farleyv was correct

Yes they can ...

Do you have any rescue remedy?

yes, crystals and UTIs are two different conditions, though they often come hand in hand.

BOTH or EITHER can be fatal in a male cat, if left untreated, as a male can block very quickly, and once block required emergency veterinary attention

Crystal formation is treated with diet, Urinary tract infections are treated with antibiotics.

Both conditions are very painful for kitty. give him something to drink (even tuna water) to help fill his bladder, and keep him crated so he can't get to the litter box, so he will have enough pee in his bladder for the vet to get a sample.

If the vet says his bladder is not full enough, leave him there until it is.

rereading your other thread I see there were a couple of us who were extremely concerned that the straining to pee was not addressed. I hope permanent damage has not been done, by this being left so long. I feel mighty annoyed with that vet you saw last time.

Well, you already know cats can have crystals without an infection.

But no one's mentioned yet that there are two types of crystals: struvite and calcium oxalate.

Both need to be addressed by diet. Struvite crystals are created when the pH of their urine is too alkaline - this can be addressed by giving them an acidifier (our vet uses albeta, but there are many different kinds), but to prevent future problems, you need to lower the magnesium in the diet. Calcium oxalate crystals are... more complicated. Simply lowering the pH doesn't solve the problem - they can only be controlled through diet. ...and calcium oxalate stones tend to occur in urine that is too acid. We had two cats that had calcium oxalate crystals and one cat with struvite crystals.

I think a search of this forum or the nutrition forum will help you get food ideas.

We simply moved to Science Diet c/d (which can only be bought at a vet ). This worked for our gang. It's expensive not great quality food - but our problem happened before there was such a wide range of quality foods available. ...and now since it works so well, we don't want to switch.

Here's a good article: http://www.peteducation.com/article....+1402&aid=2729

for Sasha!

Sometimes a vet expressing the bladder will pass the clump, but catheterization may have to take place.

Do make sure you find out what type of crystals they are.

OH - did I mention that either way, increased water intake is important? We mix warm water in with the wet food we feed them.

Some cats really respond to a water fountain. Ours did.

Well that's good!

Gee, I am sorry I was right...it is a tough thing to go through. Stressful. But you are now armed with good information from everyone here. They helped me so very much.

My cat Beeba had to spend 2 days at the vet on a cath. Then they flushed him out a couple of times too. You will get an education! But knowledge is power and learn all you can. The University of Minnesota has a great site for just this thing. Information on both struvite and oxylate crystals.

Please keep us posted you have alot of support here. It is a nasty thing, but it is manageable. Stop and get an automatic water fountain. The more he drinks, the better. I will post the site as soon as I can find it. He will have to be on special food also.

Good luck!!

Google "uroliths in cats". Tons of good information. University of Minnesota is at bottom of page or just google it.

I am soooo sorry to hear this!! that Sasha will be ok.

I presume this rescue remedy you talk about is the preparate of Flower Essence, or Dr Bachs drops, useful for cats having some very unpleasant experience, giving them a shock.
Another possibility may be a dosis of Feliway.... spray or diffuser.

EDIT: And this especial preparates name is of course "Rescue Remedy". as said by Sharky.

Actually, if it did come out of Sasha's urethra, that could explain the blood! So I really don't know what to think here. I assume they're going to culture the sample? Then they should know for sure within a day or so whether infection is present or not.

However, if I understood our vet correctly, antibiotics also act as an anti-inflammatory when it comes to feline UTIs, so can help calm the inflamed bladder wall/urethra, whatever the cause.

The think you need to be sure of is whether or not there are crystals in his urine. Was there enough of a sample for them to check? If not, you may want to consider confining Sasha one morning or afternoon after he drinks a lot of water, and providing him a litterbox with a little bit of rice in it. When poured off, (at least according to our vet) it's a "clean" enough sample to test for crystals or infection (just make sure you get it before the rice absorbs it all! ).

Continued for poor Sasha!

My cats love Hills C/D...go figure, but I'm not going to argue, since Dante's last urinalysis was nice and clean.

When my girl had liquid clavomox, I was able to mix it with her wet food...I did have to amp up the tastiness of the food as the days went by, but a little bit of chicken baby food went well. But, check with the vet before you feed him anything other than the prescription food, assuming he takes to the prescription food. FWIW, my girl's appetite went down with the antibiotic; came right back when she finally finished her doses.

Besides the rice or fish tank gravel tricks, there's also a little kit with plastic litter the vet can give you if they want you to try getting a sample at home. My boy never did go for the kit litter, though, and I was too afraid to leave him in the bathroom with that box for more than 10 hours at a time - I was worried the stress of being isolated would add to the crystal formation. Vet eventually got a sample with the old needle, though.

Good luck!

Beeba also had bloody urine, but he did have crystals.

I used aquarium gravel, small and the smoothest edged you can find. They also make a dust free gravel. That also worked very well.

Also, put a bit of unsalted buter on the pill. It makes it go down easier and your cat will spend some time after washing which will encourage swallowing. That will ensure the pill goes down nicely. O sorry, I re read your post and see you are using the liquid.

I hope you get your answers to whether or not your cat has crystals. I would insist they tell you what kind he has. You are paying the bill.

Please keep us informed. :vibes for you and your kitty!

Urine will crystallize when air hits it. I'm no chemist so can't explain it any better than that. That's why a good clean sample straight from the bladder, Cystocentesis, is best.

In addition, the urine needs to be sent out to a lab to be cultured, it is important to know what kind of crystals you are dealing with.

My FLUTD cat's urine is staying healthy and crystal free on the hills Prescription c/d also, and she will remain on it for life.

We've tried the canned flavors, but even though she loves canned food, she does not really love the canned c/d, so she is my only cat on dry food.

Oh brother. Crystals of any kind in a cat's urine are not "normal" nor are they good, unless what she meants was that they're the type that can be treated by diet (of the 2 kinds, struvite and oxalate, only one of them can be treated by the prescription diet, the other cannot).

Is there any other Vet clinic in your area? These Vets sound like total dingdongs. Crystals and blockages in a male cat is nothing to play around with.

The ideal situation would be for you to go to another Vet clinic. Have them do a proper urine collection, which means doing a cystocentesis (this is the only way to collect a sterile sample of urine; it's very simple, they insert a needle through the kitty's lower abdomen, into the bladder, and withdraw some urine.....cat doesn't have to be sedated for this at all) and then doing a PROPER urinalysis AND culture & sensitivity of the sample. Just testing the urine they got in the carrier with a test strip is not enough. They should be running a proper urinalysis, I would say.

The blood in the urine can be caused by inflammation to the urinary tract from the crystals.

Are they basing the diagnosis of a UTI *only* on the fact that the urine tested high for blood? Both inflammation from crystals AND a urinary tract infection (UTI) can cause blood. To confirm a UTI, they'd need to see a high # of white blood cells present, the sample being positive for nitrite, too. And you would expect that if they examined the urine on a slide, under the microscope, they would see bacteria (though that won't tell you specifically what kind.........only a proper "culture and sensitivity" will tell you this, but a sterile sample of urine is required to do this)

If your cat won't eat the prescription food given, if nothing else, feed only good quality canned food............as it contains more water than dry food.

Search on google for "feline FLUTD" (feline lower urinary tract disease) and learn as much as you can about crystals, diet, etc.

BTW, I was chatting to Gary about this. He helped me remember - when Tuxedo was blocked, the vet was able to pass the blockage (one time) by expressing his bladder. A "clump" of stuff - crystals, tissue and blood - came out. Obviously VERY painful - and I don't know how to describe how large it was - the size of a good pile of lint in the corner of a pocket? - but the vet said "Wow that must have been VERY painful!" So I think this vet is nuts, and if there's another one to try, I'd go that route!

And just for the record, both types of crystals can - and need - to be addressed by diet. Struvite can be addressed by a diet that increases acidity; calcium oxalate by a diet that decreases magnesium and calcium. We use Hill's Science Diet c/d because it seems to work for both, because two of our cats had a problem with calcium oxalate and one had a problem with struvite. Thankfully they all like it.

Yep, I second the suggestion of getting another vet. I just cannot imagine your vet saying "good crystals". I don't know what that means.

Hope you consider another vet since you have your own misgivings about her.

Please keep us informed.

Geez!!! Take your animals and RUN from this clinic. Is there any other facility near by within striking distance? Ask around for a recommendations....

OMG, get the "@#$% out of that clinic! Red flags are going up all over the place!

What is going on with vet care? I can't believe it can be as good as it is around here and so bad other places.

Please, call around today and have your cat re evaluated. Get some input from others as to a good vet in the area. Your kitty is counting on you. You are paying, IMO, for below standard care. Vet bills are bad enough, but at least get your moneys worth.

It will be interesting to see the difference in care once you find a good vet.

:Hope things calm down a bit for you in the new year. Peace of mind is everything.

I also hope you have found some good sites for struvite crystals. I devoured all the info I could on them. Nasty things!!

Good luck and happy new year. Keep us posted!

Yeah, we have a local clinic about 15 minutes away for problems we understand. But we drive our cats 45 - 50 minutes away when they need to see a good vet. ...and if we had an emergency that was life-threatening, we'd have to drive the 45 - 50 minutes, because they are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can leave a message with the local vet after hours, and he'd eventually call back. But he almost killed two of our cats, so.... The drive is worth it, no matter how unhappy the kitties are.