Things seem to be going well with Ritzy. I do keep an eye on his urination frequency and to see if he is showing signs of any problems. I am a little concerned about the frequency (because it can be a sign of calcium oxalate crystals/stones) but we've also been pushing a lot of fluids, so that could also be the explanation. I will be going in to see the vet in October for another urinalysis for my own piece of mind.
Ritzy is stricly on wet/dry Hill's u/d. His around 16 lbs. and he has 1/2 cup wet and 1/2 cup dry food a day. Unfortunately, our son (20 months old) has a habit of throwing food over the side of his highchair for Ritzy, a habit we are trying very hard to break him of, so Ritzy has gotten the tiniest bits of human scraps from time to time, which definitely worries me, hence another reason for the urinalysis in October.
Ritzy only gets steam distilled water which was suggested to me by a group I joined on Yahoo called the K9 Kidney Diet, it is a homemade diet that I am contemplating starting Ritzy on but won't impliment until I get the "go ahead" from our vet and she wants to wait and see what Hill's u/d continues to do for him. Steam distilled water doesn't contain the minerals found in regular tap water or bottled water, minerals that can also contribute the calcium oxalate crystal/stone formation.
We've also changed Ritzy's bowl for his water. He does not drink, we've done everything short of force feeding him water and nothing has worked. We changed his bowl to a plastic one and he drinks a TON more than he used to. He especially likes it when I freeze the water a little for him, he likes it ICE COLD. If you have problems getting your dog to drink, definitely change up the types of bowls and ways you serve the water, some dogs are just fussier than most when it comes to that. It has made a world of difference for us.
Another way to get Ritzy to drink more as well is that I also add some of the distilled water to his canned food. He HATES it, so I don't add a ton, but just adding that little bit makes a big difference for a dog who doesn't drink much.
For treats, this has been so hard for us because our little Ritzy loves treats and I was one who purchase him all sorts of baked goods from the doggy bakery, etc. so he is used to yummy nummies and he can't have any due to his condition now. So for treats I make ice cubes in a tray with his distilled water and I will add some of his dry and/or canned food to the cubes and he gets really excited about them. For us this is great because it is a treat for him and another source of water for me to get into him, so it makes us both happy.
Another treat idea I actually found online from a woman who had the same problem as me, a pampered pup who was used to goodies and was on the same strict diet. Here is her recipe:
3 cups dry Hill's u/d
1 /2 cups distilled water
Pinch of cinnamon
You take the 3 cups dry Hill's u/d and put it in a food processor until it is a somewhat fine texture and then add the water, this makes your "dough". Spoon the "dough" into muffin tins or an 8x8 pan and then little dust the tops with cinnamon. Then bake at 420 for 45 minutes and it makes little "muffins" or "brownies" depending on how you bake them.
We made these treats for Ritzy for his birthday and he went nuts over them so we were thrilled he felt he was having something special and we didn't have to go off his special diet.
Just some helpful hints.
The u/d made a huge difference for Gizmo. And yes, like you said, adding a little bit of water to it worked, too. For his treats, we baked little pieces of the wet u/d, and he really liked that. Although your recipe sounds pretty darn good :)
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