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!!
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!!