Resolving Crystals in urine - what to feed?

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Squeaky and KT (GA)

Squeaky and KT (GA)

Member Since 2011
My little 5 year old DSH, Nuisance, just came home today after 3 days in hospital with blocked urinary tract from crystals. He had a catheter for all 3 days, it was removed this morning right before I brought him home. Right now he's still very loopy from anesthetic but he'll be awake later. The vet tried to sell me Hills dry urinary food but I didn't buy it - told them I didn't really want him to continue to eat dry food...they looked at me like I had 2 heads. Nuis doesn't drink a lot of water, gotta figure out how to change that. There's a good possibility it's related to our heavily treated/naturally mineral-ly water here too. I've changed to purified water today and plan to continue with that until we can catch and filter natural rain water. I plan to supplement that with distilled or purified water also.

My questions:

1) What kind of food do I need to feed him to keep this from happening again?

2) What do I need to be NOT feeding him?

3) Any suggestions on how to increase his water intake? Syringe?

4) What kind of water should I give all these fuzzy feetz given that I can't use tap water any more?

This is the first time I've dealt with THIS issue - oh boy, something ELSE to learn now... :roll: Diabetes, cancer, heart problems (HCM and murmurs as well as congestive heart failure), asthma, injuries, deaf, blind...I've done ALL those...

I feel so sorry for him, he feels so so bad....
 
Squeaky and KT said:
My little 5 year old DSH, Nuisance, just came home today after 3 days in hospital with blocked urinary tract from crystals. He had a catheter for all 3 days, it was removed this morning right before I brought him home. Right now he's still very loopy from anesthetic but he'll be awake later. The vet tried to sell me Hills dry urinary food but I didn't buy it - told them I didn't really want him to continue to eat dry food...they looked at me like I had 2 heads. Nuis doesn't drink a lot of water, gotta figure out how to change that. There's a good possibility it's related to our heavily treated/naturally mineral-ly water here too. I've changed to purified water today and plan to continue with that until we can catch and filter natural rain water. I plan to supplement that with distilled or purified water also.

My questions:

1) What kind of food do I need to feed him to keep this from happening again?

2) What do I need to be NOT feeding him?

3) Any suggestions on how to increase his water intake? Syringe?

4) What kind of water should I give all these fuzzy feetz given that I can't use tap water any more?

This is the first time I've dealt with THIS issue - oh boy, something ELSE to learn now... :roll: Diabetes, cancer, heart problems (HCM and murmurs as well as congestive heart failure), asthma, injuries, deaf, blind...I've done ALL those...

I feel so sorry for him, he feels so so bad....
Click to expand...

Start on Dr. Lisa's site for help

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth
 
for the water intake.... why not talk to your vet about subQ fluids?

how much water do you add to the wet food right now? My Oliver NEVER drank plain water, so I had to make his wet food into a soup.
I put at least one can of water to one can of food.... quite often, he'd lap up the liquid and want more water added.
 
Hi Lyresa, my civie Theo got crystals one week after Miss Neko had her diabetes dx. At the time, the vet started us with Hills C/D (you can get wet as well as dry) but it's still fairly high in carbs. After a month of battling to keep them feeding separately, I asked the vet what would work for both, and she suggested a raw diet. So that's what we switched to. Raw naturally has quite a bit of water in it, but I still add a tablespoon or so to warm in up and add more water. My vet also suggested adding a pinch of cranberry to strengthen him up inside. So far (over a year) we've been good. My vet isn't one who normally pushes the raw diet, but she has seen it work as a solution. Theo wasn't blocked like poor nuisance, but a friend of mine with a blocked cat also went to raw many years ago with the same success.

It is important to know what type of crystals. Theo had struvite, also called triple phosphate crystals. Calcium oxalite are the other kind and treatment is different. Dr. Lisa has a great description on her urinary health page. Of course I read this page after switching to raw. ohmygod_smile
 
one of my civvies went through much the same 7 - 8 years ago... crystals, having a catheter, a hospital stay.
we stay away from all dry food. he gets canned and raw food only (the same as alex) and we add 15ml - 20 ml water to a quarter of a 5.5oz can per serving. we use bottled spring water, but i honestly don't know if it's "best". all i can tell you is it's working. he hasn't had a problem since then!

good luck!
 
Distilled water has no other minerals or solute in it.

Bottled water, filtered water, tap water, and well water all have some minerals dissolved in them.
 
My kitty was diagnosed with struvite crystals and was put on Urinary SO (prescription). I had him on mostly dry with wet a few times a week and he got the diabetes, so I can't say I'm a fan. I now feed Wellness turkey and chicken AND I add water to it just for good measure. So far, so good but it's only been about 6 months.
 
Hi Lyresa,
Living in the desert we have high mineral content in our tap water. I dont even cook with it because of the rings it leaves on the pans. We get bottled water delivered. EVERYONE drinks that. Zoe refuses to drink ANY water. Honestly she doesnt "get "the whole water thing AT ALL. I DO however add bottled water to her food. Mixed well she doesnt know the difference.

I dont know if the "missing" minerals in our consumption is harmful or not. Maybe someone can tell me this? Waldo never had any crystal issues and while I know some kitties are naturally prone to them I know Waldo never had them.

Good luck sending positives...

jeanne
 
I've always added water to everyone's wet food but Nuisance is the one I'm struggling to get off the dry. He has a malformed mouth and couldn't figure out how to eat it. I've been able to get him to eat about half wet/half dry the last couple of months. He also doesn't drink easily, I have to pour water from cup into water bowl, he'll drink out of the stream. I do that several times a day.

It's struvite crystals I think...will find out more later today I HOPE! We made a trip to an emergency vet at 10:30 last night to get subQ fluids, today he's still EXTREMELY dehydrated. He's back at the regular vet today on an IV drip...he MAY be blocked again this morning, we'll see. He has a high temp today, last night he had a very low temp.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ANSWERS!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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