FLUTD cat driving me crazy...

This is my dozenth time posting, my FLUTD cat Daniel is drving me crazy. I've been on the forum before and have followed the advice given here but it seems nothing works. I've spent at least $1000 in vet bills and all I get is "his ph is high, he has an infection, give him these another type of pills, and feed him this over priced cereal." Right now I've been feeding him Fancy Feast Classics Wet (fish flavours is all he'll eat) 1/2 a can 4 times a day with Cranimals added to it. He also eats some of the other cats Friskies wet. I still have dry out which I've switched to Wellness Core, for my other cats. Daniel really doesn't eat too much of that. I'd say his diet is 90% wet food, but I work all day not sure how much dry he eats, but when I'm home I don't see him eat it. This combo seemed to be working 2 weeks with out an accident, now yesterday and this morning he peed on the floor....ugh. It seems just when I think I've got this figured out, it goes south again. How long is this going to take to resolve? I understand that he's had this issue for a while and it won't fix itself overnight but I'm starting to lose it. I got him from a shelter, this is his 4th home. I believe he has had these issues his whole life and we were mislead by the shelter. He has such a great personality and is Puff's BFF. But it's frustrating. I'm losing sleep, because I'm worried where is he peeing now.... tonight it was under the bed at 5am. I've never dealt with this in any of my other 11 cats. Daniel's only 5 and I shutter to think what the next 10+ years are going to be like. Please help. Offer me some hope.

Has your vet said anything about adding an acidifier to his food to get his urine pH down?

Have you kept him on the rx foods until the vet verifies he is free from crystals? 

Any way you can transition him off the fish flavours, and completely eliminate all kibble from the house? I would also add plenty of extra water to his wet food. This link has some good info on dealing with FLUTD: http://holisticat.com/flutd.html

You've got to get rid of the dry food completely, and work hard at cutting out the fishy foods. But you've got to stop the dry, all dry, any dry is bad news for cats with urinary tract disease. (and Wellness core, I'm sorry to say is notorious for causing urinary tract problems. There is no "official" stance on this, but I have seen countless anecdotal reports)

Fish isn't good either. Too high in minerals (bones)

Have a read through this site:

http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

It's quite possible that even without infection or crystals (has he been checked for crystals) there is inflammation from the foods he is eating, and possibly stress. Install some feliway diffusers to help with stress, and keep things calm in the house!

I do not recommend using urine acidifiers, this can cause a lot of problems. If the urine is too acidic he will form oxalate stones, which are only removable with surgery.

Be sure you have plenty of litter boxes and keep them immaculately clean.

They mentioned adding an acidifier once, but nothing more. He was eating rx wet / regular kibble for 2 months but always had crystals. I've even given them all the rx dry/ regular wet but always crystals/ high ph. I could try to remove all kibble, but my multicat home makes it hard. I have a Siamese who is underweight. She has always been thin. And some who really don't like the wet. I've been increasing the amout of wet everyone has been getting. Hopefully to reduce the amount of dry. So my best plan of attack is to feed Daniel the rx dry/wet until crystals clear? How long will that usually take? So I have an idea of how long is should take. I don't want to give up too soon.

Where can you get feliway? I've never seen it in Canada. I don't think he is stressed. If he is he sure doesn't show it. He's always sleeping with the others, playing, running around, and grooming and being groomed by the others. I'll make sure the boxes are super clean and full of litter.

brillobee said:

They mentioned adding an acidifier once, but nothing more. He was eating rx wet / regular kibble for 2 months but always had crystals. I've even given them all the rx dry/ regular wet but always crystals/ high ph. I could try to remove all kibble, but my multicat home makes it hard. I have a Siamese who is underweight. She has always been thin. And some who really don't like the wet. I've been increasing the amout of wet everyone has been getting. Hopefully to reduce the amount of dry. So my best plan of attack is to feed Daniel the rx dry/wet until crystals clear? How long will that usually take? So I have an idea of how long is should take. I don't want to give up too soon.

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Are you saying you never fed him the rx foods? If so, yes you should definitely feed it until the crystals are dissolved. Then you can try diet changes to prevent them from recurring.

Edit: Sorry, I just read that you said you fed the rx with regular kibble for a while. I think the rx food should be fed exclusively for it to work. 

When my cat (Jeta) had struvite crystals the vet had me feed her an rx food for a week then bring her back to be checked. For her the one week was all it took but I'm sure it can vary from cat to cat. I switched to a raw diet to prevent the crystals but I know that is a big change for someone to consider. I had already been thinking about it for a long time anyway.

I think the experience of most people is that the rx foods or a raw diet are your best bet for preventing the crystals. An acidifying supplement should work also. I just haven't heard much from people who use them to say more than that. Trying to feed regular foods can work but seems "iffy" to me. You might find foods that seem to work but all it would take is a formula change for it not to work anymore and how would you know?

Ok, so will this work. Rx wet until crystals/symptoms disappear. Then try 100% wet or raw diets. I guess he should be locked up so he doesn't eat the other cats friskies. Can I feed any wet non fish flavour food? Is the fancy feast good? Should I keep up with the cranimals? I guess the ferals will be getting the wellness core.

Yup, good plan. Make sure the crystals are gone and go to an all wet diet. If you absolutely have to feed some dry make it only the rx food. All of your cats can safely eat it. Even going to an all wet diet might not be enough though. Some cats really need the acidifying that comes with the rx foods or a raw diet. 

Given you are fighting a FLUTD problem I don't think you can be too picky about the non-fish wet foods you feed. IMO Fancy Feast, especially the pate (Classic) types, are just fine. There is quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that Wellness wet foods led to high pH and struvite crystals. I don't like to bash a brand based on anecdotal proof but there is a lot of it and you might not want to take  the risk.

Did your vet suggest the Canimals? If not, I'd ditch them. I doubt they are doing any good.

Thanks guys. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the 12th time the charm and I'll get this fixed.

Well, I found a pee spot on my stuffed animal today. It's only been two days of rx wet/dry.
So, I'm still hopeful. Also maybe it was an old spot.....right?

It can take a little time for the diet to work.

I know others have already said this, but for extremely sensitive cats, any kibble (other than rx) or ANY fish can trigger a problem. Momofmany has a cat like this, Stumpy. :heart2: