Cat with urinary issues

Hi all,

I have a cat with a history of sturvite crystals. Last night she had blood in her urine but the vet said no crystals this time so he put her on Hills cd and told us that she needed to stay strictly on this and that our other cats could eat it too. I have asked a lot of ppl and done my own research and I don't think hills is the best option. It would be against my vets advice but I believe if I started all my cats on a grain-free diet, using primarily wet food, I could achieve the same outcome as the hills cd. I really don't want my other cats to get fat from the bad ingredients in hills. Any advice would be appreciated.

Hills is pushed by a lot of vets because they get a push from the food company. It's a bit of a tit for tat, and many vets are just now starting to learn about nutrition with cats and how it differs from dogs.

catinfo.org has such great info about cats with urinary problems, and I would definitely encourage the time it takes to read through all of her info. Blood, however, indicates a possibly different problem than crystals in the urine, and could be associated with a variety of issues in the urinary tract. My suggestion would be, if you suspect the diet, to go as close to natural as you are able to and comfortable doing. Go canned or raw, work on a balanced diet that is tied to your cat's specific health needs.

Our forums and the raw feeders here too have a lot of great suggestions and info if it interests you at all. I've learned so much from the fantastic people here.

Don't be afraid to search out a vet who won't push Hills, too. I think people sometimes forget that cats are individuals, too, and each type does better with a different food balance. My big boy Fagin is bright eyed and bushy-tailed on raw, but when he goes off it and gets finicky (he loves his tin Fancy Feast and, as a teen does, will sometimes get super picky), he gets too-soft poos from fancy feast. It doesn't agree with his system, even though he loves it.

I agree with Silviar. Frankly, I'd get a second opinion, especially about the blood in urine. Hills may have one good ingredient (L-Methionine), but the remaining ingredients are dubious at best.
I'd search for limited grain/limited carbohydrates, definitely wet. Limited grain means just that, limited grain; it does NOT necessarily mean limited carbohydrates. So read the ingredients carefully. For example, peas and cranberries both contain a fair amount of carbs, and poor quality or no protein.
Commercial raw like RadCat looks like canned/wet food, you could start out with that.

Was her urine cultured? Definitely no infection?

What has her urine pH been?

If her diet is dry food, that alone can cause issues, because the key to keeping a kitty flushed is water. If the diet is high in carbs, that can result in an alkaline pH, which is the environment in which struvite crytals form. As explained by Dr. Pierson, mentioned above (in this article http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth ), the key is WATER. It is also important to feed a high protein, low carb diet to target the proper urine pH (if a high urine pH has been a contributing factor).

I have a kitty that has a high urine pH despite diet. I feed raw, which for many kitties resolves crystal issues, because it targets the proper urine pH. But stress can be a contributing factor, and diet doesn't resolve that. Spooky's issue is that she's highly strung, and cats' stress can affect their bladders and urine pH. I am managing her stress, and I keep track of her urine pH by using test strips at home. I'm able to slip the strip in her pee stream. When her pH rises, I use a urine acidifier (L-methionine, an amino acid found in meat) to keep it in that 6.25 - 6.5 range (slightly acidic) which is ideal. You can only use this method if you're able to regularly test her urine pH though. When she's having a cystitis flare, I give her sub-q fluids at home.

I also give her a tea made from corn silk to help soothe her bladder. During a flare, I give her a tablespoon of tea with each of her three meals.

Here are two more articles that may help:

Written by one of the leading vets when it comes to FLUTD: http://vetgrad.co.uk/show10MinuteTopUp.php?type=&Entity=10MinuteTopUps&ID=36

Has co-published with Dr. Westropp, this is on stress and environment: http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/vetmed/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=743091&sk=&date=&pageID=6

Thanks for all your advice. To answer some of your questions...I have multiple cats so unfortunately it would be near impossible to keep track of everyone's pee schedule to test the ph haha. This is the third time in Chloe's (cat with urinary problem) life that she has had a flare up. The first time was right after she was adopted from a shelter so I think it was thought of as a stress related issue. Then the last time was about 2 years ago. We had her on Purina Pro urinary tract formula but then after doing some research I decided to put all of my cats on better food in general. They have a little bit of Authority wet food each day and can munch on Hollistic Precise Complete dry food freely. Perhaps Chloe has been eating more dry food than I expected

My husband was the one that went to the vet with her yesterday so I didn't hear the whole story but after looking at her paperwork I see that the vet gave her a Covenia Injection (long acting antibiotic) and I am putting a capsule of cosequin feline caps in her food starting today. I'm assuming this means she had a urinary bacterial infection? The last time she had an issue there were some small sturvite crystals in her urine but nothing serious. This time there was no crystals. I'm very confused. The vet made it seem VERY important that we stay on a strict Hills diet. I don't have the budget for it and I don't want to feed the rest of my cats a low quality dry food. Could this just be a stress related incident? My 1 year old niece did come over on Friday and Chloe started peeing blood on Sunday...makes me wonder...

If the vet gave her an injection while there, they did not do a urine culture prior to making the decision to give her antibiotics. A urine culture takes several days at a minimum.

So yes, this sounds stress-induced to me, if there were no crystals in the urine, and the urine specific gravity was normal.

I don't know if the prescription diet would help stabilize her urine pH or not. I would ask the vet why they think the prescription diet will help, if the urination/bladder problem isn't related to an actual infection or crystals. :dk:

This has helped Spooky immensely: the corn silk tea. I buy a corn silk herbal supplement. Anything with no additives will do. Empty about a teaspoon of powder into a container, add 1 cup of boiling water. Cover it, and let it steep for 10 - 20 minutes. Get 3 tablespoons into her daily for a week or two. I fed 3 meals a day. If you don't, then just use a little bit of babyfood or wet food, and give her three "treats" of the tea mixture. You can use this in conjunction with the cosequin - which helps some cats and doesn't help others. It's likely the same for the corn silk, though it has helped Spooky immensely, where the cosequin did nothing for her.

You can try Feliway. This often helps in multi-cat homes.

Others have had wonderful things to say about Jackson Galaxy's Spirit Essences. I'm sure there's some kind of calming option one. I tried Bach's Flower remedies with Spooky, they didn't help her, but that's something else to consider.

I just bought Spooky one of these collars, as again, they come with strong recommendations: http://www.calmingcollars.com/ I bought the single channel one, as that double-channel thing looked SO bulky. :dk: