Has anyone ever heard of crystals forming in the stomach due to food and causing the dog to pee more than normal or leak urine?

A friend's Weimaraner (adopted about a month ago) had a UTI and was on meds when she first got her, but has started peeing in her sleep again. Re-tested - No UTI - but the vet says it's due to the food and suggests feeding the prescription food she sells.

????

Are you talking about the kind of crystals forming in the urine that can lead to bladder stones? It almost sounds like the vet wasn't very good at explaining the problem to your friend...

Overview

Thanks, I'll ask her, but she specifically said STOMACH. She didn't say her dog had bladder stones. If the vet suspected that to be the cause, she sure hasn't tested her for them!

Friend talked to another vet and is bringing the dog in. Yes, he mentioned the possibility of bladder stones, but this will be determined.
I sent her that link to read. Thanks, Mordana.

Now that I know it's definitely crystals in the urine that were discussed, I can tell you that most dogs can be managed quite well on home prepared diets rather than the prescription foods vets recommend.

Thanks, I'll tell her that because she is really NOT keen on going the Hills' route. I'm still not sure that crystals actually were found by the first vet, so she's got to start from scratch with this new one.

yup, p-chan is one of those dogs mordy mentions!

Cord was a terrible crystal former the first year we had him. Once we hit on the right food type it made things about 75% better. I wish I had known Mordanna then, it would have saved us a bunch of bumbling around.

He also had a slightly inflamed prostrate, which somehow made things worse. I still don't quite understand the connection - I never made the effort since the second I heard "prostate" I said, "neuter" - I don't care that he IS the son of a national champ. It's been nine months now and he hasn't had a single problem since then. His new owner is, however, aware of the potential and so is her vet, who is an old friend of mine.

I'm not sure if the overview mentions this, but one reason prescription food is kind of not that smart, is that every dog is somewhat different and a "one size fits all" (or two sizes fit all) food only goes so far to treat issues. It was actually my vet who told me this!

Not only are there multiple general reasons for forming stones, but also, the combination of management that will help is a really individual thing. For instance, Cord's problem was also linked to the kind of water he got. I learned to only offer bottled (distilled) water when he was under any kind of stress. Some dogs have to have bottled water all the time. Some it doesn't help at all.

Sorry for all the blah, blah. I hope your friend gets some relatively easy answers soon!

one thing your friend can also start doing right now, is to offer more water - i add an extra 5 oz of water at each feeding for p-chan. this helps to keep the urine dilute and less likely to form crystals/stones. i also make sure she is allowed to urinate freely on pee pads while we are gone for extended periods of time.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. She'll find out what's going on from the new vet's tests this week. In the meantime, I'm sending her your comments.