Please give me advice on urinary crystals

[TheMeditativeRose]

Noticed earlier this week that the wee man was generally out of sorts and having difficulty in his litter box (putting a back foot up against the side to brace himself).

Took him to the vets, who said no blockages or stones. After a course of antibiotics and anti inflammatory he is a lot better. But we got the granules to test for crystals in his urine and he has those.

The vet has recommended special food. We really want to help his as much as possible though so I am looking for some advice.

Do you have any tips?

In particular we struggle to get him to drink water. He totally rejected a water fountain earlier this year.

We have taken to mixing in extra water to his (wet) food but he just won’t drink from a bowl/saucer (have tried lots of different ones, especially wide ones so his whiskers don’t get nudged).

We tried leaving out cups of “our” water to trick him into drinking from those but no fooling him! I’m at my wits end with the water. Am even thinking of getting a rain water catcher as one of the few times he will drink is from the lid of the glass recycling box in the garden after it has rained.

Sorry for the long post I’m just really worried about him.

One of mine doesn't drink from the bowl but does drink out the pond. Maybe make more receptacles available outdoors so he can drink from them

Thank you, that’s hat’s really helpful.

My husband’s just told the vet said the concentration of his urine was fine (he’s drinking enough water). So maybe I was in too much of a tizz about the water.

Has anyone tried different brands of food for this issue?

What food do you currently feed? And what proportion of wet to dry food does he eat?

Oh you poor thing , I know exactly what you and your poor Dcat is going through ! My cat has been the same since christmas

After lots of visits to the vets and him been catharized numerous times been checked for stones / crystals ( none found ) and trying different meds he is slowly improving .
ATM he is on gabapentin 50 mg x per day , prednisolone half a 5mg tablet once a day and this www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BWTP7QA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8
I have changed his food to this one
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TLMZX2Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B087BPWHLV/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

But he is not keen on the meat so once its gone I will try a different, one.

I posted on here about him , have a look at my thread there may be some useful advice for you on there ( I must up date that thread )
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_litter_tray/4440803-Just-had-to-leave-my-cat-at-the-vets?pg=1

Oh and the spring water from tuna helps him drink more ( obvs not the one in brine) and the bath tap running , he dips his paw in that and his water bowl to drink

Our cat is the same. Plastic, metal, ceramic, shallow, deep, wide...you name it we have tried it. The only thing we have noticed is that she will have a few laps of three to four day old water. We figured that maybe she doesn't like the chlorinated tap water so bought various bottled water. Nope. It has to be manky, dusty old water sighs

Maybe try leaving the water for a few days. She seems to prefer a ceramic medium sized dog bowl, with an added layer of dust

It’s the chlorine in the water, they don’t like the smell.

So, old water or Volvic is safe for babies. My cat wouldnt drink volvic though.

@Fluffycloudland77 thrive or scrumbles. The vet has given us some specialist wet food for crystals by purina to try with him.

@NewYearCalavicci thank you that is very helpful. I am glad to hear your cat is doing better. I have tried weak chicken stock made just with chicken bones for him and it worked for a while but then it stopped working. I might try it again though. I’ll try the tuna water. He went off tuna for a bit after we hid tablets in a bit of tuna but maybe he’s forgiven us that now, fingers crossed. I’d seen the feliway cystease on Amazon and thought about trying it so it’s good to know it does help so will definitely give that a go. I’ll have a look on your thread for more advice.

@Pixiedust1234 @Fluffycloudland77

Been trying to give him bottled water as my neighbour mentioned about chlorine. I’ll try catching rainwater I think, or maybe tap water left out for a while as you say.

My cat has crystals.

We found the following things helpful:

Daily Cystease tablets.
Daily D-Mannose tablets for general bladder health.
Switching to urinary food. We use Smilla from ZooPlus but there are loads of other options.
Increasing the number of water bowls around the house.
Feliway plug-ins in case it was stress-related.
Adding water to his wet food.

I used cystease on the Bengal, it worked really well.

Vet was willing to prescribe amytriptiline.

If you can't get hold of Hills then Royal Canin do a Urinary version which we've used as an alternative successfully (e.g. the cat doesn't refuse the change in food).

Second the idea of leaving water bowls outside - in all weathers.

He’s taken to the food the vet suggested like a duck to water, even the salmon version and he normally isn’t that keen on fish.

We also started on the cystease yesterday so fingers crossed.

Happier boy

How is he? I'm having exactly the same problem with my boy. Its not looking good he was unblocked, he came home Thursday, but he's barely weeing at all. I can't afford the 600 to unlock him again, so I'm just giving his meds and hoping and praying