Cat diagnosed with cystitis - any tips

[Burdwing]

My cat has been diagnosed with cystitis - has anyone got any experience & tips that worked for your cat?

I have bought a feliway diffuser in case she is stressed, & she is having metacam at the mo. I’ve tried cystease but she will not take it in food or lickylix and I’m worried about stressing her by giving her a tablet.

she is very fussy, only eats dry food despite my best efforts, and can detect a hidden pill or powder from a mile away.

anyone had any success with palatable supplements or anything else? Would a water fountain be worth a try?

One of mine is prone to stress cystitis and we've found D-Mannose to be really helpful. I just get it from Amazon and he takes one tablet a day. You can get it in liquid or powder form too I think.

The one random thing that helped get my cat to drink more was to move her water bowl from next to a wall, to in front of the patio door. I think she felt more confident that she could see around her, rather than just facing the wall, and so would drink more. Also would then have a little drink as she was just sat gazing out into the garden. Little weirdo!

I do that too. I grind up the tablet and add it to her food. I only do it if she’s been stressed for any reason as stress triggers it.

https://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/feliway-cystease-promotes-cat-urinary-health-reduces-cat-anxiety#646=1201

We gave our old girl this on a regular basis as she was prone to cystitis when having radiotherapy for a tumor. It seemed to help.

I used to grind up a tablet as finely as possible and mix it well with her lik-e-lix and dab it onto her front paws. She absolutely hated me for it but did lick it off in disgust! It was the only way I could get her to take vital medicine.

hills urinary food - the stress one has the same ingredients as the cystease

Where is it sold?

In studies the single biggest thing that helped was increasing water intake, a fountain is great long term, but short term feeding only wet food to dilute that urine will make a huge difference. The urinary foods have wet options.
All my cases get told to feed exclusively wet food for 7 days in the face of a flare.

My cat would get cystitis a lot and the vet advised we feed her kidney/renal specific food. She never got it again after changing her food. Might be worth asking the vet about this, to stop bouts in the future.

Hills cd food. They sell dry and my stressy cats love it

Pets at home, zooplus

https://www.petsathome.com/product/hills-prescription-diet-c-d-stress-urinary-care-dry-cat-food-chicken/P4465?productId=7115225&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_shopping&cm_mmc=Google--CPC--%20google_shopping-_-google_shopping&ita=1976&ito=google_shopping&istCompanyId=7255ccad-a1fc-4729-af31-478f79e5071c&istFeedId=385e6b9a-8b03-4076-a8bb-e4737df8549c&istItemId=imrxmllxx&istBid=t&cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=21147862557&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=g&cq_plt=gp&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD7tV9pl9kgaevMNg8asvPf07wGrm&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5MXbsfKajAMV-pRQBh27ohaZEAQYAiABEgIeNfD_BwE

Thank you everyone, some great ideas here.

I will keep trying to find a wet food she will eat and try the dry food and supplements too.

The vets can test for crystals and stones that can cause it, on which case the urinary diet is good. Mines be cleared off any thing like that and infection so is thought to be stress and weight related. Looking at those options now and have some good pointers from here, thanks.

I've had several cats that were prone to crystals and bladder issues

The dried food urinary care worked well for them

The water fountain promoted drinking

You can get wet food that is urinary care but this was more hit and miss -salmon was OK, chicken tolerated, pate only one cat would eat if (sadly not the cat with urinary issues) and one called "meat loaf" which none of them would go near