7 month neutered male with struvite crystals

My poor baby has crystals in his urine and I'm waiting to hear back on the vet about food and water options. I was reading up on how prescription food is super expensive and doesn't have the best ingredients, and I don't want him to be on that for life. I've been feeding him mostly Royal Canin dry, and will definitely be switching to wet food now. Does anyone else have any suggestions? He's so young and he's always drank a lot of water and had giant duck egg sized pee clumps multiple times a day, we didn't think this would happen so early

I would follow your vets advice and give him the prescription WET food just to get him back on track and definitely find a few high quality (high protein, low carb) canned food to feed in rotation for life.

I feed raw now but I understand that's not for everyone. When I did feed canned, I fed Wellness Core and Merrick Grain free formulas and rotated them. If cost is an issue, I've heard that Fancy Feast CLASSICS is fine to feed. It must be the pate style, not chunks or flakes or anything with gravy.

I know that SOME cats are prone to crystals and might have them no matter what you feed but I believe that is very rare and most of the time cats with a history of crystals can live normal, happy lives if they kick the dry food and eat a wet diet high in protein and low in carbs.

Good for you for doing research and wanting the best for your kitty! I wish you the best of luck

RX foods are really, really crappy and if any of my male cats had urinary issues I would not feed it. I would get him on high quality wet food at a minimum with extra water mixed in and NO kibble. If you can I would transition him to either raw or home-cooked. Food fur life is a great option you can use it with raw or homecooked and it's really well liked by most cats. I would def invest in a water fountain as well if you don't already have one.

You should also look into giving him D-mannose. 

http://healthypets.mercola.com/site.../prevent-urinary-tract-infection-in-cats.aspx

http://www.foodfurlife.com/

I would agree that you should probably start with all canned food diet. Begin with the prescription food then transfer to something that is much better quality once he is stable.

NewYork1303 said:

I would agree that you should probably start with all canned food diet. Begin with the prescription food then transfer to something that is much better quality once he is stable.

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This is what we did for our cat Pushy. He had recurring crystals, and it took about a year or so of the prescription wet to get him sorted. Then we switched to brands that were cheaper or had ingredients we were happier with. The important thing for him is to have a mostly wet diet, with water added in so he's getting a lot of moisture. But I do think it's important to try the Rx diet consistently for enough time to let it work.

Hi, hope your kitten is doing well. I also agree, you need to get him on high quality canned food. My youngest male had a blockage with a hospital stay when he was two. He was on the Urinary S/O for a while, a lot longer than he should have been, but the vets didn't want to talk about switching from that crappy food, so I finally did it myself, even though I was nervous to do it. 

It's been several years now and he is fine and hasn't had any more problems, thankfully. My two main sources of help were Dr. Lisa Pierson and her website Catinfo and Dr. Elizabeth M. Hodgkins and her book Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life. She writes that she puts most, if not all, of her patients with crystals on canned food. 

I first started giving him Fancy Feast Chicken Pate, however, I do not recommend feeding any food made by Purina, as all 6 of my cats began getting ill and REFUSED to eat the Friskies I had been giving them to try and save some money last October. I just don't trust Purina any more as I found tons of other people online whose pets had also gotten ill, some much worse than mine.

Right now, he mostly eats Triumph and Canidae (All Life Stages green has the most meat). I buy the large 13 oz cans online from Chewy, they come in a pack of 12-they have the BEST prices most of the time and the food comes in two days. I have also fed Natural Balance and Wellness canned. Also, it is recommended that cats with a history of crystals don't consume high amounts of fish.

I hope he never gets a blockage

Hi everyone, thank you for all the replies! For now, I decided to not go on the prescription diet and focus on getting him to get enough water in his system as that will be the long term solution anyways. We are going to retest him in a month, and if he still has crystals then I will definitely do the Rx diet. He's on an all wet diet now, rotating between Purina Pro Plan Urinary Tract, Royal Canin kitten, and the foods from Catinfo.org that have high protein, low carb, and low phosphorus (below or around 200). I also mix in ~1/4cup warm water with half a 3oz can of food or less every time I give it to him so he drinks throughout the day and he has to drink all the water to get at the food. He's been peeing 2-3x more now, pooping less (might be that he's eating less as wet food is more filling), and stopped meowing like crazy every time he had to use the litter box. So all in all, seems to be an improvement!!

Note though: He's stopped drinking plain water (we leave like 3-4 water bowls in various sizes we change daily), but since he's peeing a lot is it because he's getting enough water with his food "soup" that he doesn't need to? Otherwise I will try putting plain chicken broth or tuna juice in his water to entice him to drink more.

I'm not ready for the switch to all raw as we are just switching to wet food, but I might down the road!

No need to worry about him drinking water from a bowl. He is getting plenty of water from his food now which is exactly the way his body was designed to do...you probably don't even need to add THAT much extra to his food haha

Just curious, is he eating at least 1 5.5oz can a day?

Abby2932 said:

No need to worry about him drinking water from a bowl. He is getting plenty of water from his food now which is exactly the way his body was designed to do...you probably don't even need to add THAT much extra to his food haha

Just curious, is he eating at least 1 5.5oz can a day?

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He's eating at least 3oz a day, I'm still working on him eating enough wet food. Some days he'll eat 2 small cans, some days he'll only get through 1.5, but I've been adding freeze dried chicken to his 'soup' to make it more appealing and add some extra protein. He lets us know when he's hungry by meowing near the counter, so I've been feeding him when he does that outside feeding times. Do you have any tips for getting him to eat more wet? On days he hasn't been eating as much we put out a 1/4 cup of dry food over night and then take away what's left in the morning, but I'd like to eventually stop doing this. 

I think you're adding so much water that he's getting full when he eats his wet meals. When my adult cats were on a canned diet, they each ate one 5.5oz can a day. I would assume a 7 month old kitten would would be eating at least that amount, if not more, split up into 3 feedings a day. 

If I were in your situation, I would offer him one 3oz can in the morning, afternoon and evening. (Or once right when you wake up, once when you get home from school/work and once when you go to bed). To total 9oz for each day. I would add a tablespoon or two of water to each meal. I know you're adding so much because of the crystal incidence but it really isn't necessary to add that much when you're feeding wet. The wet food is already approximately 70% water. You don't need it to be soupy.

I would also stop offering the dry food altogether unless he is absolutely not eating enough calories. But I have a feeling that if you offered the 3 meals a day of wet, he would get used to the new schedule. Then, once he's about a year old or a year and a half, you can reduce his meals to 2 feedings a day. Breakfast and dinner. 

WafflesNomNom said:

Note though: He's stopped drinking plain water (we leave like 3-4 water bowls in various sizes we change daily), but since he's peeing a lot is it because he's getting enough water with his food "soup" that he doesn't need to? Otherwise I will try putting plain chicken broth or tuna juice in his water to entice him to drink more.

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My Pushy boy gets water added to his wet food and he hardly ever drinks water from the bowl. His brother does though, and he eats a lot of dry. So I'd agree that your boy is getting enough water in his food now.

Thanks everyone! He's started to eat more wet food now. I've reduced the amount of water I add and I think he's understanding he's not getting his dry food any more He ate 2 3oz cans yesterday and he's getting a 5oz can with some more today. Watching him eat is so cute lol :3