Prescription diet for dogs?

Question

My dog has had a couple of urinary tract infections this past year, and she is only 10 months old. She's been on clavamox, she takes cranberry relief in her food, and she use to take a medicine that made her urine more acidic.
Our veternarian said she will most likely go on a prescription diet. I have looked online and found Hill's Science Diet for urinary tract.
My question is do I have to go through the vet to get it, or can I buy it at Petco or Petsmart?

She had an aerobic culture and sensitivity done on July 16.

She's been on methigel, clavamox because of her age, and taking cranberry supplements.
I guess I'm finally at the point where this really starts to feel like I'm going nowhere. That I am spending hundreds of dollars and nothing seems to be working.....

Kim everything came back fine. It just seemed like the vets were stumped. Because they kept saying we aren't kidney specialists.
I guess I am going to go to a different vet for another opinion.

Answer 1

here is hills website this particular link will show you distributors in your area.
http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/whereToBuy/whereToBuy.hjsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474395183678&bmUID=1197598568732

Answer 2

You didn't mention that the vet did a urine culture and sensitivity so I would wonder why all this treatment based on essentially guesswork? I wouldn't alter a dog's diet due to an untested UTI as diet isn't usually the issue with regards to UTIs. No, you have to go through a vet to get a 'prescription' diet of any kind. No, they don't have them at Petco or Petsmart. I would likely find another vet and get their opinion before continuing like this. If she is spayed it can often be the result of hormonal imbalances but that usually occurs when they are a bit older. I would find the root cause of the infections as well as the organism to insure the correct antibiotic has been administered. Clavamox, like any antibiotic, isn't going to be the antibiotic of choice for a lot of different bacteria so without a culture and sensitivity the dog is just being treated by guesswork.

Answer 3

i'm guessing that the vet wants her on the prescription diet because of problems with crysatals in the urine. One of the most common causes of crystalluria are bacteiral infections. Has she had a repeat culture? Was she off of antibiotics for some time before the culture--(if not then the culture may have been falsely negative)? If all of these have been ruled out then it may just be something to do with her metabolism and she may need to be on the prescirption diet for life. Prescription diets are only available throught vets because the are formulated for specific conditions and not a proper diet for every animal. The reason you want to keep the crystals under control in her urine is not only are they irritating and put her at risk for even more infections, but they can also turn into stones. Then you'll have an expensive surgery.

If your vets can't answer your questions get a second opiion. This has been going on for a long time.

Answer 4

From my own personal experience I was only able to procure the prescription diet for an aged cat only through my veterinarian's office ; this may of been because it was only available through my vet or it just was not available through Petsmart .
My understanding is that a prescription diet is available only by prescription from either the vet or another resource that for geographical reasons was simply not available .
The best of luck on this one ; I'll be watching your question for other answers .
Happy & safe holidays ! :0)
P.S.From sixteen years experience , Hill's products are exceptional in quality and I've not used any other brand but what the vet recommended .And , during the pet food contamination earlier this year Hill's was one of the least affected because of stringent control standards the company has in place .

Answer 5

Did the culture and sensitivity show anything? Special diets are designed to prevent uroliths usually. A dog that young...could be vaginitis and not bladder related. Also, has your vet checked for abnormal conformation? Often there is a pocket of skin that covers or partially covers the vulva, causing urine to pool and bacteria to grow. This condition can be easily fixed with a minor surgery. Just some things to consider. Maybe get a second opinion or see a specialist.