Need help finding food for IBD and urine crystals!

[Ana & Frosty (GA)]

Hello all,
It has been quite some time since I posted here! I hope all my old friends are doing well.

I reached out here maybe a year or so ago about my cat Bella, (turning 15 this month) who was diagnosed with IBD 2 years ago. She is not diabetic. At the time, I was looking for some select protein wet food for her because I was unable to find her usual select protein brand due to the shortage with COVID. She is currently on ZIWI peak venison, and she was doing well on that. Or so I thought...
She is also on Prednisolone once daily and Miralax 1/4 tsp twice a day.

Well, Bella threw me another curve ball - with frequent UTIs. Long story short, it seems she has urine crystals. The vet recommended Royal Canin HP as it would tackle both IBD and crystals. The issue is, it is only available in dry food, which I don't wanna give due to all the reasons frequently discussed here. In addition to it being a poor nutritional choice, we also crush and add Bella's medicine to her wet food, which wouldn't be possible to do with dry food. And at this point in her and my life, I am not chasing her around the house to give her pills. (I don't even know how I would give miralax to her twice a day without mixing it into her food.)

Does anyone have any suggestions? I forgot to ask the vet if there are any medication options to treat these crystals if changing the food is not an option, but maybe some of you may know? I am going to pick up her antibiotics tomorrow, but at this point as soon as she's off of them, the infection comes back. I feel so bad for her... I want her to live out her golden years comfortably!

Thanks in advance.

Here's a pick of my (almost 3 year old!) daughter petting a stray cat while trick-or-treating yesterday!

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hi Ana, long time new see. Cute picture of your daughter who has obviously inherited the love of cats.

Did the vet say what type of crystals were present?

Mirilax can be mixed with water and syringed.

 

[Ana & Frosty (GA)]

Hi Ana, long time new see. Cute picture of your daughter who has obviously inherited the love of cats.

Did the vet say what type of crystals were present?

Mirilax can be mixed with water and syringed.

No, he didn’t, Wendy. In fact, the way they diagnosed it is by doing a quick ultrasound in the office before they got her urine sample. She hasn’t had a formal abdominal ultrasound for this issue . I was doing some googling last night, and I am reading that crystals should also show up in the urine. They never mentioned (or checked?) her urine for crystals.

Since Bella has an IM vet who sees her for IBD (albeit an hour away), I’m thinking maybe I should take her there to have a work up. (She does have insurance and I already met the deductible, so the visit will be reimbursed at 90%). Maybe I should have them do a formal ultrasound and also check her urine for what type of crystals. Cause maybe it’s not crystals. Maybe she has a bladder mass or something. I mean, she is 15. I would hate to go through the hassle of changing her food and going to dry food if maybe the issue at hand isn’t even crystals.

 

[Ana & Frosty (GA)]

@Wendy&Neko I scheduled an appointment with Bella’s internist for 2 weeks from now. I guess we will see what they find…

I was thinking, if dry food is the only answer after the “million” dollar work up, maybe I can add a few spoonfuls of water to it and then mix in her medication? I definitely don’t have time to wait for the dry food to become “wet.” But that’s the only thought I had. I wonder what others do though… I figured there would be a lot of other people with cats who have IBD and urine crystals. Dry food isn’t diabetes friendly, so there must be some other option, or medication? I would hate for Bella to have to consume all those carbs just to get the correct type of protein and acidity of food (or whatever it is that makes the crystals dissolve). Ugh

 

[Wendy&Neko]

What proteins can she eat? Some commercially available food, or one you made yourself, that is low phosphorus and plenty of water added should help. https://catinfo.org/feline-urinary-tract-diseases/

My non diabetic buddy of Neko's had idiopathic cystitis, and had some crystals. His dietary solution was raw with plenty of water added. I also added glucosamine chondroitin, which is said to help the bladder walls. Dry food is not the only answer. Note, he was originally on C/D but Neko was stealing some so I needed an alternative. It was his vet that suggested the raw. Raw options include many novel proteins. You can also cook them if you make your own with a premix.