high salt content to promote thirst but caution should be taken in animals with oxalate or cystine stones since they are more likely to develop hypercalciuria. If a diet higher in salt is pursued, drinking water should always be available.

Stones Targeted By Lower Urinary Tract Diets

Struvite

These are the most common stones found in canines, particularly females. They usually are seen in the presence of a urinary tract infection caused by urease-producing bacteria. This infection causes the urine pH to become more alkaline, which is the perfect environment for struvite stone formation.

Calcium Oxalate

These stones can be seen due to hereditary conditions where the pet will produce less of the natural substance that inhibits formation of this stone. Small breed male dogs make up the majority of pets who have these stones. Pets fed diets and treats high in oxalates may also be more prone to forming these stones.

Urate

These stones are commonly seen in Dalmatians or dogs with portosystemic shunts. They are caused by the abnormal metabolism of uric acid. Early studies show lower urinary tract diets can be effective in treating this condition if they are also low in proteins, purines and are non-acidifying.

To learn more about uroliths in cats and dogs please visit: https://urolithcenter.org/