Jupiter has crystals

i took a sample of jupiter's urine in for testing yesterday and it turns out he has crystals in his bladder.

he's only 8 months old

the vet says this is common in over weight male, neutered cats but Jupiter is big, not overweight, and if he is overweight its really not by much. you can still feel his spine when you stroke him and he doesnt have a belly.

has anyone elses cat had crystals? and were they alright?

i'm not too sure, have to go and speak th the vet tomorrow. she says it can be treated by a three months on a special diet (one of the science diet formulas)

she said as we caught it early he should be fine in time. we took him to the vets within two days of him starting to act funny.

I'm going through this now with Polly (also 8 months old). I'm transitioning her over to prescription diet s/d and then when the crystals are gone, she will eat c/d.

Hope everything goes well for little Jupiter. Polly send purrs and head bumps his way.

Nicky, I hadn't realised that you had the results already!

I'm sure that Ju will be just fine, once he's on the special diet! I don't know much about Crystals, but I'm sure that you vet will be able to get Ju back to full health in no time at all!

Sending lots of Speedy Health }}}VIBES{{{ Jupiter's way!

Poor Jupiter Sending him (((((healing vibes))))) Nicky, the poor baby

Poor baby ... hope he gets well soon

thanks everyone

the thing is, he seems fine now. he's using the litter tray ok, has stopped growling when he pee's etc.. so think he's on the mend.

tomorrow we are starting him on the new diet which he wont be happy about as he likes being free fed.

i'll keep you all posted.

Feed him as much wet food as your can, and ALWAYS feed him a perscription diet! There are other brands out there besides Hills so if he doesn't like it, ask your vet if you can try something else. I personally like Medi-Cal and Royal Canin. He can still be free fed as long as the food you leave out is the perscription food. Of course leaving wet food out isn't a good idea.

unfortunatly if i free feed him my other cat will get the food too

i'm sure he'll like the hills, he loves his food.

i'm lucky he isnt a fussy eater, the only thing he doesnt like is cat treats. we havent found anything to treat him with yet!

I'm so pleased to hear that Jupiter's on the mend, Nicky!

I'm sure he'll love his special diet - he'll feel so privileged to have special food!

Good Luck with it though!

Polly seems to love her s/d. Today I've mixed 1/4 old food with 3/4 prescription food. I wonder if they try to make the prescription food taste extra yummy to make sure they'll eat it.

Pushy has a chronic crystal problem now. He's been on 2 courses of dfferent antibiotics, and is on the Hill's c/d diet. My vet said I should expect him to be on this diet for the rest of his life. Both cats get it because Wiggies loves it, and wouldn't eat the expensive allergy food I bought for him. I'm sure there won't be any issues about Jupiter not liking the food! My vet said the same as Dr Doolittle - feed as much wet as you can. The extra moisture is helpful for them.

thank you so much for all your replies, you dont know how much it means to me

i've been feeling guilty like its something i've done that made Jupiter get sick so its nice to know i'm not alone.

today was the first day feeding him his new food and he loves it!

i am going to have to get him a collar saying 'do not feed' as i'm sure someone else is feeding him as there is no other explanation as to why he's so fat. i'm pretty sure he suplments his diet with mice and bugs too.

only problem i'm having is figuring out when to feed him. he was used to being free fed so not sure when to give him and Mav their food.

i'm facing same situation. i just got a call from the vet today saying that Nana has a few crystals in her urine, and she need to go on prescription diets.

She's only 8 months old, spayed , and she's tiny, only 5lb.

i asked the vet if it's a disease she got or she's born like that (i'm first time owner and know nohting about crystals), he said it's about the way she proceess food that makes her have crystals. he said about 2-3% of cats have this problem. i'm still not sure what exactly it is, and i'm so worried. the vet says she had the "good crystals" and it's preventable, i've no idea what that means but he says it's better to put her on prescription diet forever.

oh my god i'm so worried now. i'm going to talk to the vet after work today...

Nana seems perfectly healthy, she's eating, drinking, doesn't not have any litter box problem. actually i brought her to the vet for vaccination last saturday and i mentioned to the vet that she goes peeing a lot, average 3-5 times a day, i asked if it was too much. He check the concentration of the urine and siad it's normal, but he'd still send in some sample to the lab to make sure. and today he calls me about the crystals...

is there any other premium brands outthere that is good for cats that ahve crystals? i don't want Nana to go on Hill's prescription diet cuz i don't want her to have by-product meal.

*sigh*
i hope Jupiter gets well soon and so as Nana

my heart really goes out to you hareting

i feel so guilty like its something i've done.

the vet said that its common in overweight cats and that Jupiter weighed 5.5kg and should weigh 5kg. i found out thats only 1lb and he lost that the next day

i'm going to do some research into home-made or raw diets after jupiters of the prescription diet as i think it'll be far healthier in the long run.

i really hope Nana gets better soon.

One of my fosters has struvite crystals - one vet prescribed dry Hills c/d, the other vet said that about 90% of cats have crystals and that they are no longer an issue and that he should have wet food only, and no stress. Every other person I know who has a cat with crystals (and I am a member of more than one cat forum, and there are peopel on both) have been told to keep them on the prescription food, so I really don't know what is best!! And although he fits the profile for cystitis, the vet now says it could be stress related!!

Captain also had crystals... we had him on the special diet for a long time and all my cats love it. One thing to think about with that food is they should only be fed a limited amount because it is much fattier than regular cat food. However, my vet said using a food such as Complete Care Nutro can help cats with crystals if they were on a poorer quality food when they had the problem in the first place. Nutro also has the added benefit of being anti-allergenic for my Kanoe.

I see that you said you took in a sample...our vet refuses to accept a diagnosis of crystals unless it's taken directly from the bladder or free catch into a sterile container. Urine starts to form it's own crystals soon after sitting for a while. I would recommend you ask your vet to recheck the urine with a cystocentesis to make sure it wasn't from your container or sitting too long. Just a thought, but he's only 8 months old and that's pretty young to have to be on special food for this problem.

Originally Posted by menagerie mama

I see that you said you took in a sample...our vet refuses to accept a diagnosis of crystals unless it's taken directly from the bladder or free catch into a sterile container. Urine starts to form it's own crystals soon after sitting for a while. I would recommend you ask your vet to recheck the urine with a cystocentesis to make sure it wasn't from your container or sitting too long. Just a thought, but he's only 8 months old and that's pretty young to have to be on special food for this problem.

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taken directly from the bladder, does it mean inserting a needle and take the sample? my vet took Nana's sample with his bare hands, he pressed somewhere on Nana's tummy and then she urinated. Is this method a good method for checking crystals? My vet wants Nana to go on prescription diet c/d FOREVER, which really sounds horrible to me, she's only 8 months now. I'll seek a second opinion from another vet later this month or early next month, please advise on the method, so i could specifically asked the vet to take the sample in the proper way.