Food recomendations for cat prone to crystals

[Sandy and Black Kitty]

Hi everyone,
I'm out of town and was just informed by DBF (back home) that our civie Samantha has been diagnosed with crystals in her urine.
Naturally, the vet is recommending prescription food. . .(imagine that. . .)

Any recommendations for feeding under these circumstances?

Thanks in advance

 

[MelanieAndRacci]

I was under the impression that it was only male cats that got crystals. When Racci had something like that they said females didn't get them and it was more like gallstones in humans when it happened to females and that she had too many and they were too big for them to pass by themselves. She had to be operated on. This was many years ago when she was young. You might want to do some research or get a second opinion.

At any rate, when my male cat had crystals (he was constantly getting them because of problems from being an ex-feral) I was told water was like medicine to him and the most important thing was to get a fountain and try to encourage a lot of water and use low ash food.

 

[Lisa dvm]

Samantha has been diagnosed with crystals in her urine.

HUGE pet peeve alert....

A "diagnosis" of crystals is pretty meaningless since crystals are NOT necessarily an ABnormal finding in cat urine.

This is a significant hot button of mine because this so-called diagnosis leads to cat being put on very unhealthy, inappropriate diets.

Please see my Urinary Tract Health page and carefully read what I wrote about the significance - or lack thereof - of urinary crystals and *most importantly* how they are actually "diagnosed". I say "diagnosed" because that word denotes an abnormality....which crystals are not.

Note that crystals often form once the urine is outside of the bladder for more than ~20 minutes making any report of "crystals" pretty darn meaningless when reported on lab reports from SEND OUT samples....versus read immediately in the vet clinic.

Please note that the key word here is WATER.

Also, there is no gender difference when it comes to crystals.

 

[Sandy and Black Kitty]

Thanks a million Dr. Lisa!

 

[doombuggy]

I thought they were more prevelant in males but not un heard of in females. My sister's male had them 3 times. I came accross him one Sat morning visiting my dad's and Simba had his head near his water dish; Nana & I rushed him to the vet & they operated that day. He had them a third time and it did him in.

Since he was not a cat living in my home, I couldn't tell you what food would be better. The incident I described happened in 1997? I rememember going to a hockey game with my dad in March 1998 and he broke the news to me about Simba passing away - to be honest I don't know if he was helped, don't want to know because who tells someone that at a hockey game? Sometimes I really wonder... :razz:

Do some research as I am sure there is something better out there for your cat. Good luck!

 

[Lisa dvm]

I thought they were more prevelant in males but not un heard of in females.

Again, crystals have nothing to do with gender. The issue is that a male cat can more easily become blocked due to the fact that their urethra is narrower.

 

[Teresa and Poopy]

When Poopy had crystals (he laid there and peed on himself, and there was blood in the urine), the vet said to switch him to canned food, and add a bit of water to it. Since then I kept the dry out (until he was diagnosed with diabetes) and fed canned twice a day with water added. He hasn't had them since. (Didn't want to risk it as the vet said they would have to shorten his urethra if it happened again. Ewwww.)

 

[Vyktors Mum]

Vyktor had urinary tract blockages twice when he was younger. Taking him off dry food completely and giving him bottled water instead of tap water did the trick. Can't tell you why the bottled water was supposed to be better, at the time (over 10 years ago) the vet did some research and had found an article suggesting it could help, no idea if that theory has been proved, disproved or not advanced at all since but we had no further problems in that department.