Calcium Oxalate Bladder Stones Prevention Question

London the Ragdoll

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Hi Everyone! I am new to this site but I've been reading lots of posts in the past few weeks. It's so helpful to hear other's kitty experiences. I hope by posting my story and asking questions, this can help others out!

My kitty London is a 7yr old female Ragdoll. She was having trouble straining and only getting small amounts of urine out with frequent trips to the litter box. We took her to the vet she was treated for UTI with antibiotic injection. But after a few weeks the problem still existed and an Xray was done. Turns out she had bladders stones. She had blood in her urine and low red blood cell count and health wise declining fast. We opted for cystotomy surgery so we could figure out what kind of stones she had and focus on get her better. After a rough recovery week she started acting like herself again and feeling much better. We got the results of the stones back and they are Calcium Oxalate.

Now I am a crazy lady who wants to do everything possible to prevent the re-occurrence of these stones. I cannot put my poor kitty through that surgery again. So now I'm on a mission to get the perfect kitty urine ph. Right now she is testing acidic which makes sense to me given she had oxalate stones that form in more acidic urine. My vet prescribed urinary diet Royal Canin SO and Purina ProPlan NF wet and dry food. I trust her advice and will give these a try. I've increased wet food in her diet, added even more water to it and made sure she has fresh water available always. My vet told me that even on these diets the stones can come back. I'd like to hear others experiences preventing these. The foods say they reduce struvite and calcium oxalate stones. I'm having a hard time understanding how can the same food that prevents stuvite stones, which grow in alkaline urine, also prevent calcium oxalate stones, that grown in acidic. How can the same food make urine go either way on the PH scale? They have foods for just struvite stones but I'm not seeing a food that's specifically designed to treat just calcium oxalate stones. Given the increase in these type of stones recently, you'd think there'd be a specific formula available. If it comes down to it I will make my own cat food. I'm a microwave my dinner kinda girl but I would make a daily gourmet meal for my fur-baby if that what it takes!! Please let me know of any experiences you've had with treating calcium oxalate stones.. successes or re-occurrence of stones and what foods you've tried. I would greatly appreciate any advice!!
 

leechi

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That is odd, and made me want to look into it. From the description of the Royal Canin SO food (link on Chewy) it works to "increase urine output volume and prevent the formation of struvite and calcium oxalate crystals". Which sounds like it's supposed to work by dilution of the urine so crystals/stones can't form (the urine is less concentrated and doesn't reach the saturation point). This is the dry food though, so I don't know how it's supposed to increase urine output. Hopefully they're not using salt to increase thirst and water consumption. I would think you'd be better off just feeding only wet food and even adding water to it like you're doing.

I would ask the vet though or contact the company to find out how it's supposed to work. Maybe it's also lower in the minerals that form the crystals, but I didn't see that in the description.

I'm not a fan of the ingredients they use in these foods or the low protein, so hopefully you can find an alternative.
 

Stinky15

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Hi Everyone! I am new to this site but I've been reading lots of posts in the past few weeks. It's so helpful to hear other's kitty experiences. I hope by posting my story and asking questions, this can help others out!

My kitty London is a 7yr old female Ragdoll. She was having trouble straining and only getting small amounts of urine out with frequent trips to the litter box. We took her to the vet she was treated for UTI with antibiotic injection. But after a few weeks the problem still existed and an Xray was done. Turns out she had bladders stones. She had blood in her urine and low red blood cell count and health wise declining fast. We opted for cystotomy surgery so we could figure out what kind of stones she had and focus on get her better. After a rough recovery week she started acting like herself again and feeling much better. We got the results of the stones back and they are Calcium Oxalate.

Now I am a crazy lady who wants to do everything possible to prevent the re-occurrence of these stones. I cannot put my poor kitty through that surgery again. So now I'm on a mission to get the perfect kitty urine ph. Right now she is testing acidic which makes sense to me given she had oxalate stones that form in more acidic urine. My vet prescribed urinary diet Royal Canin SO and Purina ProPlan NF wet and dry food. I trust her advice and will give these a try. I've increased wet food in her diet, added even more water to it and made sure she has fresh water available always. My vet told me that even on these diets the stones can come back. I'd like to hear others experiences preventing these. The foods say they reduce struvite and calcium oxalate stones. I'm having a hard time understanding how can the same food that prevents stuvite stones, which grow in alkaline urine, also prevent calcium oxalate stones, that grown in acidic. How can the same food make urine go either way on the PH scale? They have foods for just struvite stones but I'm not seeing a food that's specifically designed to treat just calcium oxalate stones. Given the increase in these type of stones recently, you'd think there'd be a specific formula available. If it comes down to it I will make my own cat food. I'm a microwave my dinner kinda girl but I would make a daily gourmet meal for my fur-baby if that what it takes!! Please let me know of any experiences you've had with treating calcium oxalate stones.. successes or re-occurrence of stones and what foods you've tried. I would greatly appreciate any advice!!
Please read this:
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.
 

kittyluv387

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For urinary issues dry food is terrible. Whatever you decide, i would stick with wet.
 

Jem

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The Royal Canine brand foods for crystals/stones (SO) works by encouraging more drinking (basically added salt) thus making the cat urinate more.
What was the reason for the Pro Plan NF? It is my understanding that the NF is for renal function and not for stones. Did the vet mention the state of your cats kidneys?
Calcium Oxalate stones form when carbs and sugars are metabolized then bind with calcium and solidifying into a crystal/stone.
Struvite crystals are more common than oxalate stones, which is why (I assume) more foods are for struvite. If you are careful in choosing a low carb and low phosphorus WET food (no more dry), I would think you should not have any more problems.
I have a cat who needs to be on a struvite crystal diet, and we tried the Royal Canine brand, but it did not work. The ONLY food that keeps his crystals at bay is the Hills CD. We tried many different foods but had to keep going back to the vet stuff :sigh:, but as mentioned, my experience with vet food is for struvite not oxalate.
 
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London the Ragdoll

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Thank you everyone for your input! I am feeding wet food 3 times a day now and limiting her dry food but still keeping a small amount available because that's what she's was used to eating for many years. Hoping to eventually get her off dry food completely.

Stinky15 that article was very informative. I guess PH is important but not as important as the amount of water intake. I'm trying the tuna water to entice her to drink more. I might try the chicken broth as well. I also got a refractometer off amazon to measure the concentration on her urine so see if we are making progress. We'll go back to the vet also for proper testing and blood work.

That is odd, and made me want to look into it. From the description of the Royal Canin SO food (link on Chewy) it works to "increase urine output volume and prevent the formation of struvite and calcium oxalate crystals". Which sounds like it's supposed to work by dilution of the urine so crystals/stones can't form (the urine is less concentrated and doesn't reach the saturation point). This is the dry food though, so I don't know how it's supposed to increase urine output. Hopefully they're not using salt to increase thirst and water consumption. I would think you'd be better off just feeding only wet food and even adding water to it like you're doing.

I would ask the vet though or contact the company to find out how it's supposed to work. Maybe it's also lower in the minerals that form the crystals, but I didn't see that in the description.

I'm not a fan of the ingredients they use in these foods or the low protein, so hopefully you can find an alternative.
Leechi I will probably contact Royal Canin to see if they can inform me on how the food works at preventing from calcium oxalate. If I get a reply from them I'll post it

The Royal Canine brand foods for crystals/stones (SO) works by encouraging more drinking (basically added salt) thus making the cat urinate more.
What was the reason for the Pro Plan NF? It is my understanding that the NF is for renal function and not for stones. Did the vet mention the state of your cats kidneys?
Calcium Oxalate stones form when carbs and sugars are metabolized then bind with calcium and solidifying into a crystal/stone.
Struvite crystals are more common than oxalate stones, which is why (I assume) more foods are for struvite. If you are careful in choosing a low carb and low phosphorus WET food (no more dry), I would think you should not have any more problems.
I have a cat who needs to be on a struvite crystal diet, and we tried the Royal Canine brand, but it did not work. The ONLY food that keeps his crystals at bay is the Hills CD. We tried many different foods but had to keep going back to the vet stuff :sigh:, but as mentioned, my experience with vet food is for struvite not oxalate.
Jem I am not sure why my vet choose NF food. I will have to ask her. I believe she said her kidney function was good. She might have choose it based on her blood work. Thank you for explaining how calcium oxalate stones are formed I did not know this. I am happy you found a food that works for your kitty's struvite crystals! I read so many reviews saying how much CD has helped with struvite.
 

FeebysOwner

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Feeby, now 14+, was diagnosed with bladder stones in 2010 and had to have surgery to remove them. Since then, she's been on Royal Canin SO and Hills Prescription c/d - both dried and canned. As she ages, she is more prone to frequent UTIs, but they are apparently not related to stones. She just had several x-rays (for other reasons) and her bladder is pretty much stone free.

I also set up multiple water dishes for her - but, you know what, that bombed! She has a favorite and pretty much ignores the others. Go Figure.

Hope this helps at least a little.
 
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