Struvite bladder stones- surgery or diet?

[MeowMeezer]

Hi All;
My male cat is 7 years old and they found struvite crystals in his urine. The ultrasound also found stones in his bladder after an ER trip.
I’m torn between starting him on a prescription diet to help dissolve the stones (hopefully it dissolves them) or going straight to surgery.

Anyone has bladder stone removal surgery? If so, how was the recovery?
If you’ve tried a dissolution diet, was it successful?

thanks in advance. I really want to make the best decision for my boy.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

I've known cats who did very well with BOTH remedies, and a few who went from diet to surgery, and who did well after that. My inclination is to try the less invasive solution first, depending on how many/what size stones we're talking about. If there are many stones, and some of them large, I would probably go with the surgery, and know the issue was rectified. But that's just me.

 

[FeebysOwner]

The vet should be able to tell you if the stones are too large or there are too many to attempt to dissolve them. But, if that has not been discussed, it would seem the vet must want to try to remove them in a non-invasive way first. Ask the vet to get a clairification.

Feeby (now 17+ yo) had oxalate stones at the age of 5, so surgery was the only option. She did very well following surgery. She was on prescription food (dry at first, and later I added the canned version) for many years thereafter and (knock on wood) has had no recurrence. I finally took her off that food and placed on her on a non-prescription canned food only diet about 3 or so years ago. Actually, the diet change was Feeby's idea!

 

[fionasmom]

Fiona herself had surgery to remove bladder stones. No animal I have ever owned will eat any diet which might solve the problem, so I can't discuss that with you, but I know it is an option.

In Fiona's case, she had repeated blood appear in her urine which was always treated as a UTI and seemed to clear up, but never ceased to recur. Finally we did the surgery. It was very successful, not problem with the recovery, and despite her dietary preferences, the stones did not come back. She had the surgery at about 9 years old and lived to be around 16.

 

[MeowMeezer]

A quick update! My boy is stone free! The dissolution diet worked thank the stars!! The RX diet did cause hair loss and scooting bc he’s allergic to chicken but it did prevent a surgery. I’ve switched to another brand of food with low ash content and doubled his daily wet food. He loves drinking water so I hope I can keep
Him healthy for many more years. Here’s a picture of my black panther.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh what a gorgeous boy ! This is incredibly fantastic news !!

 

[MeowMeezer]

Oh what a gorgeous boy ! This is incredibly fantastic news !!

Thank you so much. He’s literally my best friend and such a love bug. I’m so happy he’s better. His sister is happy too

 

[Furballsmom]

What a wonderful pair