So my female Aussie/Lab/whatever had a urinalysis done. I have one done every so often (year to 18 months or so) because this dog hardly ever goes pee( I've owned her 3.5 years and she's been like this since I adopted her) and due to the fact that her bloodwork showed high creatine(sp) one time.

I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't really understand the results/numbers but the office always said "looks good." Anyway, I actually spoke to the vet about her urinalysis results this time. Results were a lot of struvite crystals ("too numerous to count") and a pH of 8. (Bloodwork kidney values normal). No struvite stones, just crystals.

The vet highly recommends adding carbs to her diet as she feels the extremely high protein content (42%) of the Orijen kibble I feed her could be contributing to the situation. Either switch her food, or add something such as cooked oatmeal to it.

Also I should ensure she drinks enough water. Since her last tests a year ago, I have been adding water to her kibble and have recently installed a little drinking fountain that she likes. I will say that she does drink water approximately at the same rate as my other dogs.

I would consider switching her to another high quality kibble or canned food if necessary but I cannot afford to feed her a raw diet.

In my preliminary research with my friend Google, recommendation on what I should do for my dog is all over the map. "Struvite crystals are caused by grains in the diet, too much protein in the diet, too many minerals in the diet, not caused by diet, caused by infection." aah!

Any advice on what I can do to help my dog lower the pH of her urine and hopefully get rid of the struvite crystals?

Did you read Lew Olson and Mary Strauss?

No... is this dogaware.com?

I haven't checked it out, just googled those names and found that site. I'll take a look when I get home.

That's Mary Strauss, yes.

And Lew Olson is B-Naturals.com

Definitely struvites? Struvites are generally caused by UTI's.

The bacteria (not diet) cause the alkalinity.

A meat diet generally produces acidic urine. If your not trying to disolve stones, I think you want to go easy. Don't try too drastic a change, you can go to acidic and end up with Oxalate type. Here's one link to acidic and alkaline foods, there are others if you do a search. I'll second Lew Olsons stuff too.
Foods

Definitely struvites. I have the results in front of me and it says "too numerous to count" ( and LPF, not sure what that stands for). Some other things say "HPF" beside them but struvite says "LPF"

So if meat is acidic and she's eating a food that is 70% meat by volume, and her urine is still alkaline... we thus conclude.. UTI? should I have a culture done?

I'm reading up on those sites... thanks... I'm not gonna get much sleep this weekend!

 Quote: angela burrell

Definitely struvites. I have the results in front of me and it says "too numerous to count" ( and LPF, not sure what that stands for). Some other things say "HPF" beside them but struvite says "LPF"

"HPF" and "LPF":

Values come from looking at the urine sediment under a microscope. HPF and LPF just mean per High Power Field or per Low Power Field.

 Quote: Angela Burrell

.. UTI? should I have a culture done?

Yes.

QUOTE: Struvite crystals are most often caused by urinary tract infections. Bacteria create an alkaline environment which causes struvites to grow and flourish. Treating the urinary tract infection will cause the struvites to go away. The best way to treat them is to have your veterinarian do a sterile urine culture. This will be cultured at a laboratory, which will name the bacteria and also tell which antibiotic(s) will be the most effective. Using the correct antibiotic for at least a month and then retesting ten days off the antibiotic should take care of this problem. No diet change is needed nor will help. END from
Lew Olson at http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/?s=urine+culture

Don't get too stressed over this Angela. The quote Connie posted is most likely whats going on and I'm sure she'll be fine. I used a product called Biotic PH+ from Wysong and got Andy's PH to about a 9, he formed struvites right away. They went away just as easy when I let his PH return to 6.5.