Obstructive Urinary Tract Disease...?

Question

More Struvite crystals than anything else.

Is anyone else having this problem with their male cat?
My boy is 11 and the problem started in August last year with a bout of Cystitis. He was given a course of Cystaid which seemed to work. Until October when he seemed to be having trouble peeing. He was licking his 'bits' a lot too. I booked him into the vets again but came down one morning to find him kind of dazed and swaying. There were little drops of urine on the floor too.
I rang the vet and took him straight there and they found his bladder was so full and his penis was blocked. He was kept in and his bladder emptied. He was also given antibiotics and pain killers. They put him on a new food to dissolve the crystals but they keep coming back.
He's had a scan too but that didn't tell us anything.

Can anyone help with their experiences?

Thanks in advance

Ashley B · Accepted Answer

Feeding dry food causes these problems. Gradually switching your cat to a decent quality wet food will help prevent additional problems, but your cat apparently already has crystals and is prone to a blockage. You must keep a close eye on your cat and immediately take him to the vet at the first sign of a blockage, as they can become very serious real fast. Also, sit down and discuss this situation with your vet as to how to best treat it. If you don't get good answers, don't be afraid to get a second opinion.

Ken S · Answer

Food Food food
 
	
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat. 
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrediant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Food_Ingredient_Label
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/InterpretingLabels.htm
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Male cats are especially prone to blockages
from dry food.  Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. ( Have a fat cat?)
Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_Just_Fine_on_Dry_Food
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.   
 THE  BEST CAT FOODS CONTAIN NO GRAINS NO BYPRODUCTS 
Cats are meat eaters not cereal or rice eaters
 Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.
 Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

 Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.catinfo.org/	 
                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

 Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04/Perhach/PetFood/Vets.htm

Obstructive Urinary Tract Disease...?

2 Answers