Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Purine levels in dog foods linked to urate bladder stones
By Ishii, Chie Saito et al.·Published in BMC veterinary research·2025·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Comparison of the total and individual purine content of commercial maintenance dog foods and therapeutic dog foods that may be prescribed to prevent urate urolithiasis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that dogs prone to forming urinary stones (urate uroliths) can benefit from specific diets. Dogs with certain genetic issues or liver problems may produce more urate, leading to stone formation. The research showed that prescription diets designed to prevent these stones have much lower purine levels than regular maintenance diets. Among the best options were dry vegetarian and urate prevention diets, which can help reduce uric acid in urine. This means that choosing the right diet can be crucial for dogs at risk of urinary stones.
People also search for: dog urinary stones diet · low purine dog food · vegetarian diet for dogs with urate stones
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Urate is the third most common component of canine uroliths. Dogs with a genetic mutation or hepatic dysfunction excrete more urate salts and are predisposed to urate urolith formation. Documentation of total and individual purine content in commercial diets is clinically important because feeding diets containing fewer purines reduces urinary uric acid excretion and urolith formation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine purine metabolites were measured using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry in samples of 3 batches of 14 dry and 10 canned diets from 3 manufacturers, including low-protein diets, vegetarian diets, diets designed to prevent urate uroliths, and maintenance diets. Concentrations were compared among diet groups using a linear mixed model design. Total concentrations are reported as least squares means and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Total purine content (μmol/Mcal) was lower ( < 0.0001) in prescription (736; 475–1053) than maintenance (2459; 1866–3133) diets, and lower in dry (464; 316–641) than canned (1704; 1327–2127) diets. Among dry prescription diets, vegetarian diets and urate urolith prevention diets contained the least purines, followed by low-protein diets; all contained < 630 μmol/Mcal purines except for one low-protein diet. Hypoxanthine concentrations were proportionately lower in vegetarian diets. CONCLUSIONS: Feeding dry vegetarian, urate urolith prevention, and some low-protein prescription diets to dogs should reduce urinary uric acid excretion more than feeding wet equivalents. However, factors that affect urinary urate crystallization, like urine pH and dilution, should also be considered. These findings will facilitate the selection of low-purine diets for individual dogs susceptible to urate urolithiasis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12917-025-05080-5.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41126236/