Cat with cystitis - what are the ongoing issues/costs? hoping to adopt from Cats Protection League.

[skyeskyeskye]

Any advice or experience gratefully received. I have seen a cat on the CPL website and would like to adopt it. It is 4 years old. When I rang up, the woman told me that it has had cystitis and is now on a special diet for life.

Does anyone have a cat like this? and can give me any advice on costs, ongoing problems, etc?

I have googled the food and it can be as much as £34 for 48 sachets, which compared to normal sachets at £10 for 48, is obviously a lot lot more money.

Do they need to have a sachet at every meal? The dry food is £34 for 6kg? How long would this last?

CPL have said that they would cover the cost of any vets treatment for urinary infections.

The lady is coming round for a home visit tomorrow as she happens to be in the area anyway. Is there any area I should be concerned about, or things that they look for?

I don't mind paying a bit extra for food, depending on how it works out monthly, but can't afford to pay 3 times as much.

Obviously I won't take the cat on if I am not prepared to take on its issues/costs. I am speaking to the fosterer tonight to get a better idea.

Thanks in advance.

Whats the active ingredient in the food? I give mine cystease capsules because the special foods have cereal in them which he can't tolerate.

I don't know. I have had a long chat with the fosterer tonight and she has been feeding him Royal Canin. She said it is about £25 if you don't buy it from the vet.

She said that it could be a one off incident due to stress, blood tests have come back clear apparently. She said that I could try feeding normal food and see what happens. If I rehome him i will give him the same food for now, then discuss it with my vet as to whether we could try taking him off the food.

She has had him for 3 months, nursing him back to health as apparently he was in a right state when he came in due to possible neglect by previous owners.

She said that the food lasts for ages.

Im leaning towards taking him, just cant wait to meet him now!

If you want to try a different food then go for wet with a teaspoon of water mixed in.

Mine gets them due to stress and short of bumping the ndn cat off there's not much I can do except give cystease.

I think the need for prescription diet is questionable but depends on the exact case. Wet food is a must. See icatcare.org/advice/cat-health/feline-idiopathic-cystitis-fic for more advice and also the list of Feline Academy members to see if there is a vet near you who knows about cats

Has analysis of his urine been done to check for crystals? Crystals have potentially more serious implications in male cats due to their poor urinary tract design ( big tube going into little tube).

Poor lad. Was he a cruelty case?

Pyjamacat gets cystitis and get Cystophan and an anti-inflammatory painkiller when an attack comes on. It's stress related in his case. He doesn't get special food, just a mixture of wet and dry.

Our cat cost us 300 pounds when he went into retention with cystitis.He is fine now not on a special diet as vet did not recommend it just a mix of wet and dry. Can be stress related, we had building work going on at the time.It is a constant worry but we love the annoying cat.

They said he was bullied by their other cat, and that he was shut out every night. They think he got ill, they did nothing then it got worse. Both cats were took there together, but other one reformed separately and this one seems much happier now.

Urine tested this week and bloods and both clear apparently.

Will I be able to access the vets records to give to my vet?

Thanks for all the replies, sorry, forgot to say that.

Our girl cat has FLUTD, she had crystals in her urine but no stones in her bladder thankfully. She's on a prescription diet - they originally gave us Royal Canin but I was appalled at the low meat content (4 or 5%) so we've switched to Hills which isn't great but is a bit better. However, if this cat doesn't have crystals, hasn't had cystitis before, and there is an obvious trigger, it might just be a one-off problem that won't come back and won't need a prescription diet long term. FWIW I think it's more important to make sure they get high quality food with plenty of meat and preferably no cereals. We give our boy cat (who's had no health problems, touch wood) one pouch of wet food per day, and the rest dry food. Both high meat content.

Skye, your vet will be able to request a medical history from the cat's previous vet. You will need to give your vet the details of previous vet, previous owner/CP and the address he was registered under.

I would advise getting some quotes for cat insurance as it might be more expensive because of a pre-existing condition and/or might exclude claims for pre-existing conditions.

It is normally the policy of the CPL to send a printed copy of the history with the cat when it goes to it's new home to pass on to the cats vet. Locating an individual CPL cat's history can be tricky for a practice to locate when requested as names get changed etc.

thanks for all the replies. I love MN, you can get advice on just about anything! The CPL lady has been round this morning and my house is ok, so I just need to meet the cat at the weekend and bring him home hopefully!

Your replies have all reassured me that hopefully it will be ok and not cost me a fortune.

Good luck to you and to the lad. It sounds as if he could do with a loving home now.