cystitis, is it forever???????

Rescued Fang had cystitis got antibiotics, I give cranberry, wet food.
He recently peed on top of the upside down plastic carpet protector(the teeth don't stop him) and his urine was very sandy, I guess loaded with the crystals?So I stepped up on the cranberry and will call vet tomorrow to see about antibiotics. But my question is, is this the way it will be for the rest of his life? He is only two, so thats a lot of years to come, and I'm not getting any younger. I am tired of sniffing for cat pee, and then trying to eliminate the odor and guard the spot. I am afraid his brothers will start peeing where he pees even thought they are litter perfect.

Isn't this ever resolved? Fang is blond

If he has crystals, he will need to be on a food to dissolve them followed by a maintenance food. The problem with just giving cranberry extract is that it may not dissolve the crystals, and it may cause a second type of crystals and stone later. Is he on a prescription diet of some sort? My boyfriend's cat had crystals and developed a blockage about three or four years ago. His kitty is doing just fine today and is fed a vet-prescribed diet. The only time Syd pees outside the box is when my boyfriend's brother comes to town (Syd doesn't like him).

Originally Posted by gailuvscats

Rescued Fang had cystitis got antibiotics, I give cranberry, wet food.
He recently peed on top of the upside down plastic carpet protector(the teeth don't stop him) and his urine was very sandy, I guess loaded with the crystals?So I stepped up on the cranberry and will call vet tomorrow to see about antibiotics. But my question is, is this the way it will be for the rest of his life? He is only two, so thats a lot of years to come, and I'm not getting any younger. I am tired of sniffing for cat pee, and then trying to eliminate the odor and guard the spot. I am afraid his brothers will start peeing where he pees even thought they are litter perfect.

Isn't this ever resolved? Fang is blond

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what kind of food do you feed? how has his water drinking been?

Cystitis and crystals are two different things. Tom was diagnosed wtih crystals from one vet, but a different one said crystals are common in cats and dont normally cause an issue, so we kept with wet food for him, and he has been fine since, he only pees when he is stressed with another cat, so we think he is spraying rather than weeing. I know how frustrating it is though, I am glad that Tom is a foster rather than a permanent!! He is also on some tablets called Cystaid that help line the bladder lining so that it helps protect against further attacks, and that also seems to have helped.

Fortunately, he likes his water. He steps right up, does a little shuffle, and slurps up a lot at one time. At first I was concerned, because I know the hanging over the bowl and drinking the water can indicate something is wrong, at least it did with my dearly departed elderly cats. But he doesn't hang, he just drinks a lot at one time. He seems to love his water (a fresh dish). He eats wet and dry. Wet is trader joes and science diet, and dry is purina one sensitive and chicken. The ingredients on both are pretty good.
I am a little confused about the crystals and cystitis. What do you call the gritty material in his urine? Is that cystitis or crystals. I give hime Capron ( I think thats it) and the dosage is one to two pills a day. Since the sandy pee, I now give him two, before that it was one or maybe none. The info does explain about the acidity and different crystals for acid and base, that is why I taper off when things seem ok (using the box, and ample pees).
But is this heredity? Why him and not the other two? His rough beginnings living on the street? I want it to stop!!!

Cystitis is more inflammation of the bladder, whereas crystals are a formation of soemthing (can't fully remember what now) - there are 2 kinds though, struvite where the wee is too acidic, and calcium oxylate where it is too alkaline (or the other way round) - maybe getting a ph level done on the urine would help, as if it is too alkaline, I dont think cranberry works. I think with chronic crystals, a special diet is more necessary, but with cystitis, I think mainly wet food is fine. i think maybe tapering/stopping meds when things seem fine is a bad idea, I keep Tom on Cystaid daily/every other day regardless just to keep things under control.