Cat unblocked, unsure of what to do now.

Hi All,

Over the weekend we had to take in our cat because he became blocked and had to have a catheter for a day to unblock him. All the tests came out fine as far as bloodwork and urine but he had a "TON of crystals" in his urine. He is at home now after 2 nights at the emergency hospital. He has been on wellness dry since Sept. He has a history of having crystals and a high PH when we have taken him into the vet but never a blockage. He is a male and is 5 years old.. We are taking him tommorow to the local vet tommorow as the emergency vet didn't do anything regarding diet stuff. All of his
crystals are struvite.

Here comes my questions.

I am assuming they will want to change his food to something that is a prescription diet, the main two choices I see is Science Diet C/D Dry and Royal Canin SO 30. What are the differences in these two foods? I assume
he will recommend Science Diet. From reading reviews and post I know a lot of people hate science diet, but i've always seen a lot of people say how effective it is at preventing crystals. We have tried wet food with him a few times, he does the cover up thing like it's something in his litter box and will not even try it. Any advice here? Personally I don't care if SD isn't the healthiest food as long as it keeps him unblocked, in my opinion that is job one. Both nutritional and effective on crystals would be the ultimate goal.

We are considering getting him a 2nd fountain, the type that pours out like the sink faucet, his loves to drink from the faucet, good ideal or bad ideal?

We met with two vets at the hospital, one told us he had a 10% change of reblockage because his first blockage was at almost 6 years old, one told us reblockage happens all the time and to expect it to happen again, where does the truth lie?

Any other tips or recommendations would be great, i'm really torn on the science diet issue, I know he has a sensitive stomach also if that matters. I know puked the Nutro max cat when we tried that over the summer.

Thanks,

Greg

S/D is for Bladder Stones . Coco had that last you and it worked. She has been on C/D for 1.5 Years now. My Sisters Cat Midnight blocked 2 times then was put on C/D. Its been almost 2 Years and he hasnt Blocked again or been Sick again. Male Cats can Block more then once. I know so many that have Bocked again. Coco my Cat does have a Badder Infection again. I am hoping when the Vet calls with her results tomorrow that it will be gone this time. It is her 2nd Infection in a year. Let me know how you Cat does. I got Chicken C/D this time in Cans to see if she likes it. She has been on the Dry C/D and theother cans of C/D.

The Royal Canin is a higher quality food. I don't know how effective it is in preventing crystals. Our vet doesn't offer the Royal Canin prescription. If he did, we'd use it instead, but since we don't have access to it, I can't speak for its effectiveness. We were using Science Diet X/D for about a year. They stopped manufacturing it and have been moved to C/D a couple of months ago. Still no further problems.

If your kitty loves to drink from the faucet, he will LOVE a Drinkwell fountain. Our cats all love it, and we have one (in addition to other water bowls) on each floor (but we have six cats).

I know others provide some kind of cranberry supplement thingy for cats - but as our problem is caclium oxalate crystals, not struvite, I don't know what it is or where they obtain it, but it seems to be very effective. I'd do a search of this forum to find it.

I don't know how much this will help you, but here's a great article on crystals: http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=2729

Good luck!

Laurie