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My baby boy became sick a few days ago. I noticed there was blood in his urine as he urinated outside the litter box. I took him to hospital to be checked. The doc said he wasn't blocked and they had to do a UA to see what was going on. The results were crystals in the urine was given a special diet by Science Diet S/D - He's been eatting that just fine we have both the canned and dry. My room-mate been adding water to the canned food as he won't really drink water on his own. We tried giving water in a syringe is there anything else we could try to get him to drink? Or just keep adding water to his canned food?

The vet said we caught this soon enough he's still playful running around and being a goof-ball. We take the lazer for him to chase around in hopes that that will poop him out and he will want drink but nada. He only goes for the canned food thats watered down. Any suggestions much appreciated? Thx

Some cats like to drink from water fountains, such as Drinkwell, Freshflow, Catit, etc. The flow of water draws them to the fountain.

I'm so glad you caught this early on. Please let us know how he is doing!

Glad your baby boy is recovering and yes - my Loki loves the petmate waterfountain - he drinks a lot more since the water circulates and dosen't become stale..

I would just continue adding the extra water, you can try a water fountain but cats notoriously don't drink a whole lot of water. My friends dog has had to have crystals removed several times, so he's now on u/d canned and they just wter it down.

You can also try providing water in different types of containers, like ceramic bowls, taller glasses, etc. Cats often like to drink from strange places.

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

You can also try providing water in different types of containers, like ceramic bowls, taller glasses, etc. Cats often like to drink from strange places.

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What a great idea!

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

You can also try providing water in different types of containers, like ceramic bowls, taller glasses, etc. Cats often like to drink from strange places.

Click to expand...

That's a very good point. I knew a cat once that would only drink her water if it was in a bowl on a table, or somewhere other than on the floor. She refused to drink it otherwise. I've also known kitties that wouldn't drink except from a glass. Some will only drink from pet fountains. Really depends on the kitty.

So, try different levels at which to put the water, too. Could also be a solution.

Thats so true, all 5 of my cats will not drink any water unless its in a glass on top of a table .....so I keep it on my night stand. Also, my cats drink much more water if its bottled distilled water straight from the fridge.

Originally Posted by Pami

Thats so true, all 5 of my cats will not drink any water unless its in a glass on top of a table .....so I keep it on my night stand. Also, my cats drink much more water if its bottled distilled water straight from the fridge.

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Liberty is about the same way. She will only drink distilled water from a clear plastic drinking glass. She prefers it to be on the end table in the living room (were she always has water). However, sometimes she drinks it from the glass (sitting in a dish) next to her food bowl. I get some interesting comments about her water drinking habits. I think it is more important they drink water then were it comes from. -kd

Thx for all the replies - Baby boy is still not drinking from the water dish. I moved it to a different location because I read somewhere that cats don't like there water near there food. We have continued watering down the canned food in meantime. It's only way he will drink. I'm going to see about getting one of those drinking fountains that was mentioned. Other than than the drinking issue he seems to be fine -- running around playing - being mr loverman purring to get his tummy rubbed hehe He's in great spirits and full of spunk

Also since he was urinating outside the box when all this started- we bought new litter boxes and a different kind of litter - the vet said he could be assocating the pain of the crystals with old litter box so try creating a whole new experience for him. He's been doing fine with new box. No accidents outside the box that I can note.

What has me scared is not even a yr ago we had to put down one of our kitties because she had CRF. She all of a sudden became lethargic - took her into vet they said it was a bladder infection. Had her on antibotics but she wasn't eatting or drinking. We were feeding her with syringe -- she would not take it or she would end up vomitting it up. We would have to take her to litter box because she couldn't do it on her own.. They had to give her sub q's to keep her hydrated - even with that she was still out of it and I had to bring her into a hospital where the could care for her around the clock. Upon further testing they noted she had a stone blocking her uthera (spelling) I was told that it could be corrected with surgery. Two surgeons examed her. They both had different outcomes -- one was saying she would be fine -- other said she prolly would not make it as there was damage to both kidneys and she would require ICU care for a long time. Also they ultra sound they did showed both kidneys apearred to be smaller in size than what they should of been for her age (4 yrs) have been. I was torn between having the surgery or putting her down -- she was losing weight at alarming rate and with her not eatting that causes for issues with her liver - she also had developed sores in her mouth. Could I give her the care she needed afterwards... The descision that we had to make wasn't easy - we had her put down. I feel bad everyday for it but I know we tried everything we possible could. Now with Baby boy having having issues with his kidney -- the crystals are making me scared. I don't want to go through what we did before. On his discharge papers it says he has cystitis with struvite crystals and that he is risk for uretharal obstruction due to crystals in his urine

I am glad we did catch this in the beginning. I just really hope the new diet helps clear these crystals up.

One thing I would do is cut out all dry food. If he's getting all his calories from canned food, he'll automatically be getting quite a bit of of water. If he'll eat canned food with water added, that's even better.

Cats are biologically designed to have a very low thirst drive, so getting them to drink water can be tricky. A cat fountain may be a good investment. Some cats like to drink from a running faucet, so leaving a faucet running with a very slow stream might not be a bad idea. Also, have a variety of water dishes in a bunch of places in the house. In general, cats prefer to have thier food and water in different places.

One thing you can ask your vet to do is to perform a test called a urine specific gravity test on your cat's urine. It is a very simple and inexpensive test (shouldn't cost more than $25) and it will tell you how concentrated his urine is. Assuming that his kidneys are functioning normally, the vet can tell how well hydrated he is by how concentrated his urine is. If his USG is good, then he is getting enough water.

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

You can also try providing water in different types of containers, like ceramic bowls, taller glasses, etc. Cats often like to drink from strange places.

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also my girls find my cup of h2o anywhere it is ..

My cats always get Britta water from the fridge and it's fresh about twice a day. They will only drink it from a ceramic dish. Must be the plastic or metal taste that turns them off other dishes. They will also not drink it from the 2 sided dishes, it must be a seperate dish. They always slide it around first before drinking. Neither one will touch the water if there is anything else in it like a piece of food or fuzz. Some cats are really picky I guess so experiment until you find something that works for you.

I've wanted to try a cat fountain but my one cat loves water and I have a feeling she would just play in it all day.

Well I got the water fountain earlier today while out at Petco. The boys don't know what to do with it just yet. They look at me like what the heck is this and it has my water in it hehe. I changed my other cats diet over to Nutro to make sure none of this happens to him. Meantime baby boy is doing good with his s/d canned food with extra water. I go back to the vet in 2 weeks for them to do a UA hopefully the crystals are dissolved by then.

My thoughts and prayers will be with ya, Hun! Keep us updated on your baby boy, ok?

Originally Posted by boyaka

Well I got the water fountain earlier today while out at Petco. The boys don't know what to do with it just yet. They look at me like what the heck is this and it has my water in it hehe. I changed my other cats diet over to Nutro to make sure none of this happens to him. Meantime baby boy is doing good with his s/d canned food with extra water. I go back to the vet in 2 weeks for them to do a UA hopefully the crystals are dissolved by then.

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The switch will likely help but remember just like in us ... One food doesnt cure all or keep all the drs away...

I remembered today how I got Liberty to start drinking water when I adopted her. The best I can tell at the time she was severely dehydrated. I had her for 20 hours before she used the litterbox the first time . I added a pinch of salt to her water. It could have even been 1/16 of a teaspoon. Cats love salt and it only took me adding salt one time to get her drinking. She has been the best water drinker ever since . -kd