# Natural diuretics in dry foods



## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Have anyone else seen excessive peeing when feeding formulas that include natural diuretics like cranberries, dandelion, ginger, juniper and fennel? Seems to me almost every time we test a new food that includes all or some of these he can't hold it for to long and need more frequent walks. When he ate Back To Basics, Horizon Legacy and Horizon Complete this was not an issue at all. His two first foods was Orijen Puppy and Fromm Surf & Turf and on both he needed "emergency" walks, both include natural diuretics. Now, after we finished evaluating Legacy and Complete, and he was fine the whole time, we are trying out Canine Plus Red Meat GF, the problem is back, he needs to go more frequent and the two first goes are loooong. Canine Plus have cranberries, ginger and juniper listed. We just had a scheduled visit to the vet and he got a clean bill of health. No infections and nothing to suggest any urinary issues at all. Anyone heard or experienced something similar? Chips currently weighs in at 16lbs.


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## 7766 (Sep 20, 2011)

My dogs have been on Orijen Adult for the past year and they have been fine. Both are left home at least 8 hours during the day and they sleep through the night with out incident. I quickly skimmed the ingredient list and it contains cranberries and dandelion. They are also older 4 and 6 and weigh 40 and 60 lbs.

But they never had accidents in their crates or the house. I was blessed with dogs who basicilly were housebroken at birth.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

nlboz said:


> My dogs have been on Orijen Adult for the past year and they have been fine. Both are left home at least 8 hours during the day and they sleep through the night with out incident. I quickly skimmed the ingredient list and it contains cranberries and dandelion. They are also older 4 and 6 and weigh 40 and 60 lbs.
> 
> But they never had accidents in their crates or the house. I was blessed with dogs who basicilly were housebroken at birth.


Maybe he's more sensitive or maybe it's unrelated. I haven't noticed him drinking more water than normal but I'll pay more attention, maybe he is for some reason.


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## NotAChampionFan (Apr 6, 2012)

To me a food with a dozen or more herbs & nutraceuticals is really just something drawn up in the marketing department. Even if they did anything, they are not present at a high enough level to be helpful.

I have tested a few foods and the tests go on for months, which is nice since you get free food. I don't ever recall a dry food having a diuretic effect.

You mentioned Back To Basics, other than what I use, I would count that as a superior product for many but not all dogs. The same company makes Enhance which is also a great line of active dog foods.


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## lovemydogsalways (Mar 4, 2012)

Well thanks notachampionfan for that informative post. :roll eyes: How are your thirteen kennel dogs doing? OP you might be right about those ingredients making him pee more, we all know no dog is the same.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

NotAChampionFan said:


> I have tested a few foods and the tests go on for months, which is nice since you get free food. I don't ever recall a dry food having a diuretic effect.


Where you ever part of testing any of these "new" GF formulas with added fruits, vegetables and other botanicals?



NotAChampionFan said:


> You mentioned Back To Basics, other than what I use, I would count that as a superior product for many but not all dogs. The same company makes Enhance which is also a great line of active dog foods.


Back To Basics is undoubtedly a great food. Our problem was that he would not under any circumstances eat it. It started out great but at some point he decided that he didn't want anything to do with it. After a two weeks battle I just said stuff this and moved on. Not like there is any shortage of alternatives so I didn't see any point continuing on.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I've never fed a kibble to the mutts, but could it be the sodium content is quite high? One of my cats has kidney problems and a few years ago I had him on Hills' prescription which contains a lot of sodium to make him pee more.


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## NotAChampionFan (Apr 6, 2012)

DaViking said:


> Where you ever part of testing any of these "new" GF formulas with added fruits, vegetables and other botanicals?
> 
> 
> 
> Back To Basics is undoubtedly a great food. Our problem was that he would not under any circumstances eat it. It started out great but at some point he decided that he didn't want anything to do with it. After a two weeks battle I just said stuff this and moved on. Not like there is any shortage of alternatives so I didn't see any point continuing on.


The last two formal tests I did were GF's but the formulas had no herbs. There was a mixed vegetable pomace with traditional ingredients for the fiber component and cranberry. I never noticed any changes in drinking or urination.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

Caty M said:


> I've never fed a kibble to the mutts, but could it be the sodium content is quite high? One of my cats has kidney problems and a few years ago I had him on Hills' prescription which contains a lot of sodium to make him pee more.


The sodium levels are around 0.3% Shouldn't be anything to worry about.


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## kaliberknl (May 9, 2012)

Pound for pound, puppies drink more water.


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## DaViking (Sep 27, 2011)

kaliberknl said:


> Pound for pound, puppies drink more water.


Pound for pound I am a human. A mod should look at your sig link rights :wink:


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