Does urinary cat food (eg. c/d, hills, etc) remove crystals once theyre there?

Hi, I have a cat about two years old. A little backgeound information: last year, he was completely blocked and was diagnosed with struvite crystals. He was in critical condition because he was also bleeding due to an infection his previous vet gave him from the first catheter. Our new vet catheterized him again to clear out the remaining crystals that the old vet didn't clear out and cleared the infection. Once all was done, the new vet strongly recommended a can a day of wet food, but since Mr.Butters didn't really like the wet food, she (the vet) said that dry food was satisfactory. He's been on dry food (urinary issue specific food, mostly c/d) with the occasional canned.

Two nights ago, I noticed that he peed only a small amount and that it was a little blood tinged. I checked again the next day and it was the same. I immediately switched him onto the wet urinary food. I've been monitoring him since.

Today, it seems like he's peeing in even smaller amounts and going to the litter box much more frequently as well as licking is area.

I think he may be partially blocked because there is still urine being expelled, but it is in small amounts. Other than the urine and the genital licking, he seems to be a happy, healthy cat.

My question is: will the wet food diet clear out any crystals that may be there, and if so, how long will it take? If not, will he need to be catheterized again? It was an extremely unpleasant experience for him last time so I would like to avoid it if at all possible.

Also, I am not against spending the money for a vet, despite the high cost. I just hope that the wet food diet can clear it out so that he does not need to be catheterized.

Hi there ...

Was your kitty drinking lots of water when on the dry urinary food? If yes, this could have kept him from blocking, but wet canned urinary diets are generally better for crystal prone cats. Urinary diets are supposed to keep the urine acidic, but sometimes it can take awhile to dissolve the crystals.

I would follow up with your vet and explain what you have described here. It could be that you will need to bring him in to be checked for a partial blockage. At the same time discuss diet and the need to switch to another type of urinary food such as Royal Canin S/O rather than the Hills c/d. It is important to increase the moisture intake as part of managing crystals in cats. If your cat is not a big water drinker, you can increase moisture by adding a bit of water to the wet canned food at each feeding.

Hi, thank you for your reply.

He seems to be drinking regularly. He drinks out of the dog's water as well as his own water fountain.

If his water intake has not changed, could there be any particular reason he might be partially blocked now?

Also, what is the advantage of s/o over c/d? He does not like the s/o and c/d is the only way he'll eat urinary canned food.

Sorry for the multitude of questions, but I felt his body over a few times and noticed that no part of his body feels swollen as a full bladder from a blocked cat would have. Could it he a UTI? Can this be cleared up at home, or must I take him to the vet for antibiotics?

If I call the vet, they will tell me to bring him in. I haven't had any experience with advice over the phone. Another reason why I'd rather keep him home is because the car ride itself is very stressful for him. He pees and poops himself every time and becomes a mess as soon as he realizes he's going to the vet. If I can avoid this, I would like to. He's a little demon cat sometimes.

That's good that he is drinking well. This should be keeping his bladder well flushed. The bloody urine can be due to crystals, or it could be something else like an infection. How long has it been since the catheriterization and when was the last urinalysis done?

The S/O will be formulated differently. It may have more DL-Methionine, which is a urine acidifier, than the c/d does?

If he has an infection, then he will need some antibiotics such as clavamox to clear this up. The benefit of a urinalysis is that it not only checks for crystals, but urine PH, USG which determines how well the urine is concentrated, the protein levels, and if there are any WBC (white blood cells) which can indicate inflammation and/or infection. A urine culture which is a further test, determines the type of bacteria if this is present.

I understand about the stress of the vet visit. Rather than taking him in, you could ask your vet about bringing in a urine sample to see where he is at as far as crystals, infection, and the cause for the bloody urine. I think this would be a reasonable first step, and what I would be looking to do if this were my cat. You would need to get a sterile substrate like Nosorb, which you can get from your vet. Remove the current litter and clean your litter pan and add the Nosorb. The Nosorb are small pebbles which provide something for your cat to scratch, but does not absorb the urine. Once he goes you drain the urine into the sterile container that the Nosorb can in, for testing, and take this in to your vet.

If your kitty is not peeing as much as he usually does, then you don't want to leave things like this. Better to get some testing done to see what's going on.

Thank you again. I will give my vet a call and proceed from there.

His last urinalysis was over a year ago, when he was diagnosed. He's due for his annual check up anyway so I should be going regardless. I admit, I've been putting it off because he hates car rides and looked completely healthy.

I was hoping on saving him a stressful ride, but if this will save his life...

Is there any other general advice about watching his kitty health in the meantime?

aurioh said:

Thank you again. I will give my vet a call and proceed from there.

His last urinalysis was over a year ago, when he was diagnosed. He's due for his annual check up anyway so I should be going regardless. I admit, I've been putting it off because he hates car rides and looked completely healthy.

I was hoping on saving him a stressful ride, but if this will save his life...

Is there any other general advice about watching his kitty health in the meantime?

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Just keep an eye on his output and watch for any straining, going in and out of the litterbox. Add water to his wet food, and do follow up with your vet about arranging for a urine sample. You might not need to take him in if you can provide a sample, but you do need to find out what is going on.

Good luck with your little guy. And let us know how things turn out.

I'm not sure about the comparative DL-Methionine levels with RC s/o versus Hills c/d, but I believe RC s/o is a combination high sodium plus DL-Methionine food, similar to Hills s/d.  Hills c/d has the DL-Methionine, but not the increased sodium.  I didn't like the idea of feeding my urinary blockage kitty a constant high sodium diet, since he will need to be on it the rest of his life (due to blocking more than once, even on premium quality natural foods), and my vet recommended the Hills c/d with an occasional can of Hills s/d (a methodology my vet learned about at a conference or something) .  For those reasons, he has been on Hills c/d with a tablespoon or two of water added to each feeding (1/2 can per feeding) for nearly a year now and has been doing great.  I toss in a can of Hills s/d about once a week, per my vet's suggestion.

Yes, that is true about the RC S/O having an elevated sodium level. I suppose this is to encourage cats to drink more. 

Glad to read that your kitty is doing well 

Hey, thanks for the replies!

I will be giving the vet a call later, after I've observed a little more and can explain the situation in more detail.

I came home and scooped his litter and found two more attempts at peeing, and one small pee clump of litter. I gave him another can of S/O food (the one with the chicken clumps) mixed with 2~ tablespoons of water. He ate some and then went to his litter box. The litter clumped to about his regular size of urine clump (am I making sense?) so he peed about the regular amount of pee. I broke it apart and saw no strands of blood and only a very faint spot of red in one area. He went in the litter box, peed right away, and covered it up as usual. He did not lick his genitals after going.

I have a 1ml syringe that I have used to feed him a little extra water. Got out his Hex bug so that hopefully playing will encourage more drinking and urinating.

First question: Is this a good sign? We've fed him about 1.5 cans of S/O food and I think about half can of the C/D since we realized he was having problems. We've also changed his water fountain for fresher water and have been adding water into his wet food.

Second question: how much water should he be consuming? His fountain contains over a liter of water and I add about that much in every week or so (this is a very approximate estimation). Should I be giving him extra water with the syringe? It makes me feel better if I do, but I don't know how much I should be giving him. I'm assuming the more the better.

Thanks again for your replies, it encourages me to do online research in the right direction...but mostly, it just helps my mental state to talk to other cat owners. Talking to people who don't own cats just doesn't feel the same. After this episode, I will hopefully be looking into a better diet for Mr. Butters. I've been reading that the urinary food, while is helpful with crystal prevention, is not very healthy for him over all.

aurioh said:

 
I came home and scooped his litter and found two more attempts at peeing, and one small pee clump of litter. I gave him another can of S/O food (the one with the chicken clumps) mixed with 2~ tablespoons of water. He ate some and then went to his litter box. The litter clumped to about his regular size of urine clump (am I making sense?) so he peed about the regular amount of pee. I broke it apart and saw no strands of blood and only a very faint spot of red in one area. He went in the litter box, peed right away, and covered it up as usual. He did not lick his genitals after going.

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This does sound encouraging. As a general rule of thumb, average pee clumps are about the size of a golf ball, but some cats can pee more or less than this, depending on the size of their bladder and how frequently they go. Both of my boys go once in the morning and pee a fair amount. 

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aurioh said:

 
Second question: how much water should he be consuming? His fountain contains over a liter of water and I add about that much in every week or so (this is a very approximate estimation). Should I be giving him extra water with the syringe? It makes me feel better if I do, but I don't know how much I should be giving him. I'm assuming the more the better.

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Water drinking will be different for every cat. Some are good drinkers and can drink a fair mount, while others not so much. My cats have always been good drinkers, drinking a little every day. If you are adding water to the wet food and he is drinking some water from the fountain each day, this should make a good difference that you shouldn't need to syringe feed water, but use your own judgement here.
That sounds like a good plan. Yes, prescription foods generally do not contain adequate and appropriate amounts of protein, and the S/O in particular contains things like corn and corn gluten which on the one hand can be considered acidifying ingredients which help in the process of dissolving the crystals, but are not a good source of nutrition and can cause weight gain. I had my male cat Max on an RC food for constipation at one time, and he got very heavy and was often bloated.

What your kitty is doing sounds pretty much just like what Quincy was doing as he was getting better after his last blockage.  The first couple of days he peed very little (but anything is better than none at all!) and gradually his clumps became more and more normal.  Now he pees like a champ, LOL.  Anyway, definitely I think a great sign for your boy!  Congrats!

I also thought about giving him water via syringe for a while, but ended up just making "soup" out of his canned food for every meal.  I'm very lucky in that he loves food and is not in any way finicky. 

If your kitty will tolerate being taken off of the prescription food, I agree that would be great for him.  Unfortunately Quincy had blockages or near blockages on every other food he was on (only canned foods, including grain free Wellness chicken and turkey; Holistic Select duck, lamb, and chicken; and at least a couple of other premium natural brands).  He got to the point where I couldn't keep taking chances with his health trying more brands.  I hate feeding him Hills, but the fact is that he doesn't block on it, so it is what it is I guess.

Thanks everyone for the replies!

Mr. Butters seems to be all better. Right after I posted my last post, he urinated again and has been urinating regularly since. The size of his urine is about two golf balls, which is twice his typical size, but because he is able to urinate as soon as he squats, covers it up when he's done, and is in the litter box for no longer than necessary (no straining, no squatting for a long time), I assume it's because we have switched him to an all wet food+mixed with water diet so his liquid consumption has gone up.

I have not called the vet for a urinalays yet because the situation is no longer dire, but I will.

Thanks again for everything, you guys have really helped me deal with the mental stress! 

PS, the cat in my photo is Mr. Butters, for those who are curious

Aw, another Tuxie. He's very handsome. Glad to read that Mr Butters is doing well.