Be a Rockstar: Fine Tuning the Nutritional Approach to Urolithiasis

The topic of this presentation is nutritional management of urolithiasis in dogs and cats.​

Urolithiasis management is a great example of how nutrition can be used to benefit pets and pet owners. Making strategic diet choices for certain bladder stones can allow some pets to avoid invasive and costly surgery. In some cases, therapeutic diet can reduce the risk for stone formation and prolong stone-free intervals, but for the best patient outcomes, it is important to tailor the management approach based upon stone type and unique patient factors. In this presentation, we will discuss the concept of relative supersaturation as it relates to understanding therapeutic urinary diets, and explore management strategies for struvite, calcium oxalate, urate, and cystine stone formers using case examples that highlight the importance of individualized nutritional recommendation for patients with comorbidities.

• Discuss factors impacting urine saturation and risk of stone formation
• Walk through several examples to demonstrate the diet selection process
• Understand different types of urinary diets and their applications
• Consider management of cases with comorbidities impacting diet selection