As noted in previous posts regarding Cosmo's food, I have used Royal Canin Urinary SO (moderate calorie) canned food as an oxalate-free source of vitamins and other essential nutrients that are below the RDA in his homemade food recipe. In many ways, I am using the Urinary SO as one would use a "Balance IT" additive. One of the problems with an oxa...

Before discussing Cosmo's diet, let me say that he is doing well. He turned 11 in November 2019 and as of August had no more bladder stones. His hyperlipidemia seems to be under control and the soft stool problem he had for most of 2018 has also abated through the use of daily doses of Tylosin and Metamucil. I do think that the Pet Diet Designer so...

As mentioned in previous posts, Cosmo requires a special diet due to his propensity to form calcium oxalate bladder stones. In addition, he developed hyperlipidemia last year which necessitated a low-fat diet. We started his low-oxalate, low-fat diet early in 2018 and two ingredients which were good sources of fiber (banana chips and pita chip...

There seems to be a great deal of confusion about how nutrient requirements for pets are determined. "Pet nutritionists" fall into two camps. One group chooses to define nutrient requirements using Metabolizable Energy (ME), while the other group insists that Metabolic Weight (MW) is more accurate for an individual pet. We want to discuss both appr...

Are Raw Food diets complete? No! Dr. Bob Goldstein has formulated the Daily Raw Complete Powder, a nutritional supplement to add to Raw Meat diets. It is a culmination of essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes, probiotics and high levels of Vitamin E that will give the nutrients necessary if you are feeding Raw Food.Many nutri...

Last November I learned that Cosmo, our 9 1/2-year-old Miniature Schnauzer, had hyperlipidemia in addition to his propensity to form calcium oxalate stones in his bladder. He has had three surgeries for the latter condition. I have written several previous posts on our efforts to find a diet which will reduce, if not eliminate, these stones. We hav...

​Balance IT is a website that sells supplements that can help you create complete and balanced homemade meals for your dog or cat, using a limited amount of some common foods. Balance IT is based on the commercial AAFCO standard. The supplement we will be adding to our database contains all minerals and vitamins needed on a daily basis by dogs and ...

This blog that will explain the status of our next update as well as our future direction and product offerings. Pet Diet Designer for Windows (PDD Beta) has been successful beyond our wildest dreams. Our original mandate was to create the world's first consumer-based pet nutrition software, targeted primarily at the US market. And we did! What we ...

As mentioned previously, Cosmo has had a re-occurrence of his calcium oxalate bladder stones. He has had two bladder surgeries to remove them since November 2014, and now another surgery seems inevitable. His latest crop of stones was found with an x-ray by our vet in late July, but we decided to put off the surgery until they create a problem (e.g...

Sardines are rich in protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals. They contain concentrated sources of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA). Sardines are inexpensive, sustainable, and contain low levels of mercury and PCBs. Packed full of minerals, such as calcium, copper, iodine, and selenium, sardines are a superfood for your dogs and cats.  Note tha...