If I were you I would either search the board for "crystals" or post a question in the Health & Nutrition Forum about it. Lots of people are dealing with it and it always helps to get some support!Originally Posted by ladycat
I managed to get Nuit bloody urine into the vet today, and she has crystals. Now she has to go on another medication on top of it. there were other things too that are not coming to mind. Appears to me somewhat serious though but manageable. I'm really worried about her now
the closest i can find to a name on the bottle looks like metacam susp. but that could just be related to the dose. she's on antibiotics as well and I did do a diet change all ready the Hill's SD one. She doesn't seem to peeing any blood today (maybe a tiny in the morning). Trying to do the best I can for the girl.Originally Posted by LDG
Is the medication she's on called Albeta?
That is a urine acidifier. There are two types of crystals: Struvite crystals and Calcium oxalate crystals. Struvite crystals can be dissolved with an acidifier, and calcium oxalate crystals cannot.Our kitties had to be cathertized and flushed - one of them twice, the other ended up having to have surgery to remove crystals that had become embedded in his bladder wall.
Both can be controlled by special diets. Talk over your options with the Vet. Vets often prescribe a Science Diet something - I don't remember, but I think it was C/D for the Struvite crysals. I know it's X/D for the calcium oxalate crystals. Doc said Science diet is combining the 2 now. But Royal Canine makes a high quality "urinary tract health" formula, and it (usually) can be safely used for kitties with Struvite crystals (not calcim oxalate though).
Don't forget - where she peed on your bed you MUST use an enzyme cleaner to treat it. Put enzyme cleaner in the wash where you would add fabric softener and bleach. And TOTALLY soak the mattress - and I mean SOAK IT. It's got to get everywhere the pee was and DOWN into it. It will take days to dry - but just lay towels over the wet spot and swap them out every morning when you get out of bed. It is the only way to totally remove the smells, even for kitty's nose.It will help discourage her from using the same place as a bathroom again. And until the crystals are under control, she may still have accidents outside the box (cats sometimes come to associate the box with the pain, and then stop using the box). So make sure you have enzyme cleaner handy if this happens. And if it does, get new boxes, different litter, and put them in different - but convenient - locations. And any time you see her using a litter box, praiser her to high heaven. Cats respond really well to positive reinforcement.
Laurie
P.S. Congrats on getting her to lose weight!
Sorry to hijack the thread a little...but I have a question for Laurie. Do you have any links to any info about "Albeta"? I think one of your old posts came up when I was researching acidifiers awhile back...and so I googled and googled Albeta and couldn't find anything
meant to say if I've got tooOriginally Posted by ladycat
Also I had tried the royal canin urinary one but she really didn't like it..she just wouldn't eat it. thankfully the vet said I can bring that other bag back even though it was open which I thought was really nice. After all we did just spend $400 on her! Not that I won't spend more if I've got it!
