My Sister cat still has crystals and may need surgery

mews2much

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He has been on S/D for over a month and started peeing oll over again.
She took him to the vet last night and he got a ultrasound.
The crystals have not gone away on the food,
The vet said to give him the food for one more month and see if the food helps.
If it dosent then surgery.
The vet said they may not be struvite and might be Calcium oxalate.
Has anyones cat had oxalate crystals.
My Coco has S/D for bladder stones and they were gone in 2 months because they were struvite.
 

simkie

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Yes, I had a cat that had calcium oxalate crystals. Did you vet not pull a urine sample to determine which crystals the cat had before changing the diet? The diet for struvite crystals is absolutely opposite the diet for calcium oxalate crystals--feeding a struvite cat a diet for calcium oxalate crystals will cause more struvite crystals to form, and feeding a calcium oxalate cat a struvite diet will cause more calcium oxalate crystals to form. It is incredibly important to diagnose the crystals before changing the diet.

While struvite crystals will disolve with diet change, calcium oxalte crystals will not. The cat will either need to live with them, flush them out, or have surgery to remove them.

We managed my cat by putting her on Hill's X/D, which I've heard has been discontinued. I do not know what the current recommended diet is for a calcium oxalate cat is. There is evidence that Vitamin B (I think it's B-12?) may be beneficial for dogs with calcium oxalate crystals, but not much research has been done in cats.

Cats with calcium oxalate crystals that cannot be removed will get relatively frequent infections which will need to be managed with antibiotic therapy.
 
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mews2much

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He could not get the urine test from him.
He peed both times on the way to the vet.
He has always had strovite crystals in the past.
He is on Clavamox right now and had a antibiotic shot on Sept 24th.
 

simkie

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Sounds like it's time to keep the cat at the clinic and run some fluids in order to get urine.

May also be beneficial to run a culture and sensitivity on the urine if he still shows signs of infection.

Good luck!
 
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mews2much

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That is what he wanted to do but she did not leave him there.
Coco my cat had the test and she keeps getting Ecoli infections.
The vet called and her test is Neg now.
This is the first timw we used Baytril for 2 weeks and the infection was neg after 2 weeks.
most of the time with Coco she is pos for 2 months even with meds but she would throw up Clavamox and Cepo.
Coco did have the shot and it only worked for 3 days with her.
I hope they can get a test from Midnight.
His last problems were about 2 years ago and they were strovite.
The vet did do 2 ultrasounds with him.
One was Sept 24 and the other Oct 21.
 

simkie

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If Coco gets another infection, I encourage you to ask your vet about Zeniquin. It's an excellent broad-spectrum that is exceptionally well-tolerated with very few GI side effects. It also has once a day dosing, which is awefully nice
I honestly don't think I have EVER had a vet prescribe anything else for a urinary infection, but it seems to be regional, as people here (on this board) seem to have not heard about it.

When is Midnight going back to the vet?
 
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mews2much

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He goes back in about 3 weeks.
I will ask the vet about the other antibiotic for Coco nezt time she gets sick.
 

kittymonsters

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Originally Posted by Simkie

If Coco gets another infection, I encourage you to ask your vet about Zeniquin. It's an excellent broad-spectrum that is exceptionally well-tolerated with very few GI side effects. It also has once a day dosing, which is awefully nice
I honestly don't think I have EVER had a vet prescribe anything else for a urinary infection, but it seems to be regional, as people here (on this board) seem to have not heard about it.

When is Midnight going back to the vet?
I have to chip in on the Zeniquin too. I just had it for my CRF kitty who has always had chronic UTIs. I actually think her one before this last one the old vet pushed her kidneys over the edge by giving her gentamyacin. That infection took 6 weeks to clear. Zoe just had one again about a month ago and 10 days of Zenquin and she was completely cleared up. I was amazed and she didn't have any trouble taking the meds or with GI upset. Definitely worth a try for Coco.


On to Midnight. Zoe is another good example for him. She had to have bladder surgery too. It was very strange she had fat in her abdomen that had wrapped around the bottom of her bladder making a little cup that never emptied. This was full of crytals and really irritated.

I have to agree with everyone else that a urine sample really needs to be examined under a scope to determine the crystal type and sent off for cultures to see what if any bacteria are present.

Without these results, even with the ultrasound, the vet is really guessing on what the best treatment is.

Hopefully Midnight is going to turn around here soon.
 
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mews2much

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Thanks,
I will tell my sister.
She lives 20 minutes from me but goes to the same as us.
I will ask about that antibiotic next time Coco has a bladder problem.
 
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