Second Er Visit In One Month - Urinary Issues In Male Cat

[smithre6]

Felix is my two year old, male, domestic medium hair cat that just got back from the emergency vet for the second time in a month (issues always seem to pop up on Sundays when everything else is closed). The first time, he was diagnosed with a UTI, and he completed a full round of antibiotics. The second time, Felix had a urethral blockage, crystals in his urine, and another UTI. The vet fixed him up by inserting a catheter, removing the blockage, giving him fluids, prescribing antibiotics, etc. I will continue giving him the antibiotics for the next week and then follow up with my regular vet.

By the way, Felix has never had any major health concerns before this first episode. I feed him Wegman's brand grain-free dry food as well as a quarter can of Friskies canned food every night. The dry food is turkey variety, and I try to stick with turkey and cheese canned food because my other cat had some GI issues and I tried to eliminate common sources of protein to determine if it was an intolerance.

I'm posting in the hopes of getting some support and resources about these types of urinary issues. I know it is more common in male cats, and cats are more prone to subsequent issues after the initial episode. If anyone else has these issues, how often does your cat have episodes? What have you found that helps prevent further episodes? I love Felix to death and don't want him in pain. I also don't want to have to spend another $2000 on vet bills in a one month period. Any support or suggestions are welcome! (Obviously, I will also seek the advice of my regular vet at Felix's follow up appointment in a week.)

 

[maggiedemi]

I don't think a quarter can of Friskies is enough for a male cat. I would increase it to at least half a can or more. They need the moisture. My male cat didn't do well on grain free dry food. I had to switch to Purina One Urinary dry food. If you don't want to switch dry food, I would just feed less of it, and increase the wet canned food. Let us know what happens.

 

[lalagimp]

If your cat is having urinary issues, everyone here that has had them is probably going to push for you to give him more wet food, regardless of how much water you see him drinking. Tommy religiously drinks from the water fountain and was on high quality kibble and he blocked. Then we moved him to canned, to commerical raw, and now homemade raw. We even add either water or bone broth to his raw and he STILL drinks from the water fountain religiously.
He also blocked again twice in February within 48 hours for indeterminate reasons so he got the surgery because we couldn't afford to keep unblocking him and risking his health each time he would block in case we weren't home to catch it early enough. Between the three blockages and surgery he's cost us $10,000.
I haven't had his pH tested recently but in November it was an 8 with clear struvite crystals. February it was 7 and I started adding Cranberry Relief to his food.

 

[cheeser]

Yep, just adding my voice to the chorus for wet food.

Buddy kept having episodes every three months until we eliminated all dry food (including his beloved Temptations treats), and anything that listed fish or a fish product in the ingredients (except for fish oil, which is okay for cats with urinary tract issues). And boy, did I learn that you have to be diligent about reading those labels! For example, the label might just say Chicken Feast, so you think you're buying a non-fish flavor. Then you turn the can over and read the list of ingredients, and darned if there isn't some tuna in there sometimes.

If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend that you check out the section re: urinary tract diseases at Catinfo.org. There's all sorts of helpful info there.

Good luck to you and Felix, and I hope you find the answers that will work for you guys.

 

[DreamerRose]

I'm in the chorus, too. Mingo had struvite crystals, so I decreased the kibble and feed him wet food the rest of the day. (I also got Purina One for Urinary Tract kibble.) Mingo won't drink any water except from a toilet, so I don't know how much water he gets. I mix water into his two meals of wet food in addition to whatever he gets from the toilet. (I have a nice fountain, but he won't drink from that either.) So far, we haven't had a reoccurrence of the crystals.

 

[smithre6]

Thank you for all of your suggestions, experiences, and resources!! I will definitely up his wet food intake since that's an easy change, and then I'll look into the Purina Urinary Tract kibble because it seems like a few people have had good experiences with that. I'll also keep an eye out for what's actually in the ingredients of his food because I know the flavor names can be deceiving.

However, Felix is a grazer, even with wet food. He would typically eat about 1/2 to 1/4 of his quarter can of wet food and then walk away. His brother, Poco, is a bit of a pig, so I have to make sure he doesn't steal any food. I've tried feeding them in separate rooms, but since Felix will graze they could be locked in different rooms for an hour. Sometimes, I follow Felix around with his wet food and put it in front of him again and again, which usually gets him to eat a little more. Aside from decreasing the amount of dry food he eats in the day, any suggestions for how to get him to eat more of his wet food? Also, I'm looking into a pet water fountain today, so hopefully that will be another easy change I can make.

 

[maggiedemi]

I give the wet food first, then the dry food an hour later, so they know they have to eat the wet food to get the dry food. I do have to close my female cat in the bedroom or she just grazes like your cat. At first it took an hour, then a half hour, but now she usually eats it within 15 minutes. It also helps to figure out what flavors and brands they love. Mine like Friskies, Fancy Feast, Purina One, Purina Pro Plan, and Sheba the best. They also like a few flavors of Meow Mix and Whiskas. Also experiment with different textures and see if they prefer Pate, Shreds, Grilled, etc.

 

[smithre6]

That's a really good idea to make them earn the dry food after they eat the wet food. And I'll stick with keeping him closed in a room to finish his food. Hopefully, he won't take so long after we stick with that routine for a little while. Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[smithre6]

Just wanted to give an update to everyone - I took Felix to his follow up vet appointment today, and his urinalysis looked good. There were no signs of crystals and his pH was good. After receiving feedback from you all and talking with my vet at my other cat's appointment (I swear, it's like I'm carting my children around to all of their scheduled events!), I have upped he amount of canned food both cats get each night, purchased a water fountain for my cats to use, and switched Felix to dry and canned food specifically for urinary issues. I'm hopeful that staying on top of these things will prevent another issue in the future.

Thank you all for your support .

 

[maggiedemi]

Good luck. Please let us know how it goes.

 

[Antonio65]

I would also change the wet food to a high or premium quality food because Friskies is one of the low-end brands in cat food. These low quality wet foods contain anything but real meat and have tons of addictives and strange things inside.

 

[maggiedemi]

I use Friskies. My cats will mostly only eat foods made by Purina. They won't eat the more expensive brands.

 

[ginny]

Some vets are adamant about no dry food. Here's a good source for a thorough explanation.

Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection

 

[maggiedemi]

She switched to a Urinary dry food though.

 

[smithre6]

Right now Felix is eating both wet and dry food from the Hill Science diet for urinary issues. I've cut back on the free feeding, even though it's a prescription dry food for these types of issues and upped the amount of wet food per night to ensure that he's getting enough water. My vet seemed fine with the urinary dry food, and she said she feeds her own cats that as well. For Poco, who doesn't need the prescription diet, we had tried switching him to a higher quality wet food before and he didn't take well to it; however, he was having GI issues at that time so it might be worth another shot.

 

[maggiedemi]

I have a bag of the regular Hills Science Diet urinary dry food, not the prescription one. But it's called Urinary Hairball and I just don't like giving my cats hairball stuff everyday. I give them hairball treats twice a week. I don't know why they combined the two. Does your prescription bag say hairball on it?

 

[smithre6]

No, mine says stress on it. I'm not quite sure what the difference is between the prescription urinary care food and the non-prescription one. Anyone have any idea? I might try to ask my vet next time I take one of the cats in.

 

[maggiedemi]

The prescription one is probably better. I have a bag of the non-prescription one right here. It is called Hills Science Diet Urinary Hairball Control. It cost about $12 for the 3.5oz bag. It's got powdered cellulose in it for hairballs I guess. Like I said, I don't really like giving hairball stuff every day. And the magnesium seems really high for a urinary food, it says 0.09%. What does your prescription bag say for Magnesium percent? Oh, and this kibble is HUGE! It's triangle shaped and very thick, almost like dental treats. It's the biggest kibble I've ever seen. I think the cats get tired of chewing it.

 

[smithre6]

It says the minimum for magnesium is 0.4% and the maximum is 0.9%. The kibbles are much bigger than what I'm used to as well. As a side note, my vet said that some people are initially concerned that this food has more salt than most, but that is intended to help make cats drink more water.

 

[maggiedemi]

Wow, there is quite a difference between the minimum and the maximum Magnesium, I wonder what the exact amount is. Yeah, I had heard about them putting extra salt in urinary food to make the cat drink. I hope that is safe, but it seems to help them.