A cat with urinary issues

Hi all! I'm new here. I just wanted to let you know about my experience with my cat, Buddha, who has had several urinary blockages in the past. He is now eating ONLY wet food, between Royal Canin Urinary SO and high quality wet food like Innova, Wellness, Go, Merrick BG. I tried only feeding him the high quality wet food but his urine pH was too high, so I had to switch back to mainly feeding the prescription diet even though it has questionable ingredients. I have two water fountains and I mix a lot of water in with his wet food. He pees the hugest clumps!

I was wondering if anyone's cat out there is having the same issue as my cat. The stress these urinary issues cause... wow, it's hard to put into words.

Here's a picture of him disrupting my homework session! =P

Aw, what a beautiful boy! And welcome to TCS!

Yes, many, many people have faced urinary problems with their cats. We had three of our boys block many years ago when they were young. We switched to the Hill's prescription dry and canned, I didn't know better then and just followed our vet's advice. They got 2 wet "meals" of food a day, though it was more like a treat-sized amount they would eat, but I'd mix in additional water.

It wasn't until we rescued an older feral cat that was a health mess (in 2010) that we learned more about the nutritional - and moisture! - needs of cats. We saw a new vet, a holistic DVM with nutritional training. She told us to get all the cats off of dry food as soon as possible.

At that point, we switched to premium canned foods, and everyone did well.

We do have a female (Spooky) that continues to have issues with cystitis, often with no crystals present. She's very highly strung and stresses easily.

In early 2012, we switched to homemade raw food. This naturally targets the proper urine pH, as meat is high in methionine (the prescription urinary foods use a synthetic version to acidify urine and target a neutral urine pH to manage crystals). Spook still needs additional support, and we're trying corn silk right now to help soothe her bladder wall and resolve bladder inflammation. :rub:

I'm so glad you've got your boy's problem under control!

If you can, feed raw like LDG has advised.

If you cannot feed raw, there are products you can add to regular cat food in order to get it to the right pH range. You say the pH was "too high," so I'm assuming your cat had struvite crystals. You can add dl-methionine to bring the urine pH down. ONLY USE DL-METHIONINE IF THE URINARY CRYSTALS/STONES ARE STRUVITE. You also need to work with your vet on this one because the urine pH would need monitoring--if the urine pH goes too low, then you run the risk of developing calcium oxalate crystals, which need surgical removal. The amount to add would depend on how high the urine pH is. For my kitty I gave 1/128 to 1/64 tsp and then tested with urine pH strips. After a month I took her in for a lab urine test at the vet. I got a big bottle at vetdepot.com. It is very inexpensive.

http://www.vetdepot.com/v-e-t-pharmaceuticals-dl-methionine-500-mg-1000-tablets.html

Urine pH fluctuates during the day, so you need to take several samples before drawing any conclusions.

Here are measuring spoons that go down to 1/128:


If your kitty's urine was too acidic, Wysong sells a product if the pH was too low (calcium oxalate stones):

http://www.wysong.net/products/ph+dog-cat-supplement.php

I have no experience using it.

Forgot to mention that the prescription foods in general try to limit magnesium and phosphorus. The non-prescription brands Weruva and Fussie Cat are known to be good for urinary issues  in that magnesium and phosphorus are low.

Yes, going into the raw diet, Spooky did have some struvite stones in her bladder; her urine pH was high. We also used methionine to bring down her urine pH. I wasn't able to measure her urine pH multiple times a day, because she often only pees once or twice a day. But as her urine pH was 8.0, we used 1,500mg of methionine until it came down to 7.0, then we gave her 500mg until it was steadily in a range of 6.25 - 6.5. Now I just give the methionine as needed.

If anyone is going to work with their vet using methionine to manage urine pH, I would recommend using L-methionine, not DL-methionine. L-methionine is the same chemical composition as the amino acid found in meat, and the only one that can be used in protein metabolism. DL-methionine or D-methionine is synthetic; the DL-methionine is about half as bioavailable.

Thank you for the advice! I want to try raw, but I don't know if my cats will take to it. I tried feeding them raw chicken once, and they looked at me like I was crazy. I'll try again when I have the time (time is an issue too since I work two jobs and go to school). I'm nervous about using the DL-methionine to be honest. The current vet I use won't do any holistic healing, she only recommends feeding only the Royal Canin Urinary SO. While I don't like the ingredients, it's what keeps his urine pH down. And yes, he had struvite crystals. I may try to find a different vet who will work with me rather than push expensive procedures and vaccines that are not needed.

You can see if there's a holistic vet in your area. I searched for a D.V.M. trained in Chinese Medicine, but there are plenty of other modalities. http://www.ahvma.org

And yes, transitioning 8 cats, four of which were almost 10 when we made the transition, wasn't easy. You really do have to have the time for it when they don't realize uncooked meat is food. :lol3:

molldee said:

 
Thank you for the advice! I want to try raw, but I don't know if my cats will take to it. I tried feeding them raw chicken once, and they looked at me like I was crazy. I'll try again when I have the time (time is an issue too since I work two jobs and go to school). I'm nervous about using the DL-methionine to be honest. The current vet I use won't do any holistic healing, she only recommends feeding only the Royal Canin Urinary SO. While I don't like the ingredients, it's what keeps his urine pH down. And yes, he had struvite crystals. I may try to find a different vet who will work with me rather than push expensive procedures and vaccines that are not needed.

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Usually when a vet doesn't want to recommend anything outside of prescription food I've found that they don't know anything about nutrition. In other words, the reason is that they only have one solution and don't know how to advise clients that don't want prescription foods. DL-methionine is added to many cat foods, including the urinary prescription ones to control urine pH, so it is quite common, even in foods that aren't meant to be prescription. I was scared about it, too, but if you're testing the urine you'll have feedback, and you can start at microdoses with the mini measuring spoons.

I'll look into the DL-Methionine for sure. And looking for a holistic vet.