Please help.. stressed to exhaustion

Hey guys,
First of all i'm horrible when it comes to stress. I really need some advice.

I recently took my cat to the hospital because he was in and out of the litter box every few minutes. When he wasn't in the box, he was outside of it licking in his private area. He is now on an clavamox and dibenzaline for an infection and crystals. It's killing me to see him sick, because he's like my baby. I know it could be worse.. but I still am not handling it very well. The vet put him on a diet of Royal Canin so urinary dry and wet food for about 2 months.

My main focus is on the future and giving him the best life possible. Before all this, he only ate Purina dry food. After hours of research and strained eyes, i've now learned that apparently dry food is not good for cats and even have read opinions that this so urinary food is not healthy because of the by-products it constains. Of course, for the next two months I will continue to feed him this food to help dissolve the crystals, i'm not sure what to do after this. I feel horrible that I had been feeding him something unhealthy for so long.

I know that I should get him on a canned food diet and I have read how to slowly do this, but should I feed him different kinds of canned food.. the same kind..? Is it bad to mix brands? From what I have read, for a cat weighing about 12 pounds, they only need one 6 oz. can a day. Is this correct?

I'm sorry.. my eyes hurt so bad from reading, i'm going to go.. Any advice at all is much appreciated though. Thank you!!

YES canned food is best...

FIRST - Take a deep breath

Second - Prescription foods are JUST that MEDICINE not just food... thus the ingrediants are less important than overall well being of sick animal...

Third- TALK to your vet , IMHO this is key.... Discuss what you learn online ..

Fourth- when kitty is stable you MAY be able to come off the RX ... even on here it seems to be 50 /50 on RX for life...

ps... about three just this morning I was in a Panic as one of my boys recently had surgery and I saw a touch of blood and tissue without a stitch.. I texted my main vet who told me not to worry and what to do ... that free text saved her and I a office visit and me a lot of worry

I know how you feel - we all panic when our babies are sick. But you are taking the right steps to put everything right, and it is good to educate yourself about what may be wrong.

Specifically, has the vet told you what type of crystals he has? There are different types, and they need different treatments. Wet food is certainly best, though many cats with urinary problems do fine on a mix of foods. My Wellington has had recurrent bouts, though not for over a year now, and he eats a mix of wet and dry, the dry being Sanabelle Urinary tract Health food. Other brands are fine too. I also give him mineral water only, as we live in a hard water area, and the vet thought it best to limit his calcium intake. But talk to your vet, do your research, and don't panic. It is very distressing to see your cat in pain, but the chances are that with proper care and good food, he will be fine.

I definitely agree with Sharky: take a deep breath right now.

Urinary issues are always frustrating as any of us who go thru them know first hand. My boy Muddy has been fighting chronic urinary tract disease for about 2 years now and often you need to experiment with what works for them before you settle on a final food combination.

If your vet tells you to remain on prescription food for 2 months. Follow their advice. I thought switching Muddy over to wet food would be sufficient, and he still blocked (Muddy's case is extreme). I experimented with no-grain foods (wet and dry), various prescription foods (Royal Canin, Science Diet, Purina), and just pet store wet foods. For his health, I have found that a mix of prescription dry (free fed), prescription wet in the morning (he loves Purina the best), and a good quality wet food at night is keeping him stable.

If your cat doesn't like the food, ask the vet if they can get other alternative prescription foods for him. Hopefully this is a one time occurrence and you won't need to keep him on prescription long term. And switching him over to wet will be more helpful.

Have you looked into cat drinking fountains also? They can attract a cat to drink more water, which is also important to their urinary health.

Sharky and some other folks here are feline nutrition gurus who can give you good advice on foods for preventing crystals, etc. Don't worry, you and your guy will get through this, and you'll find help and support here.

I am writing simply to ask you to stop beating yourself up over feeding your cat Purina dry food. Don't feel horrible: there's been a lot of research and learning about cat nutrition in recent years and some of us have been slow to catch up because we buy our food at supermarkets that don't carry the premium brands. Consider that cat life spans have increased tremendously in recent years, even as we've been feeding them mostly Purina, Friskies, Nine Lives, and Fancy Feast. Millions of cats have been doing well on that stuff... but now we know there are even better alternatives.

It's a learning process, and you've begun, which is the most difficult and important step. You're right to focus on the future, not the past. No need to stress.

I can't add anything to what's been added here but want to send mega prayers and vibes for calming for you & healing for your precious boy

My cat Beeba is recovering from struvite crystals.

Always check with your vet before trying another food. Like another poster said, the food is the medicine and ingredients now are secondary. He is getting what he has to have with the food.

My Beeba would not eat the wet s/d. Talk about stress, I had to hunt him down in the closet and spoon feed it to him!!! I did not want to give the dry s/d, but realized that he had to have it. Luckily, he chowed down on it.

No food is perfect I have learned. But if my cat has to have dry, that is what he is going to get per the vet.

Just try to calm down. Believe me, I have been stressed to the max over this urinary issue. (so has my checking account). But learn all you can and I always say, knowledge is power.

Good luck!

My boy had struvite crystals too...I agree, take a deep breath, then take another. And you did nothing wrong at all - it's the opposite - you love your baby and you did the absolutely best thing you could, including getting to the vet quickly and following medical advice.

First, do you trust your vet? If you do (and from what I've read, he followed medical protocol with his prescription), just keep feeding the prescription food and, sorry to be so blunt, just ignore whatever internet source is saying not to feed it. They're not a vet, they haven't treated your cat, they're not the ones who'll be taking your cat in for follow-up visits and urinalysis. At that point, you could talk to the vet about what other foods might be worth trying - but please please please talk to the vet before you do anything.

If your cat doesn't care for that prescription food, there are other lines - your vet can get them for you as well.

Every nutritional study is evolving - whether human, feline, canine or gekkos! Don't forget, there are literally millions of cats and dogs who've had long healthy lives on the major foods, whether wet or dried. And those longer lives have really only come about in the last 25 years or so - it's new to everyone, vets, manufacturers, owners. The important thing is that you care for your cat, and you are treating him. You did nothing wrong - and anyone who says you did is, well, just full of it.

Prescription food is just that - it's medicine. Sure, maybe the ingredients don't look good to a layman (and I'll bet you dollars to donuts those sites are not certified feline nutritionists, and most likely have their own agendas, whether good intentioned or not), but the proof will be in the pudding. If your cat's follow-up urinalysis is clear, that's what counts. My guy is on Hills CD, wet and dry. He's been clear so far, and I'm counting my blessings...but to me the key thing is working with a vet I trust and keeping the vet fully in the loop before I would even think of introducing any new food, etc., into the mix.

Good luck - I know the anxiety of watching over the litter box for a nice big pee or a good firm poo.

I had two cats with urinary issues who ate prescription food from the vet. I also give them only filtered water. They have not had problems since they started drinking the filtered water in 2006.

My cat has had urinary issues for a long time and it's frustrating, especially if they're peeing on your stuff, but my girl always seems to not be in any pain. Take a deep breath and relax. Sharky is a great resource. MY experience is that my cat doesn't have to be on RX and I feed 75% wet and 25% dry (in the auto feeder bc she likes a midnight snack). I feed her wellness, but another good one is the nutro wet foods. Stay away from fish in wet foods.