Urinary Crystals

Hi everyone,
My kitty Loki has what the vets seem to think is idopathic cystitis. Last time he went in, just about two weeks ago, they took a urinary sample and ran some tests. They came back taking us he had crystals and no bacterial infection. He was not prescribed any meds but he is now on Royal Canine's Medi-cal urinary s/o canned food as well as half a cup of the same but in dry format throughout the day.
He was doing well up until the day before yesterday when his urine became bloody again (caused by the crystals) I spoke to the vet and he told me to keep him on the food for another week or two. The next day the blood in his urine was gone. My question is; does anyone know how quickly urinary crystals come and go? The plan is to put him on an unmedicated soft food once he is rid of his crystals while still giving him the prescription dry food. Is it worth buying more of the prescription wet food? Does anyone have any experience with a cat with urinary cystitis? Thanks guys!

Follow your vets advice and keep him on the food. It helps change the PH of the urine so no more crystals form. Did the vet tell you which kind of crystals your cat has? There are 2 kinds,calcium oxolate and struvite. Struvite is the kind my cat,Spencer, awhile ago. He was on the vet prescribed diet for awhile. Most vets want them on the diet for life- at least that has been my experience.

They are struvite crystals. I'm not huge fan of vet foods as I prefer to go a more natural route with my cats (no animal byproducts, grain meals etc) but obviously I understand its essential for his treatment, I would just like to keep him on it for as short a time as possible. There's a lot of crap in that food and I've read that grains raise alkaline levels in cat urine.

Also the vet approved his regular diet once his crystals clear up.

Good to hear that the vet approved him going back to a regular diet! I think you are on the right track. I switched Spencer to a 95% meat food when the crystals cleared and he's been fine since. I won't say what I was feeding him before other than it was a diet supposedly formulated for his breed. I have spoken since with other breeders who had issues with it also.

If that's a photo of him there, he is gorgeous! What breed is he? Did he only have the one run in with the crystals?

Hi there! I'm a new member but I have experience with struvite crystals.

My male cat, Moses, developed crystals when he was 3 while eating a dry food diet only. After many vet trips and meds the crystals always came back.

Then he developed a complete blockage on Christmas Eve. Scary!! Because this was back in 2003 I was not aware of emergency vets so I contacted a holistic vet online. Wow, the information he gave me was life saving! I unblocked him and started giving him homeopathic remedies. I also got him off dry food and fed a holistic canned diet mixed with water to encourage him to drink.

The dry food made him dehydrated and was the cause of his problem. He is 15 now and hasn't had a problem since.

Vet prescribed dry food is supposed to be temporary. A good, grain free, low carb wet food, along with several water bowls around the house will encourage your kitty to drink more and keep crystals at bay.

Hope this helps!

Also, I used Cantharis to relieve inflammation after unblocking him. It's a homeopathic remedy you can get at health food stores.

My cat Angel had sturvite crystals 2xs in 2012. I also tried to keep him off the Rx food because of all the junk in them, but utimatly, I had to put him on Rx food. My vet looked at 3 formulas they had, & she said the Purina S.O. had the least bad stuff. (because she knew how I felt about it),  He was on that for a year. (wet of course).  I then found Daves Restricted Diet that was formulated fro urinary issues. It was great!  Here's the link if you want to check it out. We have a natural pet food store here, & that's where I found it. I took him in for a urinalysis after being on it for 2 months, to check things out, & everything came back good!  

Even though I hated the Rx food, he was better just a couple of weeks after being on it, & I was so mad at myself, for not doing it earlier. He could have felt better sooner. I kept him on it for a year, just to be on the safe side after going through it twice. I wanted his pH to get back to where it should be & stay there. 

Good luck with your baby! 

http://www.chewy.com/cat/daves-pet-food-restricted-diet/dp/101617

Thanks for your responses guys! This is the second time he's had issues but we are in a different province than the last time so obviously a different vet. The first time the put him onthe same we food and when he went back for another urinalisis his crystals had cleared up and his PH levels were normal and they told us via issues had been due to stress and they put him on a dey food my medical called calm. (Looking back this is pretty weird since he has a history of urinary problems, dry food diet really?!) After a few month on this silly overpriced kibble I took the ingredients to a nutritionalist who told me he didn't see anything that stood out as a calming ingredient amongst all the garbage they put in there and recommend a holistic dry food (at this point I still wasn't aware that his problem was caused by dry food because that's what the vet had told me to put him on) so we stuck with that until we moved. Unfortunately I think the plane ride and the new house was just too much for him and he started to have problems again. Finally we have a clear diagnosis this time and once he's off the vet food (except for the urinary dry food) I'm leaning towards "Oven Baked wet food" and I'm thinking about buying him a cat fountain.

liabee said:

If that's a photo of him there, he is gorgeous! What breed is he? Did he only have the one run in with the crystals?

Click to expand...

No, the cat in my avatars is Spencer's grandson,Jack. He is a Persian.

I've dealt with this with my cat Rocky also. After a lot of research, multiple vet visits & thousands of dollars, I finally found a vet with knowledge on the subject. She explained to me that the most important thing with cystitis & blockages is wet food. Dry food, Rx or regular, is to be avoided if at all possible. The Rx food does help prevent crystal formation, but it does not provide enough moisture. Cats get their water from their food & don't drink enough water to make up for it. Cats need about 70% water from food & dry food has about 5-10%. Wet food has 70%+, so they get enough water if they eat wet only. She told me this, but this article also confirms that: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake

So my vet told me, he has to eat only wet. Although she prefers it be Rx, it could be any brand. I feed him 1/2 Hills C/D stew formula & half Weruva. No dry food, not even the Rx. I tried to look for foods that mimic the nutritional analysis. The 2nd most impt thing is stress. Minimizing stress, using calming sprays (Feliway) and giving extra play time & attention. I hope your little one feels better soon! 

Another thing to try is mixing cosequin in his wet food. It helps strengthen the bladder lining and prevents future flare ups of cystitis.