Crystals in Urine. Stress or diet change? Neither?

[r-kins]

Hey everyone. My poor cat, Guapo, ended up hospitalized a couple of weeks ago due to a urinary blockage. It was likely a combination of diet and stress. I love and trust my vet, but was wondering if people who have had personal experience with this with had thoughts as well.

So, Guapo lived with me a year and a half before experiencing problems. Two things changed. His buddy got very sick and died, and Guapo started getting all sorts of delicious junky canned food (fancy feast, AD diet), etc. I just decided we would spoil him a bit with the fun junk food, since the food was around anyway to tempt his friend who was never able to eat again. Previously to this event (so basically before January of this year), he was exclusively on Natural Balance Duck and Green Pea wet food and kibble without any issues. He COULD have had crystals all along and it was the stress of his friend dying and visitors that finally caused a blockage, but I'm wondering if perhaps he was fine on the Natural Balance and all of the other foods caused this problem.

I would be fine feeding him Royal Canin SO for the rest of his life to prevent crystals, but his body doesn't seem to be tolerating it well. He's thrown up a couple of times, but most importantly he seems to have trouble pooping (it's all dried out and crumbly). The vet wants us to try mixing his old food with the Royal Canin and a bit of miralax and water for awhile and see if his body can get used to it. Even on the food he is doing some genital licking over the past couple of days and is going to the vet tomorrow.

For timeline: Claws got sick and was hospitalized in January, then throughout all of February both cats were getting offered junk food (which Guapo ate happily). Claws died March 1st, we continued feeding Guapo the fancy feast, etc, and then mid march he was in the hospital with a blockage. We also had people coming to see the apartment which surely him out, because he hates people in his home that aren't us.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

First off, my condolences for the loss of Claws .

Now for Guapo. There are other manufacturers of food for crystals. I'm sure Purina and Science Diet make prescription foods for the same exact issue, so perhaps you could try one of them? If your Vet doesn't see them, they could give you a prescription and you could order them via the internet or go to a Petsmart or somewhere (based on your location) that sell prescription food. OR, you didn't mention whether you are feeding the S/O in canned or dry, but if it's the dry, then have you tried the canned version(s). Perhaps that would help with both issues, but particularly with the constipation issue. Additionally, you could try adding a little pumpkin to the food, plus additional water, IF the miralax doesn't work.

If none of that works, then we can talk about what other people do who simply don't want to feed the prescription foods because they feel like they are junk. Let us k now.

 

[r-kins]

First off, my condolences for the loss of Claws .

Now for Guapo. There are other manufacturers of food for crystals. I'm sure Purina and Science Diet make prescription foods for the same exact issue, so perhaps you could try one of them? If your Vet doesn't see them, they could give you a prescription and you could order them via the internet or go to a Petsmart or somewhere (based on your location) that sell prescription food. OR, you didn't mention whether you are feeding the S/O in canned or dry, but if it's the dry, then have you tried the canned version(s). Perhaps that would help with both issues, but particularly with the constipation issue. Additionally, you could try adding a little pumpkin to the food, plus additional water, IF the miralax doesn't work.

If none of that works, then we can talk about what other people do who simply don't want to feed the prescription foods because they feel like they are junk. Let us k now.

Thank you! Both Guapo and I are really missing our friend.

I'll ask my vet about trying other brands. It definitely seems worth trying, although she said she'd had the most success with Royal Canin. One thing I'm noticing is there's a lot of non-meat in the Royal Canin wet food. Cellulose, wheat gluten, etc. Stuff he never had before, which could be causing the pooping problem. The vet said it sounded like he was possibly overdigesting his food (new to me, but I gues it's a thing). He's on the Pâté and the meat chunk one, which is calming. He likes the meaty one less but it seems to agree with his stomach more.

I just want him to feel better and was wondering if the prescription stuff is the only way.

 

[cataholic07]

Some have fed raw and that helped cats to not get crystals anymore. Unfortunately yes prescription food has a ton of very low quality crap ingredients

 

[r-kins]

Some have fed raw and that helped cats to not get crystals anymore. Unfortunately yes prescription food has a ton of very low quality crap ingredients

It really is terrible! His old food was basically meat and peas. I wish I hadn't fed him all the other stuff so I would know whether or not that caused it. It seems like his old diet really wouldn't have. But obviously there's no way to prove it without feeding it and risking possible blockage again.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Here is a long thread on alternatives to S/O that you might find interesting: Alternatives to expensive Urinary SO food