Idiopathic Cystitis - What Do We Know About It? Annnnnnd Go :)

[Ksoltys]

Just received a diagnosis on my 9 yr old orange tabby Clancey of Idiopathic Cystitis brought on by what appeared to be environmental stress (I have two cats staying with me till mid august). Presented with blood in his urine followed by two days of no defecation. Urinalysis was completed.

What do you guys know about this life long condition? I've done some research and am mostly interested in managing his diet appropriately without the use of vet recommended foods. My vet was all too happy to tell me "don't worry, your other cat won't be negatively affected by our urinary dry and wet food so you can feed both cats on our diet!" of corn and gluten and soy and wheat for 70 dollars a bag - no thanks. There has to be a better alternative. Thoughts on raw? Wet only? High moisture/quality dry and wet/raw? To clarify, cost is not my concern, it's the quality of what I'm paying for at the vet that concerns me.

I have ample litter boxes that are changed every day, fresh water every day in various locations to encourage drinking, wet food is mixed with water, currently on vet recommended wet and dry (hills urinary and metabolic). Will be purchasing pheromone diffuser to aid in stress while visiting cats are still here. Grooming time and play time every day.

Thank you!!! Open to all suggestions and opinions.

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm not familiar with that illness so I can't speak specifically to it, but regarding food maybe these two databases might help;
CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat
Pet Food Guide

 

[stephanietx]

D-Mannose and cornsilk can help. CBD hemp oil can help. Stress can cause flare ups.

 

[Ksoltys]

D-Mannose and cornsilk can help. CBD hemp oil can help. Stress can cause flare ups.

Yes, stress seems to be the cause of his flare up as vet ruled out everything else. Thanks for the recommendations! I'm interested in CBD oil but had not heard of the other two you mentioned

 

[mikameek]

The most frustrating thing about this is that by name, idiopathic, it means that there really is no definite medical cause. We can guess and make some connections that will hopefully make things better. I've seen many times on here that an all wet diet with the added water really helps with urinary health, especially in boys.

I've currently been looking into feeding raw myself and would suggest going and looking at the forums there if you want to look at it.
Specifically Raw Feeding Resources. There you can read through the articles they have listed to learn more about it when you have the time.

I can't really speak more about this disease as I haven't had any personal experience with it but I figured that I would drop my understanding when it comes to all wet feeding.

 

[Ksoltys]

The most frustrating thing about this is that by name, idiopathic, it means that there really is no definite medical cause. We can guess and make some connections that will hopefully make things better. I've seen many times on here that an all wet diet with the added water really helps with urinary health, especially in boys.

I've currently been looking into feeding raw myself and would suggest going and looking at the forums there if you want to look at it.
Specifically Raw Feeding Resources. There you can read through the articles they have listed to learn more about it when you have the time.

I can't really speak more about this disease as I haven't had any personal experience with it but I figured that I would drop my understanding when it comes to all wet feeding.

Right?! And he is an easily stressed out feline - poor dude. I've known him for 3 years and he has quite the aggressive past. I have since adopted him as of 8 months ago and things were going really well, environment enrichment did wonders and scheduled play and feeding provided structure he could rely on. Things were going so well though that I thought I could cat sit for a friend while they were away for a month. Figured if I did all the right tips and tricks, kept everyone separated, things would be fine. Two weeks in I have a bloody litter box . I am grateful though that there is at least a name to this behavior in the litter box and I can pin point his stressor which I will be sure to avoid in the future. Thank you for the raw recommendation, I am certainly interested in going all raw or wet as that vet diet is just awful. I asked about raw while at the vet and the one tech literally said "I'm a lazy pet owner so I like the convenience of wet and or dry". THANKS LADY

 

[Furballsmom]

I'm glad your furbaby has you!! By the way, if you need more info about calming products, let us know - there are a LOT on the market, with different ingredients.

 

[Ksoltys]

I'm glad your furbaby has you!! By the way, if you need more info about calming products, let us know - there are a LOT on the market, with different ingredients.

Thank you so much!

 

[mikameek]

Right?! And he is an easily stressed out feline - poor dude. I've known him for 3 years and he has quite the aggressive past. I have since adopted him as of 8 months ago and things were going really well, environment enrichment did wonders and scheduled play and feeding provided structure he could rely on. Things were going so well though that I thought I could cat sit for a friend while they were away for a month. Figured if I did all the right tips and tricks, kept everyone separated, things would be fine. Two weeks in I have a bloody litter box . I am grateful though that there is at least a name to this behavior in the litter box and I can pin point his stressor which I will be sure to avoid in the future. Thank you for the raw recommendation, I am certainly interested in going all raw or wet as that vet diet is just awful. I asked about raw while at the vet and the one tech literally said "I'm a lazy pet owner so I like the convenience of wet and or dry". THANKS LADY

I can relate. My girl was off the streets and had been abandoned by a family that had adopted her. But she fell into the hands of a college student now so we go back and forth between my apartment and my parent's place for holiday and summer breaks. She always gets a UTI or stressed with that process plus she is sick with other things so all her medication causes her to stress. She's losing hair from it. I haven't had blood in the litter box (and I hope it doesn't get to that) so I'm really sorry your kitty is going through that. At least you know now that there is a definite stressor that causes it and can avoid it in the future! And on the even brighter side, there is an end date to this stress so it won't be something that causes continuous flare ups!

My girl, Mika, was on all wet when she got sick. Truthfully, I really prefer it because she isn't a big drinker so I feel better about her not drinking water during the day while on all wet. I tried a bunch of different brands, textures, and tastes but Mika isn't really much of a wet food cat unless its fish or beef. She gets bored easily and will reject food if she eats it too much (that being for more than one meal a week ). I have her on kibbles now because its something she'll consistently eat. I don't know where you are in the world, but, some of the brands I really liked to feed Mika are Whole Earth Farms (the cheaper brand owned by Merrick), Merrick, Nulo, Halo, some Blue Buffalo (mainly their limited ingredient ones), and TikiCat. Mika only likes pate though so if your boy likes different textures then you'll be able to buy more brands. I feed her 3 times a day and I always kept track of her calories (still do, really).

Oh man, I feel that way about raw, honestly! But definitely not about all wet. It really isn't that more difficult, I think it just requires a little more time and thought. Reading through the raw articles and learning more about it really made me stop to think if I have the time (and space, as a college student) to do it. But I know Mika enjoys the actual meats more than her wet or dry food so I want to do it for her. I'm still trying to figure out how to transition her and what I need to be doing. However, I also think there may be more health benefits into it for Mika (and Clancey, if I can be so bold) that really leans me more towards working it out.

 

[denice]

Some people feel that Cosequin has helped their cats with this issue. It has the same effect on the lining of the bladder as it does on the cartilage between joints.

 

[stephanietx]

For stress, you can try running Feliway diffusers in your home.

 

[Ksoltys]

I can relate. My girl was off the streets and had been abandoned by a family that had adopted her. But she fell into the hands of a college student now so we go back and forth between my apartment and my parent's place for holiday and summer breaks. She always gets a UTI or stressed with that process plus she is sick with other things so all her medication causes her to stress. She's losing hair from it. I haven't had blood in the litter box (and I hope it doesn't get to that) so I'm really sorry your kitty is going through that. At least you know now that there is a definite stressor that causes it and can avoid it in the future! And on the even brighter side, there is an end date to this stress so it won't be something that causes continuous flare ups!

My girl, Mika, was on all wet when she got sick. Truthfully, I really prefer it because she isn't a big drinker so I feel better about her not drinking water during the day while on all wet. I tried a bunch of different brands, textures, and tastes but Mika isn't really much of a wet food cat unless its fish or beef. She gets bored easily and will reject food if she eats it too much (that being for more than one meal a week ). I have her on kibbles now because its something she'll consistently eat. I don't know where you are in the world, but, some of the brands I really liked to feed Mika are Whole Earth Farms (the cheaper brand owned by Merrick), Merrick, Nulo, Halo, some Blue Buffalo (mainly their limited ingredient ones), and TikiCat. Mika only likes pate though so if your boy likes different textures then you'll be able to buy more brands. I feed her 3 times a day and I always kept track of her calories (still do, really).

Oh man, I feel that way about raw, honestly! But definitely not about all wet. It really isn't that more difficult, I think it just requires a little more time and thought. Reading through the raw articles and learning more about it really made me stop to think if I have the time (and space, as a college student) to do it. But I know Mika enjoys the actual meats more than her wet or dry food so I want to do it for her. I'm still trying to figure out how to transition her and what I need to be doing. However, I also think there may be more health benefits into it for Mika (and Clancey, if I can be so bold) that really leans me more towards working it out.

Thank you for your replies! I just checked out Mika's struggles and you should be a very proud cat momma! I wish I had some advice to give. She is lucky to have you and best of luck with your struggles! <3

 

[Daisy6]

An all-wet diet is preferred for getting lots of water in her but raw diets are better overall if you do it right. I would start with all wet, hten gradually add raw meats. She needs to recognize what you feed her as cat food or will not eat it at all.

 

[heatherlcornett]

My cat also has this condition. She gets stressed out really easily and had been adopted and returned to a rescue organization as a result of her having trouble using the litter box. By the time I adopted her, it seemed that her condition was under control, mainly due to being in a less stressful environment (she had her own room in the foster's home) and a prescription diet. While I personally don't prefer the prescription diets long-term (if you can avoid it), I do think they help until the condition is under control. In my cat's case, she did have another flare up a few months after I adopted her and I put her back on the diet again, which I do believe helped (then again it seems that a lot of these conditions clear up on their own anyway based on what I have read, so it may not have been the diet at all). My vet also suggested medication since this has been an on-going issue with her so she now takes prozac each day, and she eats a wet food diet. I can't say what is best for your cat but I do think medication helps if he has any additional flare ups. Also, having a water fountain (along with the wet food) can help as well because it can encourage your cat to drink more water (they're pretty inexpensive as well if you look at Amazon).

 

[Jem]

I just wanted to share what we did with our Chewie. He was diagnosed with idiopathic cystitis at the age of 14, a rare age for this diagnosis. We had a very high volume of bears one season coming around (we live near the bush) and our little bugger was constantly meowing at the windows and doors letting us know that something was up. Our poor chewie was terrified. He is usually very chill, except when we have "trespassers" he feels we should be aware of. And when we acknowledge his "warnings" he's content and goes about his business.
Anyway, after a week of many bears coming around, that we could do nothing about, he suddenly completely blocked, had to stay at the vets for almost a week, catheterized, as it was spasms and inflammation causing the blockage. The first vet we brought him to (that's a whole other story, smh) did recommend he be put on a urinary prescription diet, thing is, he would not eat it. After coming home from the second vet (again, whole other story), where he stayed for the week, he was put on an anti-inflammatory, an anti-spasmatic, and an anti-depressant (all short term, less than a month).

In our situation, as long as we feed him primarily wet food (and it's not the prescription stuff), ensure plenty of water is available and try our best to make sure he does not get overly stressed, he has recovered, and has not had a recurrence, he is now 18 years old. For example, we found he prefers stainless steel water dishes over ceramic, we also have a water fountain. We put "frosting" at the bottom 2 feet of our ground level patio doors so he does not feel threatened by other animals. He can still enjoy looking outside from a perched area, where he feels safer, then "in the open" in front of a huge glass door. There is also a cat treat out there that I find works very well. The brand is called "Head to Tail" and the name of the treat is "Calming". Although we don't have stress problems with Chewie anymore (bears not as bad) we do have another cat with anxiety issues and this treat really helps him.
Sorry for the long post, but if you want anymore bits of advice I've got a ton of things to tweak or try for a stressed out cat (which usually seems to be the cause for cystitis, even though it's technically "unknown"). And you can share this advice with your vet to see if it's ok in your situation.

Oh and one more thing, what I've learned is that the urinary system is directly linked to the same part of the brain which processes or registers stress and anxiety in cats. When a cat gets stressed, it's urinary system that responds (inflammatory cells). This can lead to thickening of the bladder and other structures, muscle spasms, inflammation, etc... (There's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it) That's why "they" think cats are so much more prone to urinary conditions.
I guess I took your "Annnnnnnd go" post a little too seriously! lol!

 

[Ksoltys]

An all-wet diet is preferred for getting lots of water in her but raw diets are better overall if you do it right. I would start with all wet, hten gradually add raw meats. She needs to recognize what you feed her as cat food or will not eat it at all.

Thank you for your reply! At the moment Clancey is on the hills urinary (bleh) alongside the wet but I recently acquired honest kitchens dehydrated raw samples and both my kit kats seem to really enjoy it! I like it because I can add water to it in addition to a high quality wet food. I have read that some vets recommendations are any wet can be beneficial and not specifically "their" vet recommended wet. I will continue to slowly introduce the dehydrated raw until the hills dry is gone!

 

[Ksoltys]

I just wanted to share what we did with our Chewie. He was diagnosed with idiopathic cystitis at the age of 14, a rare age for this diagnosis. We had a very high volume of bears one season coming around (we live near the bush) and our little bugger was constantly meowing at the windows and doors letting us know that something was up. Our poor chewie was terrified. He is usually very chill, except when we have "trespassers" he feels we should be aware of. And when we acknowledge his "warnings" he's content and goes about his business.
Anyway, after a week of many bears coming around, that we could do nothing about, he suddenly completely blocked, had to stay at the vets for almost a week, catheterized, as it was spasms and inflammation causing the blockage. The first vet we brought him to (that's a whole other story, smh) did recommend he be put on a urinary prescription diet, thing is, he would not eat it. After coming home from the second vet (again, whole other story), where he stayed for the week, he was put on an anti-inflammatory, an anti-spasmatic, and an anti-depressant (all short term, less than a month).

In our situation, as long as we feed him primarily wet food (and it's not the prescription stuff), ensure plenty of water is available and try our best to make sure he does not get overly stressed, he has recovered, and has not had a recurrence, he is now 18 years old. For example, we found he prefers stainless steel water dishes over ceramic, we also have a water fountain. We put "frosting" at the bottom 2 feet of our ground level patio doors so he does not feel threatened by other animals. He can still enjoy looking outside from a perched area, where he feels safer, then "in the open" in front of a huge glass door. There is also a cat treat out there that I find works very well. The brand is called "Head to Tail" and the name of the treat is "Calming". Although we don't have stress problems with Chewie anymore (bears not as bad) we do have another cat with anxiety issues and this treat really helps him.
Sorry for the long post, but if you want anymore bits of advice I've got a ton of things to tweak or try for a stressed out cat (which usually seems to be the cause for cystitis, even though it's technically "unknown"). And you can share this advice with your vet to see if it's ok in your situation.

Oh and one more thing, what I've learned is that the urinary system is directly linked to the same part of the brain which processes or registers stress and anxiety in cats. When a cat gets stressed, it's urinary system that responds (inflammatory cells). This can lead to thickening of the bladder and other structures, muscle spasms, inflammation, etc... (There's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it) That's why "they" think cats are so much more prone to urinary conditions.
I guess I took your "Annnnnnnd go" post a little too seriously! lol!

Thank you so much for your reply! Never too long of a post for me, ha! Yes, the consensus seems to be an all wet diet which is fine by me. I will be using the rest of the vet recommended wet and slowly transitioning to a higher quality. I also tried samples of dehydrated raw (chicken and turkey) by honest kitchen and both cats seemed to really enjoy it. I like the idea of dehydrated since it is one more food I can continue to add water too. This diagnosis of cystitis arose because I thought it would be a good idea to cat sit a friend's pair while away for a month - boy was I wrong. I thought if I did all the right things, kept everyone separated, fed at the same time between doors etc etc all would be ok. Little did I know it would send my guys into a downward stressful spiral. I don't know how people foster and manage stress, it must be difficult! I took the visiting cats on in the hopes I could foster in the future but I have definitely concluded my cats home will forever and always only be there's and I am ok with that.

Visiting cats have since gone home and Clancey has had to be medicated on Alprazolam short term so that Pepper (my other feline) can de stress as she is exhibiting frequent golf ball sized pees now. Clancey took it upon himself to start redirecting his aggression and stress onto Pepper. I have also purchased a feliway diffuser and am trying some cbd oil mixed in with the dehydrated raw. They don't seem to notice the change and lap up the dehydrated.

Such a mess I have created. We are all on the mend though and happy to report above measures are doing the trick for now. I am slightly worried about Clancey coming off the Alprazolam but here's hoping cbd has kicked in, visiting cats smell has dissipated and diffuser is doing it's job. My next concern is going to be the large male I saw skulking around my catio. Any friendly recommendations there?

Also, so commendable the lengths you went to for your guys!! I adore that level of commitment to our feline's mental well being.

 

[Ksoltys]

Thank you so much for your reply! Never too long of a post for me, ha! Yes, the consensus seems to be an all wet diet which is fine by me. I will be using the rest of the vet recommended wet and slowly transitioning to a higher quality. I also tried samples of dehydrated raw (chicken and turkey) by honest kitchen and both cats seemed to really enjoy it. I like the idea of dehydrated since it is one more food I can continue to add water too. This diagnosis of cystitis arose because I thought it would be a good idea to cat sit a friend's pair while away for a month - boy was I wrong. I thought if I did all the right things, kept everyone separated, fed at the same time between doors etc etc all would be ok. Little did I know it would send my guys into a downward stressful spiral. I don't know how people foster and manage stress, it must be difficult! I took the visiting cats on in the hopes I could foster in the future but I have definitely concluded my cats home will forever and always only be there's and I am ok with that.

Visiting cats have since gone home and Clancey has had to be medicated on Alprazolam short term so that Pepper (my other feline) can de stress as she is exhibiting frequent golf ball sized pees now. Clancey took it upon himself to start redirecting his aggression and stress onto Pepper. I have also purchased a feliway diffuser and am trying some cbd oil mixed in with the dehydrated raw. They don't seem to notice the change and lap up the dehydrated.

Such a mess I have created. We are all on the mend though and happy to report above measures are doing the trick for now. I am slightly worried about Clancey coming off the Alprazolam but here's hoping cbd has kicked in, visiting cats smell has dissipated and diffuser is doing it's job. My next concern is going to be the large male I saw skulking around my catio. Any friendly recommendations there?

Also, so commendable the lengths you went to for your guys!! I adore that level of commitment to our feline's mental well being.

To clarify, if things do not improve with those measures in regards to Pepper's urine out put she will be seeing our vet

 

[Furballsmom]

Good for you regarding the honest kitchen food!! I really wanted it to work for my boy, but no go.
@1bruce1 is someone who has/is dealing with lots of cats, having new ones come in, et al and has quite a system in place. I don't know if this member is still posting but hopefully will have a chance to weigh in, and so does @Jcatbird. I'm with you, I don't really know how they make it work, but they do

 

[Daisy6]

I don't know how people foster and manage stress, it must be difficult! I took the visiting cats on in the hopes I could foster in the future but I have definitely concluded my cats home will forever and always only be there's and I am ok with that.

This topic could already have been discussed in another section because many cat foster parents struggle with temporary and permanent residents not getting along or medical issues cropping up between them. There is nothing wrong with playing it safe by only having your own cats.