Cat wee issues - blocked pipes keeps happening despite special diet - ideas?

[HonorMatopoeia]

one of our ginger toms has had pipe blockage issues for years. He's in in vets again (thank god we got pet plan when we did!). I'm more concerned this time though as we really didn't see this one coming and usually we can pick up small signs such as excess time spent in the cat litter box and lots of licking. Last night he squatted in a corner of the kitchen and tried to wee there and that was the first we knew of it.
The vet went through the usual things including could anyone else be feeding him. Now, he's a house cat so we know he's not getting fed anywhere else but the vet seemed to think that our Dd1 (3) could be feeding him . I think this is quite unlikely to be honest as he's usually asleep upstairs avoiding her when she's awake!
So, why else would this keep reoccurring? I feel really bad because he's apparently in a bad way but we just didn't see it coming this time . Has anyone else had a cat with this problem? What happens in the long run?

[vonsudenfed]

We've also got a cat with recurrent cystitis (!) but she's a girl, so it's not so medically awful for her - although it does make her miserable.

Have you had any medication other than the special diet? We have Metacam for immediate relief as soon as she shows any signs, but they've also given us Cystaid (herbal remedy), which also helps quite quickly.

They also say that stress can be a factor, and so we have a Feliway diffuser, which can help too. Although our cat spends so much time asleep that I find it hard to believe that she is stressed...

There's a bit of info out there if you google. Some people give their cats a capsule of cystaid every two days to keep the cystitis at bay; we're thinking about it, but the vets don't think we're at that stage yet.

(Oh, and the James Wellbeloved cat biscuits have cranberry extract in!)

[HonorMatopoeia]

Ooo, have never been offered medication for home, they're on about changing his diet food to the stuff that actively destroys the problem rather than just preventing it. He gets crystals which block his pipes, is that the same as cystitis?

[beautifulgirls]

cystitis is inflammation of the bladder and urethra and can be caused by infection or could just be due to the crystal causing irritation. In the case of crystals they cause the inflammation that causes tissie swelling to the urethra and then they plug up the narrowed channel. Damaged tissue is more susceptible to infection so often they go hand in hand but not always.

Metacam would reduce inflammation so minimising the risk of blockage. It is however potentially a risk if you cat has any degree of kidney issues so your vet would only allow this at home for use under specific circumstances most likely and kidneys should really be monitored longer term. It is bad to use if complete blockage happens until the kidneys are known to be working ok - otherwise it can seriously compound problems.

Cystease helps to coat the inside of the bladder to protect it from being damaged by the crystals. Think of these crystals as microscopic shards of glass. They are sharp and cause a lot of problems.

Diet and fluid intake are the best ways of controlling things. There are several prescription diets that help to do this, some to maintain and some to have a quicker effect early on to help dissolve the crystals that are there. Ideally your vet should monitor urine samples as a routine every 3-6 months (depending upon progress) to check the diets are doing enough to dissolve/keep away crystals. The special diets are designed to produce an acidic urine that promotes these crystals to dissolve. Increasing water intake will also help keep them down in amount too as more dilute urine will have less crystals forming.

Good luck with him - there are a few threads about this in the last few months you might also like to read.

[HonorMatopoeia]

Thank you beautifulgirls, that is really informative. The vets are ringing again tomorrow to tell us how he is doing. They're giving us the sd food as opposed to the cd he has been on. We always give him his food covered with water to try and up his liquid intake. I suppose we will get him back and start the cycle again!

[beautifulgirls]

SD is a good food but not really meant to be a longer term diet though as can lead onto other problems with the pH levels it is producing. There are other companies that make prescription diets though. Another one we use a lot is the "RCW urinary control" and seem to get good results. It may be worth going with the sd until urine samples are seeming to be clear in say 3 months time and then considering using something like that diet instead of the cd diet. The other problem with cd is that they tend to put on a lot of weight on that one, but we don't see that as much with the RCW diet.

Re fluid intake - some people buy bottled water as certain fusspot cats seem to drink that better than tap water. Others use moving water fountains that you can buy for cats as they seem to be happier with that sort of thing - a bit of an investment for that sort of thing but when it works it works well to encourage them to drink.

Just a thought - Do you give milk to your cat? It is possible if you do that this is why the diet has not done the job it needs to do. I know your vet is suspicious your cat has been eating other foods via your toddler, but it is sometimes the obvious things like this that get overlooked.

[beautifulgirls]

Also I guess you have more than one cat - any chance he is eating the food for the other cat(s) - even a few mouthfuls can make a difference. Hard when you have more than one, but set supervised feeding times are then probably best, and all food removed in between. They may not like it at first, but they do adjust well.

[mejon]

Our cat has had this a few times and it is very distressing especially as it can be fatal for male cats. Our vet advised not to give any dry food at all - we used to keep a bowl of biscuits out as a 'snack' for them during the day when we were at work! As far as I can remember, since stopping the biscuits/dry food, he hasn't suffered with it. I used to add a little water to his food initially but as he tends to eat Felix As Good as It Looks which is pretty wet anyway I haven't done this for some time.

[barbara3]

i have not read the whole thread - so apologies if this does not help. My cat had this problem when we moved house - our vet told us it was because the water supply was very high in magnesium and this commonly causes stones to form. We now have to use bottled water for the cats to drink - it is also so important to make sure there is always water for them and to encourage them to drink - try dripping taps, fountains etc?? hope this helps I see the food angle has been covered.

[HonorMatopoeia]

Beautifulgirls - I will ask the vet about the RCW diet - he is definitely a bloater of a cat so I can see the cd helps them put on weight! He doesn't seem to have any problems drinking our water (barbara - I have no idea about magnesium levels but it is again, something i will quiz the vet on!) We don't give milk at all. Yes, we have 2 cats but as cat 2 has had this problem for so long, we are quite disciplined about shutting them in different rooms and taking the food up after they have finished. Cat 2 is a greedy wotsit though so I suppose what he has probably done is grab the odd mouthful here and there and it has finally built up.

Mejon - the specialist diet food is dried as he refused to eat the wet stuff, but I still swear this problem started after we swapped him from bog standard Whiskas to a dried food that shall remain unnamed!

Vets are keeping him in over the weekend, poor chap, but apparently he is in happier spirits today! We are now faced with the issue of probably having to rehome cat 1 as the vet has said 2 house cats is causing cat 2 stress (if that makes any sense!) Dare say we would have no luck rehoming cat 2, (which would unfortunately be better for him as a 3 year old and a baby cannot be too good for stress levels either!)due to all these medical problems.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!

[oops]

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[beautifulgirls]

I agree with you for the FLUTD affected cats that wet food makes a lot more sense, but I will add that overall I am for otherwise healthy cats a big fan of dried cat food. It is all I feed my cat and have done for the last 12 years. I think the numbers of cats with dental disease that we see is just appalling and the majority of affected cats have been fed on solely or a high proportion of wet food. Certainly number wise there are a lot more cats with dental issues than there are with urinary issues so given the pros and cons of both options my preference is with dried foods.
I wonder if the dried food in question in a previous post was go cat....?

[oops]

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[geekgirl]

beautiful girls, can I just ask a quick question please? We have a healthy 10 month old neutered tom, he's been on Royal Canin Young Male (the version you can only buy from the vet's) since his operation, is that a good cat food? I'm not too convinced that our vet isn't just on commission from Royal Canin

(sorry for the hijack, Honor. Hope your cat gets better soon!)

[HonorMatopoeia]

No worries geekgirl
Picking cat 2 up from the vets tomorrow. Throughly expecting my house to resemble a war zone by tomorrow evening. Cat 1 has decided he likes being the sole cat!
I certainly know of quite a few people whose cats encountered these problems when they were switched onto dried food. My advice to anyone now would be, don't do it!

[oops]

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[beautifulgirls]

Hi Oops - no I'm not aware of any specific research re renal failure and dry diets I'm afraid. Without being able to provide immediate references though there is certainly a higher risk of renal disease in cats with chronic dental disease though from immune complexes. I do think though that dry diets have evolved a lot since they first started to be popular. Certainly there used to be many that had excessive Mg levels causing struvite problems, but I think most if not all manufacturers are pretty aware of that these days and have modified the diets well to try and minimise the incidence of problems.

Geekgirl - I like the RCW food range among a few and personally see no reason to change if you are happy with it. Yes your vet will be making a bit of profit from selling it to you as would any pet shop selling you food. Most vets I know though sell at the RRP as set by the manufacturers. It may be worth checking that and maybe looking elsewhere to source it too. Sometimes we find the big pet superstores have huge buying power and can sell some fo these standard type diets for less than we buy them from our vet wholesalers!! Obviously the consumer then can get a better deal there. Those that have an instore vets may be able to supply this to you then? There are others in the ranges that would also be suitable though so consider and maybe try some others.