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- Jan 11, 2007
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Hi all,
My male cat is 10 months old and has suffered recurring urinary tract infections since he was about 2 months old. Initially, he had recurring infections about every six weeks, and the vet said that since he was a stray, his background might have contributed to the first couple of infections.
By the time he was four months old, the vet was wanting me to put him on a special diet...Hills c/d (with every infection, struvite crystals were found). The cat despised the food, and I ended up putting him on a raw food diet for nine weeks. He exceled on the diet (was extremely healthy, shiny hair, good appetite), but 9 weeks after starting the food, he got another infection (this was his longest period without an infection). Took him back to the vet, and after antibiotics, the cat was again put on a special diet--this time, Royal Canin S/O.
A week after starting the Royal Canin, he was peeing blood again, and after a trip to the emergency room, I was told he had a severe urinary tract infection (this was one week after finishing the last round of antibiotics). I changed vets at this point, and the new vet put him on six weeks of antibiotics (and probiotics at the same time to keep his good bacteria alive), two weeks after finishing the antibiotics, he had a urinanalysis, which showed the infection was totally gone, and his pH balance was 6.5. I took him back four weeks later (six weeks after finishing the antibiotics), and his pH was still 6.5 with no crystals and no blood in the urine.
Now, we are eight weeks since the last urinanalysis was clear (12 weeks since the last antibiotics), and we have another infection. He has been strictly on Royal Canin this whole time. The vet is now asking for a ultrasound to be done (at the price of about $300) to see if he has stones...and I'll add right here that they did an x-ray that didn't show anything in his kidneys or bladder and all blood tests have come back normal.
Now this is where I need advice and experience. I have several questions I'm hoping you all can help with:
1) If his pH is staying 6.5 (which I was told is neutral for cats), then why is he still developing crystals?
2) The bag of Royal Canin S/O says that it dissolves struvite stones...so given that he's been on this food (wet and dry) for 12 weeks, how likely is it that he's still got stones (if he had some that didn't show up in the x-ray)? How long should it take to dissolve stones?
3) And if he doesn't have stones, but is developing crystals while on Royal Canin, what do you guys recommend to help him? And why would he still develop stones?
I know that I need the vets opinion on this, but I wanted some feedback before I get the scan done in the next week or so. My vet is knowledgble, but hardly an expert in this field, and most of the questions I'm asking (like the ones above), she tells me she just doesn't know the answers.
I'm feeling very VERY frustrated right now. My baby is sick, and what I'm doing doesn't seem to be helping. And from what the vet said, I'm looking at hundreds of dollars for scans and surgeries...and to be honest, this is a little expensive for my budget. So I need a direct course of action that will eliminate unnecessary tests and procedures while giving me and my kitty the best possible results.
And thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer.
My male cat is 10 months old and has suffered recurring urinary tract infections since he was about 2 months old. Initially, he had recurring infections about every six weeks, and the vet said that since he was a stray, his background might have contributed to the first couple of infections.
By the time he was four months old, the vet was wanting me to put him on a special diet...Hills c/d (with every infection, struvite crystals were found). The cat despised the food, and I ended up putting him on a raw food diet for nine weeks. He exceled on the diet (was extremely healthy, shiny hair, good appetite), but 9 weeks after starting the food, he got another infection (this was his longest period without an infection). Took him back to the vet, and after antibiotics, the cat was again put on a special diet--this time, Royal Canin S/O.
A week after starting the Royal Canin, he was peeing blood again, and after a trip to the emergency room, I was told he had a severe urinary tract infection (this was one week after finishing the last round of antibiotics). I changed vets at this point, and the new vet put him on six weeks of antibiotics (and probiotics at the same time to keep his good bacteria alive), two weeks after finishing the antibiotics, he had a urinanalysis, which showed the infection was totally gone, and his pH balance was 6.5. I took him back four weeks later (six weeks after finishing the antibiotics), and his pH was still 6.5 with no crystals and no blood in the urine.
Now, we are eight weeks since the last urinanalysis was clear (12 weeks since the last antibiotics), and we have another infection. He has been strictly on Royal Canin this whole time. The vet is now asking for a ultrasound to be done (at the price of about $300) to see if he has stones...and I'll add right here that they did an x-ray that didn't show anything in his kidneys or bladder and all blood tests have come back normal.
Now this is where I need advice and experience. I have several questions I'm hoping you all can help with:
1) If his pH is staying 6.5 (which I was told is neutral for cats), then why is he still developing crystals?
2) The bag of Royal Canin S/O says that it dissolves struvite stones...so given that he's been on this food (wet and dry) for 12 weeks, how likely is it that he's still got stones (if he had some that didn't show up in the x-ray)? How long should it take to dissolve stones?
3) And if he doesn't have stones, but is developing crystals while on Royal Canin, what do you guys recommend to help him? And why would he still develop stones?
I know that I need the vets opinion on this, but I wanted some feedback before I get the scan done in the next week or so. My vet is knowledgble, but hardly an expert in this field, and most of the questions I'm asking (like the ones above), she tells me she just doesn't know the answers.
I'm feeling very VERY frustrated right now. My baby is sick, and what I'm doing doesn't seem to be helping. And from what the vet said, I'm looking at hundreds of dollars for scans and surgeries...and to be honest, this is a little expensive for my budget. So I need a direct course of action that will eliminate unnecessary tests and procedures while giving me and my kitty the best possible results.
And thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer.