The FLUTD merry-go-round

I thought I would post here just because it can't hurt and my cat is running out of lives.

I have a 10 year old Siamese/Tabby cross, neutered male cat that has had urinary tract issues for almost two years now. For the first 7 years or so he was fed raw food. At some point we transitioned to dry food (Blue Buffalo). For the last 6 months or more it's been strictly Royal Canin SO, a combo of wet and dry. Water is always added to the wet food.

In the last 24 months, he's been to the vet probably 8-10 times. We've had blood tests and urine cultures. There's never bacteria, and blood tests are clean. There were crystals in one of the first UTI occurrences but not since. He has been on and off amitriptyline, he's on cosequin now, he has had both clamavox and another type of antibiotic. I suspect his issues are stress related but I find that a little shocking because our home is about as stress free as it gets. He's been in the same house since he was 6 months old, we rarely have people over. We take few vacations. We spend time with him often. The cats typically sleep with us unless they become annoying and have to be locked in the basement.

The pattern has been that he goes to the vet and gets antibiotics, cosequin, Rx food, whatever is recommended at the time and by the time the antibiotic has run its course the problem is gone. Then 3-4 months later we do this all over again. We know there is a problem when he starts marking things. In the past it was always a specific couple objects, but the last few months it's been completely random. It's incredibly frustrating because it rarely smells and it's always a small amount of urine so we often only find it because we see the cat sniff a wall or object and then when you get up close to it you can tell he has sprayed there.

We have not tried Feliway yet, mainly because it was so expensive at Petsmart. However I just realized over the weekend it can be had much cheaper online. Unfortunately, I cannot consider solutions that result in recurring three figure monthly bills to be viable. With the vet food and cosequin we're already into fairly expensive territory with both cats. At one point the vet had him on an Rx that was over a dollar per pill, taken daily. Thankfully that was a short term thing because I don't think it was going to fly long term.

The thought of having to put him down tears me up. My wife and I have been on that ledge only to back down with progress so many times that it has become this huge emotional rollercoaster. It's so hard to say no when it's only a couple hundred dollars (even though that hurts) and we can hope this really is the last time. However that has turned into thousands over the last two years and the toll on our wallet, and our house, can't continue forever.

You poor guys!!! I have a FLUTD kitty too. He hasn't had quite as many episodes as yours, though. The only thing that stands out to me right now is that he was fed raw food for 7 years without incident (or so it seems) and that things didn't start until after a transition to wet & dry. Was there a reason to switch off the raw? What is your vet's opinion on perhaps returning to raw since it seems from the outside that he was ok during that time? 

The reality is, food & stress are the 2 major triggers. There are several articles on here that deal with cat stressors. It can be a lot more subtle than we think. It doesn't hurt to take a look at it just in case. I also use the Feliway plug ins. They work ok for us. 

If he's been eating this same combo of food for 6+ months & no help, then I'd be thinking that this combo may not be the best for him? Can you give him only wet Rx food? There is so much research showing that the extremely low moisture content of dry food is not good for FLUTD kitties. All wet was suggested by my vet. Perhaps talk to your vet & see if another brand of Rx food might work better for him, like Hills C/D? If what you're doing right now isn't working, then something needs to change. I hope you can get some relief soon!

Here are some links:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/tips-to-increase-your-cat-s-water-intake

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/six-surefire-strategies-to-reduce-stress-in-cats

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/is-your-cat-stressed-out

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

We raw fed them for years because I read a research paper when they were young about what actually goes into by-product and meals and it was horrible. They were also overweight. 16 pounds, though they are larger cats. On the raw diet they dropped to 12 pounds and were healthy. We took them off raw because after so many years we were tired of making the food and this was after the pet food recall epidemic so better commercial foods were hitting the shelves. They put some weight back on and we tried to go back to raw but Wiley (the cat we're having problems with) was vomiting almost every day. It was really strange to see him unable to tolerate a food he ate for years. We were even using the same recipe as we had earlier.

I should have also mentioned that we've had behavioral-related marking with Wiley too. At one point we had to keep a chair covered in a plastic shower curtain because that was his favorite spot. If you got up in the morning and didn't feed them first thing, we ran the risk of him marking objects. Our cats are incredibly annoying in the morning anyway so we went out and bought an automatic feeder. They get fed dry food an hour before we get up. I know all wet would be best but removing the stress of not having to rush down to the cat food to feed them was a blessing. I think his behavioral marking has stopped so at least I have that going for me right now.

Unfortunately the household stressors problem is only going to get worse. I'm really hoping that's not what's setting him off. We have several renovation projects that need to be done this year and we're going to be moving a year or so after that.

I guess I don't understand the marking thing. Perhaps the stress causes him to want to claim territory. We has only actually gone to the bathroom outside the litter box once or twice, ever, so it's not like there's an aversion there.
 

Wiley is on the left.

I believe the urinary food has helped some but it's been so hard to keep track of everything. Did I mention the other cat has had occasional UTI problems. Turns out FLUTD tends to run in genes and they're brother/sister. At one point we were bouncing back and forth between the two at the vet. Those were fun months.

I just ordered Rescue Remedy and Feliway from Amazon.com. Fingers crossed. Solving this problem would eliminate one of the major points of stress in my life!

I can concur with it running in genes. My Rocky had his issues with crystals & 2 blockages. Then when he finally settled down, his mother started with urinary issues. Turned out she actually had stones. They didn't dissolve with food, so she had to have surgery to remove them. This was quite surprising since she's a female! Anyway, I can feel your pain. I hope things get better for you.

So we set up the webcam on the front door yesterday and caught him in the act twice this morning. Both times were right before the automatic feeder goes off at 5am. The cats had started bugging up in bad around 4am. This is making me wonder if it's a behavioral problem, not FLUTD. We have had this problem with Wiley before where he expresses his displeasure by marking something if he thinks we're ignoring him around feeding time. It went away but it will be interesting to see if the next couple nights show a pattern. I'm not sure which problem I'd rather have. I feel like with FLUTD, at least the right combos of treatment will help. And maybe that's what has happened here. He has had UTIs and maybe it's under control, but the behavioral aspect is acting up again. I don't know how to fix the behavior thing, though, aside from trying to de-stress the cat.