Urinary Tract Diets

My female, Sydney, has recently been diagnosed (through ultrasound and urinalysis) with calcium oxalate stones in her bladder. My vets first suggestion was to try a prescription diet. I have read that these diets can take months to work, and sometimes never do. On the other hand, having the stones removed almost immediately relieves symptoms. So, should I go ahead with the surgery and forego the food for a quick but more invasive recovery, or should I try the food out? My biggest fear is that she will end up blocked and we all know that can be fatal. Does anyone have experience or advice?

Thanks for posting the site Helen.

Candy,

Perhaps you can also approach this from another angle as well and increase the water intake of your cat. Provide more than one source of water for Syd, including a fountain because cats are curious about running water and tend to drink more. Use distilled water only to prevent introducing any more minerals into Syd's system than normal. Set out bowls of chicken broth, and beef broth as well as add water to canned and dry food that you give Syd.

Candy I also merged your threads together for continuity.

I have a persian stud who developed struvite crystals. Fortunately I picked it up really quickly and no damage was done. The vet put him onto Hills cd for a month and I was then advised by the vet for him to stay on Hills cds thereafter. He responded well and never had a problem again. I was concerned about the high acid affecting his fertility and recently heard about the Royal Canin Vet Prescription Urinary food. This prevents and treats BOTH types of crystals, the struvite and oxylate. My boy seems fine on it and he loves the taste. I'm very happy with the food and am not sure if I am imagining it, but his coat seems better since the change to Royal Canin.

Perhaps you can also approach this from another angle as well and increase the water intake of your cat. Provide more than one source of water for Syd, including a fountain because cats are curious about running water and tend to drink more. Use distilled water only to prevent introducing any more minerals into Syd's system than normal. Set out bowls of chicken broth, and beef broth as well as add water to canned and dry food that you give Syd.

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Hehe, great minds think alike. Syd has three normal water bowls, and a Drinkwell Pet fountain (great investment). Since being diagnosed, we have switched to distilled water. For about a year now, she has been getting a couple tablspoons of wet food mixed with 1/4-1/2 cup of water and we have recently added the chicken broth method on top of that. My vet was worried that there might be propylene glycol in the wet food so we took her off after we found out she was slightly anemic and substituted the chicken broth. I am going to take the food we feed into him and ask if it's okay to keep feeding.

She seems to be relatively unaffected by the stones, she's eating, pooping, and playing just as hard. It's only her urination that seems to be affected. I am really leaning towards removing them...but is it too dangerous?

I can't answer that one Candy, because there are so many factors that weigh into it. The competency of your vet, what anesthesia they use, the health of your cat, the age? All that factors into deciding a surgery. Just like people, there are high risk factors anytime you are put under. I would just talk to your vet and make an informed decision. It also depends on the level of pain your cat is in now, and what level she will be in come the future. All those things weigh into the issue at hand, and no one can guide you better than your vet.

True hissy. Thanks. I am going to talk to my vet on Monday and see what he has to say. I guess I just want to make her better ASAP.

When our Ashely had crystals we didn't find them until they had to be surgically removed (and that was very painful for the cat and our wallet). He was put on Hills S/D wet and dry for 1 month then on R/D wet and dry for maintence. It may not have been the best, but it kept him alive and healthy for the last 2yrs of his life.

As for the IVD, we fed that to our dog Sampson for heart problems. He didn't like the Hills prescription foods very much and, at 17yrs of age, we were happy to try anything for him. He liked the flavor better and ate it well. It kept him going strong until 18.

Thanks Aimee. How long was Ashley sore for? I am really considering it for Syd if it isn't too dangerous. I don't want her suffering for months while we wait to see if the food is going to help.

Can you comment on the ingedients in IVD? I can't find the information anywhere.

It looks like IVD is out as we can't get it here. Are there any other brands that make veterinary diets? So far I have,
Walthams
Eukanuba
Purina
Hill's
IVD

Well, Ashely's surgery was emergency (as in he was acting fine one day, the next he was crying and obviously in pain), so I don't know if it would be the same if he had been caught ealier. Ashely spent 1 night at the ER vet where he had the surgery and spent 3 additional days at our regular vet where he was on IV fluids & had a catheter (sp?) in addition to pain killers. This was a few years ago so I don't remember the specifics, but he was on strict rest for 2 weeks following the operation. After a few days he was feeling much better and we had a hard time keeping him calm, but I would think it would depend on the cat. Talk to your vet about the severity of the crystals and what they recommend. I hope your kitty is ok soon.

IVD is a good food, I don't know if the ingredients are anywhere online yet, but you could e-mail the company and ask:

http://www.vetshow.com/exhibit/ivd/

Or, if you don't mind waiting, this site puts out pet food reviews and IVD is on their soon to come list:

http://www.greatgoldens.com/catcomp.htm

We found out that the crystals were struvite, not oxalate as we were told. We decided to go with Medi-Cal dissolution to dissolve the stones and hopefully I can switch her to Wysong Uretic once they are gone. We decided to try the food because struvite are much easier to dissolve and have a much higher success rate. So far she likes the food.

Originally posted by Candy
We found out that the crystals were struvite, not oxalate as we were told. So far she likes the food.

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Glad to hear that the crystals were struvite (more food options) and that she likes the food. Hopefully, she will continue to like the food and not reject it in the near future! If this was the situation with Nakita, I almost can guarantee that she would reject the food after the first or second month.

Cats can be so picky!