Any vets about ? Advice? Cat urine ph alkaline 9

[Changeusername]

Hi

My cat has previous history of struvite stones.

He sprayed in front of me other evening so decided to get a sample. Urine ph 9 leucocytes +++++ no other symptoms - happy for me to feel his tummy. Lazy as ever.

Nothing else in urine no blood or protein - he had this last time with struvite stones.


Anyway called vet to see about taking him in and get sample tested further. Vet advises me its too old (only 3 hrs old max) and would need a new one. I advised i couldn't get a new sample down for a few hours ( young baby so now or never to get to vets) . Annoyed as never advised this before as apparently crystals can form over time in urine anyway. - fair enough but then the other samples were probably inaccurate as they were not done in a timely fashion and were scraped off the floor.

He is fed wet food -felix and urine specific dry food. Felix is the only cat food all my cats agree on.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Wont be able to get a sample tonight so looking like beginning of next week.

Whats chance of struvite stones ? Or just general infection? I have a paste to add to food to help break down struvite stones which ive added to his food.

P.s. if you've read all that then well done.

[Changeusername]

Anyone had similar ?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Once you get the urine sample store it in the fridge immediately as this stops structure crystals from forming. Leukocytes alone I wouldn't necessarily be excited about the pH should be more acidic than that.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Struvite not structure crystals.

[Changeusername]

I thought about putting it in the fridge but i had been out when he urinated in litter so thought i would be just as well dropping it off when i got home.


Do you know if an alkaline ph level would always inducate struvite stones ? Or also general infection ?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

High pH allows the formation of struvite stones, but the cause of high pH can vary diet is one factor. You can avoid it by feeding a diet that specifically lowers Urinary pH.

[Changeusername]

Right i see. We have been feeding ultima urinary tract dry and felix wet pouches. Which i would have been enough. Im inclined to think its stress related as we have a newbaby and done allot of home improvements before baby arrived. In saying that he seems to be the least stressed out cat i know.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I like hills c/d urinary stress specifically designed to lower PH and contains L-Tryptophan to reduce stress.

[ThePlatypusAlwaysTriumphs]

Stress is definitely a factor. Do you use cystease or similar (supplements designed to help with cats with chronic flutd) Your vet is right, urine samples do need to be checked quickly to be reliable. If this is ongoing its possibly worth chatting to your vet about further investigation ( xrays, ultrasound, urine samples direct from cat in surgery)
But I'd also go with feliway and cystease in first instance, as stress a very likely factor. Good luck!