Struvite Crystals -- S/D done, anything other than C/D?

hyru · Apr 10, 2012

My 1.5 year old Persian had some issues with struvite crystals. After some intervention from the vet, hes now okay. His pH level was a 9! He was on Wellness Core dry food, and also Wellness Wet food when he got the crystals.

The vet put him on Hills S/D for a month. The month has now passed and hes having a urinalysis today to assure everything is well. Hes been acting fine and going to pee just fine as well. Shockingly, he actually liked the S/D food.

My questions, however, are... what now? The vet suggests that the typical next step is to put him on C/D (assuming his urinalysis comes back normal), and he goes to Hills C/D for life. When I look at the quality of ingredients in C/D, its really not that great. But at the same time, I can appreciate its a "medical" food and its for this particular condition...

I will avoid all dry food, but I also really want him on a good quality wet food (I was thinking Blue Buffalo), but Im not sure if this is a risk factor.

If I put him on 100% wet food from Blue Buffalo, is there a risk of the crystals coming back?

What, specifically, is in (or is left out) the C/D food that makes it ok for cats with struvite crystals? If I can find the answer to this, maybe I can look around and see what quality foods offer that same ingredient. Does C/D have something in it that other wet cat foods dont?

Thanks in advance

hyru · Apr 10, 2012

Ok... so his pH level is now around 5.5ish... so its gone down a lot, but we dont want the other types of crystals. His vet game him Royal Canine S/O.... can someone confirm for me if this is a maintenance food, like Hills C/D, or is it a short term food, like Hills S/D?

mrsgreenjeens · Apr 10, 2012

I think you actually need to ask your Vet what his intention is with that food. Can you just call them up and ask them?

mocoondo · Apr 10, 2012

One of my cats had the same issue as yours ... struvite crystals ... and lots of them. Full blockage on three occasions. In fact, we thought we were going to lose him over the whole ordeal. $6,000, three weeks in the hospital off and on, and a cat specialist later, he is all better (knock on wood), and he is prescribed Royal Canin Urinary SO for the rest of his life.

We get the food from petflow.com in the cans and the dry from the vet.

It is a maintenance diet and the cat can remain on that diet indefinitely.

We have two cats and just decided to put both the boys on the Urinary SO diet instead of trying to keep separate foods and keeping the food segregated. It is just easier keeping both of them on the same diet.

The food does two things primarily ... it adjusts the pH to optimal so the crystals will not form, and second, it drives the cat to drink *A LOT* of water, which keeps him/her urinating frequently. If you go on this diet, be sure to keep an ample supply of fresh water.

This diet does work. We have had no re-occurrence and urine stream is clear and strong ... and I watch it like a hawk.

farleyv · Apr 12, 2012

Please don't do any switching without discussing with your vet.

My cat had struvites and was on sd and then on cd. Yes you are right, not the best ingredients, but it is medicine. I had another cat on cd for the rest of his life and he died of old age. So don't be too quick to condem it.

Our current cat is doing just fine on it. Just please keep the vet in the loop of what you are doing.

blueyedgirl5946 · Apr 14, 2012

I agree. One of my cats had this problem. The last time he was totally blocked, had to be put to sleep to get him unblocked. With this prescription food and filtered water, he does well and has not had any more urinary issues. I say, follow the vet's advice.

cheshirecat · Apr 14, 2012

My boy has been eating Royal Canin S/O canned for almost 2 years now. He was hospitalized for 2 days because of a blockage. Since then he has been on prescription food and I expect to continue it for life.

I had to find the Royal Canin myself because he would not eat the science diet food that the vet had because it was pate. Royal Canin has chunks in gravy as well as pate. It could use more gravy but he eats it.

My advice would be to talk it over with your vet. Mine was willing to work with me on the food as long as it was prescription.

kittykisser · Apr 16, 2012

My male is on canned and dry Royal Canin Urinary SO. I think it's junk but the vet recommends it and Boswell hasn't had any problems since he's been on it. I guess it works somehow.

catlivesmatter · Oct 29, 2016

We had to go through the same thing. They had to put our cat to sleep and surgically remove crystals. There were a a lot of stones/crystals that came out. They are under analysis so we are not sure if they are struvites or calcium oxalate. It is a very horrible feeling to see your pet go through this and unenlightened owners may unknowingly abuse their cats because they pee on the floor because it hurts them while urinating.

I am seriously concerned to see so many cases of urinary blockages in felines. We were at the pet ER and just while we are waiting heard 2 calls for urinary blockage and we were there for only about an hour. After I started researching this online, I was horrified to see so many cases of this. I think this may have something to do with the diet given to the cats but it also may be because the mainstream brand of canned food has some issues. I can't prove it but then why do we have so many similar urinary blockage cases? The vets tell you that dry food causes it. Well, if it is because of dry food, then why is it in the market? Why has someone not sued them? Why do all these cats have to go through this? If Urinary SO or s/d, c/d is the answer, then why not regulate it in the market like we do for humans? I mean, it's not a few cats we are talking about, there are hundreds and thousands of cats going through this pain every year and not every owner has the luxury of paying for surgery.

If anyone knows of any movement against the crystal/stone causing cat food in the market, please let me know. We should do something about this.

Hope all the cats and cat owners take care.

olivebab · Oct 30, 2016

This may well be entirely unrelated to your experience, but I'll add it in case it's at all helpful.

One of my cats had issues urinating a while back that turned out to be due to struvite crystals. It never got to the point of a complete blockage, but resulted in several pricey emergency vet visits. On the second emergency vet visit the vet mentioned offhand that some cats develop crystals due to food that has fish in it. At the time, one of the foods I was feeding him was Primal's raw frozen beef and salmon blend. After cutting that out of his diet, he hasn't had a single urinary tract issue. My regular vet was completely shocked that it fixed the problem, so I'm not sure if it's something that's widely known or assumed - she's chalked it up to essentially an allergy.

So, moral of the story, it probably won't hurt to make sure your cat doesn't get any fish in his diet!

tobilei · Oct 30, 2016

Google says (I can't believe I just said that!) that fish is notoriously bad for crystals.

Likewise with the wellness. Obviously all reports are anecdotal and I don't believe everything I read on the net but when there's that many reports of crystals and wellness I can't help but wonder where there is smoke........

I had a kitten who came to me with blood in his urine and crystals. I tried the S/O and he liked it fine but I didn't like giving him such high salt for the rest of his life. Royal Canin make good food, don't get me wrong, but they do use language on their packets designed to make it sound better than Hills (dehydrated poultry meat vs chicken by product meal.....they're both the same thing, maize meal vs corn gluten meal, again same, vegetable protein vs soy protein, once again, same thing). My boy really loved the C/D and it now comes in cans of chicken and vegetable stew which my non crystal boy loved as well. There's one that's regular and one that's meant for stress, it has an added ingredient to help reduce stress in case that's part of the problem. Another thing you can do if your cat will tolerate it is to add some water to their wet food. The more water the better in the case of crystals and UTI's.

Some cats get numerous issues with crystals, others get one bout and never again, only your vet can really tell you if he needs prescription forever.

I know some people manage with regular food and medication to acidify the urine however it involves very close monitoring of your cats pee to know how much of the medication to give.

StacyO · Jan 7, 2018

Same here, would love to know truth.

catlivesmatter said:
We had to go through the same thing. They had to put our cat to sleep and surgically remove crystals. There were a a lot of stones/crystals that came out. They are under analysis so we are not sure if they are struvites or calcium oxalate. It is a very horrible feeling to see your pet go through this and unenlightened owners may unknowingly abuse their cats because they pee on the floor because it hurts them while urinating.

I am seriously concerned to see so many cases of urinary blockages in felines. We were at the pet ER and just while we are waiting heard 2 calls for urinary blockage and we were there for only about an hour. After I started researching this online, I was horrified to see so many cases of this. I think this may have something to do with the diet given to the cats but it also may be because the mainstream brand of canned food has some issues. I can't prove it but then why do we have so many similar urinary blockage cases? The vets tell you that dry food causes it. Well, if it is because of dry food, then why is it in the market? Why has someone not sued them? Why do all these cats have to go through this? If Urinary SO or s/d, c/d is the answer, then why not regulate it in the market like we do for humans? I mean, it's not a few cats we are talking about, there are hundreds and thousands of cats going through this pain every year and not every owner has the luxury of paying for surgery.

If anyone knows of any movement against the crystal/stone causing cat food in the market, please let me know. We should do something about this.

Hope all the cats and cat owners take care.

StacyO · Jan 7, 2018

Same here, would love to know the truth.

CaliCatCharlie · Jan 7, 2018

Was at vet yesterday for this very issue. Charlie was sedated and drained by catheter.

Vet said boy cats have crazy twisty urethras. And fishy stuff assists in crystal formation. They can also give them an operation to basically make them process urine like a female...it’s a big thing

We are now also on wet Hill c/d. Also he gave me a cranberry based supplement-Uromaxx. Check with your vet and see what they think.

Hope your kitty stays well. :cutecat:

Struvite Crystals -- S/D done, anything other than C/D?

hyru

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hyru

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mrsgreenjeens

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mocoondo

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farleyv

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blueyedgirl5946

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cheshirecat

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kittykisser

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catlivesmatter

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olivebab

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tobilei

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StacyO

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StacyO

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CaliCatCharlie

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