# Cat with chronic crystals/UTI issues.. WWYD?



## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

I mentioned how one of my cats, Sneak, has urinary tract issues on another thread here, but wanted to post an actual thread here about it. This will be long, I apologize in advance.

Some back story.. Sneak will be 6 in November. His UT issues started in '08, then again in '09. Both times they were classified as UTI's, no crystals were found. Those times we treated with antibiotics and switched him to a prescription food for 30 days and he was fine. 

Then in May '11, he got really bad. To the vet we go, no crystals, just blood in the urine, so another UTI type deal. Given Clavamox. He didn't improve enough for my liking, so back to the vet. Another urinalysis done, switched to a different antibiotic. Gave that 4 days, still not enough improvement. Back to the vet. Given an antibiotic injection that was the equivalent of 2wks. worth of meds. Also prescribed the prescription food again (Royal Canin SO, wet only). That did the trick, or seemed to anyway.

3wks. after that, not right again. Back to the vet, this time urinalysis showed crystals. So he went on Science Diet S/D then. And finally he seemed better, so switched back to the C/D (since S/D isn't meant for long term). That lasted a little over a year. In fact, I was so happy with how he was doing that I switched him off the C/D wet, and put him on Before Grain wet, still getting the C/D dry. He did fine with that for a few months, so I decided to try him on the Before Grain dry as well, all seemed fine! Btw - I always float his kibble (he gets that in the AM) in water and he eats it fine, I also have a water fountain that he likes. Gets wet food in the PM. He is NOT a huge fan of wet food, I can barely get him to eat 1/4 can (5.5oz. can) of wet at night.

Fast forward to the end of July, I could tell he wasn't right again. So back to the vet we go at the beginning of August. He didn't have any urine for them to test then, so was put on a weeks worth of Clavamox, and back on the C/D. After a few days on the meds., he seemed better. But once they were finished, there were some days I could tell he was a little "off", others he seemed fine. Went for a recheck and a urinalysis yesterday and go freaking figure, he has crystals again. Vet wants me to switch him to Royal Canin SO (which of course, is more expensive) and do another urinalysis (another $75) in 4-6wks. If he still has crystals, they want to do an x-ray to check for stones.

I just don't know what to do anymore. He's not miserable, but it can't feel great to have crystals! I'm to the point where I'm considering putting him down.. I feel terrible for thinking that, but I also feel terrible that he keeps getting these reoccurring issues and now even has crystals on a food that's supposed to prevent crystals! I'm also not made of money :/ 

I'm sure some will suggest switching him to raw.. but good god I am SO paranoid about switching anything around. He was doing fine on the C/D before I started switching over to the Before Grain, and now look


----------



## twotonelover (Jan 10, 2011)

I'd highly suggest reading Dr. Pierson's website on Urinary tract disease: Feline Urinary Tract Health: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: cat urinary tract health A LOT of great information, I've learned a ton from her. She is also available for phone/email consultations! Maybe she can help tailor a plan specifically for your cat? 

Good luck with your guy! Hope everything works out!


----------



## LilasMom (Mar 10, 2012)

Is her food dry or wet? Dry kibble is bad for cats, especially ones with urinary issues. I would cut out all dry food.


----------



## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

twotonelover said:


> I'd highly suggest reading Dr. Pierson's website on Urinary tract disease: Feline Urinary Tract Health: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection by Lisa A. Pierson, DVM :: cat urinary tract health A LOT of great information, I've learned a ton from her. She is also available for phone/email consultations! Maybe she can help tailor a plan specifically for your cat?
> 
> Good luck with your guy! Hope everything works out!


I've actually been on that site before, but didn't know she was available for phone/email consults. Will have to look into that.



LilasMom said:


> Is her food dry or wet? Dry kibble is bad for cats, especially ones with urinary issues. I would cut out all dry food.


I mentioned in my OP that he gets dry in the AM (floated in water), and wet in the PM. He really doesn't like wet food, and I can barely get him to eat 1/4 5.5oz. can (so hardly anything) at night. It's a miracle that I've even gotten him to that point, because for awhile he wouldn't even touch it. So I'm really not sure I could do 100% wet. Plus, I definitely couldn't afford to do 100% wet of the prescription food. The Royal Canin SO is a case of 24 cans and is $58. It's ridiculous how expensive it is..


----------



## rannmiller (Jun 27, 2008)

Could you mix the C/D with the Before Grain and see if he does well on that? At least then he'd only be getting partly awful food. It sucks how those prescription diets actually work sometimes, it literally boggles my mind. My guess is that if he he isn't a big fan of wet food, he won't be a big fan of raw but it might be worth it to try just in case. I really feel like raw would help this kitty, you could always just do a super gradual transition of him from C/D to raw. Also, I have no idea if this helped or not, but I used to get this liquid cranberry supplement for my cat whenever she'd pee outside the box and she always seemed to do better afterwards. Might just be a fluke though.


----------



## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

rannmiller said:


> Could you mix the C/D with the Before Grain and see if he does well on that? At least then he'd only be getting partly awful food. It sucks how those prescription diets actually work sometimes, it literally boggles my mind. My guess is that if he he isn't a big fan of wet food, he won't be a big fan of raw but it might be worth it to try just in case. I really feel like raw would help this kitty, you could always just do a super gradual transition of him from C/D to raw. Also, I have no idea if this helped or not, but I used to get this liquid cranberry supplement for my cat whenever she'd pee outside the box and she always seemed to do better afterwards. Might just be a fluke though.


I was mixing the C/D with the Before Grain before. He was getting the C/D dry (floated in water) in the AM, then the Before Grain canned at night. He did okay on that for awhile, which is when I switched to 100% Before Grain. After maybe 6wks. on 100% BG was when he got the most recent UTI & crystals.

Have tried to cranberry supplements, they don't work (for him anyway). They seem to help for a few days, but then he'll go right back to where he was. 

The prescription diets do usually work.. but like I said, now he even has crystals while eating the C/D. I am still doing the C/D dry and the Before Grain wet though. I just couldn't bring myself to spend almost $60 on a case of the Royal Canin SO cans (which is what my vets wants me to switch to). 

Right now, he seems okay.. he's not peeing in my house (which he does when he's "bad"), and I haven't seen him in and out of the litter box. But, he wasn't doing that when I had this last urinalysis done either, and it still showed "a lot of crystals" (as per my friend who is their tech). 

I think I might pick up a bag of pre made raw on Thursday when I go to the pet store.. see what he thinks of it.


----------



## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

Does he drink much? Windy will not eat raw or canned either. She had a couple of crystals, a high PH and microscopic blood in her urine. It seems we've got the PH down, (not sure about the crystals and she still has the blood) by encouraging her to drink more. She pee's 3-4 times a day now instead of two, much higher volume too.
To encourage her to drink, I mix cornish hen blood in with chilled spring water (shut up, I know what you are thinking), but it seems to be working. I just freeze blood icecubes and stick one or two in a saucer of water. I was making cornish hen smoothies but she won't eat them anymore.


----------



## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

I would encourage moist food as much as possible, I found this food at trader joes called cat tuna which cats seem to go crazy for, so you can try mixing that with soaked dry food. Another supplement to try is D-mannose, its a type of sugar monomer extracted from cranberries that help to clear up UTI, especially if it's e coli based. You can get it in powdered form, you'd use about 1/4 of teaspoon mixed in with food once a day
Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease


----------



## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

MollyWoppy said:


> Does he drink much? Windy will not eat raw or canned either. She had a couple of crystals, a high PH and microscopic blood in her urine. It seems we've got the PH down, (not sure about the crystals and she still has the blood) by encouraging her to drink more. She pee's 3-4 times a day now instead of two, much higher volume too.
> To encourage her to drink, I mix cornish hen blood in with chilled spring water (shut up, I know what you are thinking), but it seems to be working. I just freeze blood icecubes and stick one or two in a saucer of water. I was making cornish hen smoothies but she won't eat them anymore.


I see him drink more than my other cat, FWIW. I do have a fountain for them, which they love. Plus a normal water bowl. And I'm able to float the kibble he eats quite a bit, and he does drink all the water then as well.



Unosmom said:


> I would encourage moist food as much as possible, I found this food at trader joes called cat tuna which cats seem to go crazy for, so you can try mixing that with soaked dry food. Another supplement to try is D-mannose, its a type of sugar monomer extracted from cranberries that help to clear up UTI, especially if it's e coli based. You can get it in powdered form, you'd use about 1/4 of teaspoon mixed in with food once a day
> Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease


I will look into the D-mannose, thanks!


----------



## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

What kind of crystals are they? If they are struvite based, you can add dl-methoinine to their food in tiny amounts. It acidifies their urine. But you have to be very, very careful you don't over do it and give them oxalate crystals where the urine is too acidic. 
A primer on urinary tract health in cats - Feline Nutrition - tribe.net
I know I'm probably preaching to the choir, you've probably exhausted all possibilities already, but, just in case........


----------



## kady05 (Jul 29, 2011)

They're struvite crystals from what I've been told. I'm not sure I want to add stuff to his food that may screw him up though.. it's making me paranoid!


----------

