Please help

The food she was talking about is prescription-only, and it is quite expensive. But for some cats it's totally necessary. Your vet should have prescribed it if he/she thought it was necessary for your cat. Maybe you should call your vet (and do ask to talk to the vet, not a tech) to discuss it.

Some cats don't need the prescription food. But it is a good idea to feed him only canned food, and to keep fish intake to a minimum. The canned food has a lot more water, so that will help to keep him flushed out. That goes a long way in preventing urinary issues.

When my cats ph was to high he needed to have his urine be more acidic. I used science diet C/D dry. Wet would have been better IMO but at the time he would not take it easily so dry it was.

also look into ascorbic acid- vitamin c...its a natural acidfier and really helped my cat. I know some vets never heard of it but do some research on it/anitra frazier is where i think i first saw it-the natural cat was the book

Most cats do not need special foods with acidifiers or anything like that as long as they are fed a meat-based, grain-free wet diet.
Here is a boatload of information for you: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

I can't imagine a vet not stressing how important diet is. My kitty, Beeba was blocked and was put on a urine acidifier for a while and s/d food. Then
prescription food...c/d. He is still on c/d after a couple years. He has not blocked again.

The food equals medicine. If this vet cannot provide better information, please seek another. Yes, it can be expensive, but not overly. I pay 17.00 I think for a 8lb bag?? Something like that and it lasts for quite a while. It sure is cheaper than another vet visit for another blockage because of wrong diet and we sure don't want our cats in pain.

Good luck with your kitty. I know how stressful this is..Take comfort that it is common and very treatable with the correct food. Also, an automatic drinking fountain is a great help. The more water in....the more out and less time sitting in the bladdar growing those nasty crystals. The sound of flowing water encourages them to drink more.

Hi - my boy had struvite crystals. My advice, find a vet you like and trust and establish a relationship, and talk about diet immediately - and whatever food you decide to try, keep the vet in the loop and have your cat's urine tested regularly, at least til he stabilizes. There are several prescription lines for urinary issues. It's a very common issue and you did great by getting him into the vet as soon as you did.

However, I'm also surprised the vet didn't at least suggest trying a prescription line, even if you were there on the shelter's dime. I'd maybe look around for another vet - you may want one anyway, and also you may want to line up the location of an e-vet, just in case you have another urinary situation during a holiday. E-vets aren't cheap (usually $100 just walking in the door, but, truly, they can be life-savers when no one else is around).

In our case, once my boy was diagnosed, the vet suggested Hills C/D with a follow-up urinalysis in a month to see if the food was effective. Of course, the vet stressed that if I noticed any symptoms of urinary distress, to race into the office. The Hills C/D has been very effective in keeping my boy's urine 'perfect'. I do have urine tests done twice a year, just because I'm a nervous meowmy.

I feed both Hills C/D wet and dry (my boy doesn't care much for wet food in general, so we supplement with dry), and I do not find it more expensive that 'premium' regular foods. They're both very 'dense' foods - a little goes a long way, and the hardest thing may be finding the right portion size so a cat will not gain weight. Both my cats eat it and are thriving.

I agree that adding a water fountain is something to consider - I do notice both my cats drink more than from regular bowls.

To a layperson, the ingredients in a prescription food may not appear 'good' - the proof is in the pudding of having a healthy cat. I strongly urge you to work with a vet you can trust to find the right diet. My boy has been doing well on Hill's (the parent of Science Diet, but it's a separate line) for over three years.


Good luck - I know you're now doing a happy dance every time you find a good 'pee ball' in the litter box - I still do!

PS - a urine test at my vet runs maybe $25, and that includes the vet or the tech getting the sample with that big old needle. Vet care isn't cheap, I agree - but any good vet's office will be happy to set up an 'interview' appointment so you can interview the vet, get a feel for the office and practice, and find out fees. I'm just thinking - DAnte's senior panel last January, which included a wellness physical, bloodwork and the urine sample, ran maybe $75-100 all inclusive(January tends to be a good month for 'sales' on senior kitty work, as February is for dental work).

Aw, we know this trouble!

The one thing I haven't seen anyone discuss yet is the issue related to what type of crystals they were.

There are two types of crystals: struvite and calcium oxalate. Struvite crystals occur because the pH of the urine is not acidic enough. A urine acidifier is often prescribed for this situation (not always), and the way to control them in the future is diet. Grocery store and pet store foods that are marked "urinary health" mean that they make the urine pH more acidid. These will help if his trouble is struvite crystals: it will not help if they're calcium oxalate.

Calcium oxalate crystals have to do with the mineral balance in the body, and can ONLY be solved with diet. The prescription food addresses BOTH kinds of crystals, and is designed to create a neutral pH in the bladder.

When three of our boys over 1.5 years each had repeat problems with crystals (two of them struvite, one calcium oxalate - all on the same diet), we switched to the prescription food by Hill's Pet (c/d). This stopped the problems. We fed them a mix of dry and wet food. We ALWAYS mixed some water in with the wet food to increase the level of water in their systems to keep their urine dilute. Not only our food bill went up, but our litter bill did too, because they were peeing more and more frequently. IMO, well worth it!

Approximately 6 years later, we have switched the cats to an all wet food diet, no more dry. I phased out the c/d about two/three months ago. So far, we're not seeing any problems. But we have a water fountain, and I mix about 1.5 tablespoons of water into each meal (they're fed about 1 ounce of wet food at each meal - varies per cat, some get about 1.5 ounces per meal - and they get four meals a day). Their urine is kept VERY dilute.

Sometimes the prescription food is necessary. But if your kitty has been eating dry food, it's possible that a switch to all wet food, especially if you mix in water to keep the urine dilute, may be enough to resolve the problem.

To be safe, I would recommend using the prescription diet, ensure your boy is stabilized, then begin to switch to other wet foods (and continue feeding the dry prescription food if you want to feed dry).

And it looks like this

Like Minka, I would direct you to Dr. Pierson's site, CatInfo.org. Since she already has , I'll add the Feline Nutrition Education Society's site, Feline-Nutrition.org, and Dr. Hofve's site, LittleBigCat.com. Both are overflowing with general nutrition and health-related information (you can use their 'search' functions to narrow it down to UTI-related articles).

Hope you and Georgie never have to endure this again!

AC

Then he must be one devilishly-cute little fellow!

George may be still be uncomfortable, and it's normal for a cat with a painful urinary tract issue to associate the litter box with his pain and avoid it in hopes of avoiding the pain. You will need to clean everywhere he's peed with an enzyme-containing solution like Nok-out or Nature's Miracle to dissuade him from continuing to use those spots even after this flare-up is resolved.

I think you should watch him pretty carefully, however. While struvite crystals are naturally occurring in feline urine, a cat that is chronically dehydrated (such as kibble-fed kitties) has concentrated urine and, therefore, an unnatural concentration of the crystals... which is what blocks the urethra. You haven't said what the vet actually did to address the obstruction, but until George's urine is dilute enough to keep the crystals from binding, it's my understanding he could suffer another blockage. If you see his peeing levels drop, or you see him trying to pee and he can't, I'd take him in pretty quickly.

In the meantime, mixing up to a teaspoon of warm water into his canned foods will help speed the healing process.

Many vibes for a quick recovery!!!

AC

Hi, I live in Spain and thankfully vets are reasonably priced and don't push prescription food if there are alternatives available. My male had a UTI 4 years ago, he had a fit and had crystals in his urine and was in a lot of pain. After treating him, my vet told me if I couldn't afford the prescription food to buy Affinity made by Purina for a healthy Urinary Tract. It isn't at all expensive and he has been problem free for 4 years on it and loves it. Maybe you could look online if it isn't available in shops.

good luck

I have no experience with crystals and urinary blockages, but have dealt with other urinary problems with my kitties. You might want to join the FLUTD Yahoo group. They are very helpful and knowledgeable. http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/F...guid=353539644