Need Advice Regarding Flutd - Extremely Hesitant To Try Prescription Food

[Elfilou]

I just adopted a male cat about two months ago and have suspected FLUTD since day one because of excessive drinking. Previous owners said he just really likes water. I started giving him wet food a week after he settled in and I genuinely thought his excessive drinking was getting better. When he peed in my shower I got the hint that he was in pain.

So I let the vet run a urine sample and apparently we caught things "early" because he didn't have any blood in his urine. Oh and no blockages. The receptionist proceeds to tell me that I can come pick up a prescription diet for cats who have crystals in their urine and that he will probably be on this food his entire life. Lol. Uhhh, ma'am, feeding a dry food prescription diet to cure an illness caused by feeding dry food is counter intuïtive to me. (read: hills chicken, which he had been eating his entire dang life- he's 6) BUT, should I feed the bladder crystals prescription food temporarily so he feels better?

Needless to say Luuk is on a full canned food diet from today on and up until today he got one dry meal a day, 2 wet - he's a big boy but not overweight. He got dry food because my other cat is a dry food addict. She will eat some wet foods but every time she's on 100% wet OR raw for longer than a month she gets way too skinny.

I got one of those SureFeed microchip feeders so that when I give Elfie her dry food in the morning Luuk can't get to it anymore.

ANYWAY. What did you guys do with your cat when they got FLUTD? Should I go for the prescription diet, or will the 100% wet food be better? Do I go in every month and see if it gets better etc or? Yeah. Any advice you can give.

 

[maggiedemi]

BUT, should I feed the bladder crystals prescription food temporarily so he feels better?

The prescription food might be necessary for a little while to dissolve the crystals. I would try it, at least for a little while, then maybe switch to canned if the vet says it's okay.

 

[Jem]

My guy had crystals, and it was a chronic problem. No matter what we tried, even on wet food (tried many different ones), they would come back, so we had to stick with the prescription stuff. Keep in mind that the prescription stuff does come in a canned version.
I would still put him on the vet stuff, at least for now. It is formulated to dissolve current crystals, not just prevent new ones from forming. But I used the canned stuff, and it comes in different flavors and textures. I found that the Hills brand worked better than the Royal Canine Brand. We used Hills, CD Chicken pate and CD Stress Chicken Stew.
Once he is out of the woods, and has been peeing consistently for a time. You could slowly switch his food to a wet diet that promotes acidic urine. And keep the prescription wet food on hand for a daily or once in a while snack, just to be on the safe side. But you will have to be vigilant in watching his peeing habits for IF they come back. Most people are lucky that if on a good quality wet food there is not a problem so it would be worth a try, but as I said, still start with the prescription stuff, it does work.

 

[Elfilou]

The prescription food might be necessary for a little while to dissolve the crystals. I would try it, at least for a little while, then maybe switch to canned if the vet says it's okay.

My guy had crystals, and it was a chronic problem. No matter what we tried, even on wet food (tried many different ones), they would come back, so we had to stick with the prescription stuff. Keep in mind that the prescription stuff does come in a canned version.
I would still put him on the vet stuff, at least for now. It is formulated to dissolve current crystals, not just prevent new ones from forming. But I used the canned stuff, and it comes in different flavors and textures. I found that the Hills brand worked better than the Royal Canine Brand. We used Hills, CD Chicken pate and CD Stress Chicken Stew.
Once he is out of the woods, and has been peeing consistently for a time. You could slowly switch his food to a wet diet that promotes acidic urine. And keep the prescription wet food on hand for a daily or once in a while snack, just to be on the safe side. But you will have to be vigilant in watching his peeing habits for IF they come back. Most people are lucky that if on a good quality wet food there is not a problem so it would be worth a try, but as I said, still start with the prescription stuff, it does work.

Thanks, both of you. That was super helpful. It definitely feels better to know that there is at least a canned food version, and that it helps dissolve the current crystals. I'll do that first then, see how it goes and switch from there I guess. I still have very conflicting feelings but perhaps that skepticism of mine can be shushed if I feed him a raw meal in between prescription food meals. I know these diets have gone through trials to prove they work, but to immediately hear that he will be on that stuff forever makes me question whether I should even start. Hope that makes sense; I want the best for my kitty.

 

[Jem]

I still have very conflicting feelings but perhaps that skepticism of mine can be shushed if I feed him a raw meal in between prescription food meals.

I just wanted to recap, please don't give him different foods until the crystals are gone. The food will work best if it's the only thing given. It might only take a week or so, for them to go away and a few weeks after that just to be on the safe side. So you don't have to worry about him having a less than ideal diet for a long time. As I said the food does work, and many are lucky to be able to ween them off it, if put on a good quality wet or raw diet once the crystals are gone.

 

[stephanietx]

This thread might be helpful.
D-Mannose & Corn Silk for Bladders?

I also found this article helpful. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease

I'm not a huge fan of Rx diets, but sometimes they do work. It might be worth it for a couple of weeks to get over this outbreak and then work on increasing water intake and adding supplements to help prevent flare ups in the future. You can always blend the Rx food with your current wet food. I do that with one of my kitties. I also add water to all of my cats' wet food to make it more like a slurry and increase their water intake. Cutting back to just a few dry food crunchies as "snacks" or treats might also help.

 

[Elfilou]

I just wanted to recap, please don't give him different foods until the crystals are gone. The food will work best if it's the only thing given. It might only take a week or so, for them to go away and a few weeks after that just to be on the safe side. So you don't have to worry about him having a less than ideal diet for a long time. As I said the food does work, and many are lucky to be able to ween them off it, if put on a good quality wet or raw diet once the crystals are gone.

I know the struvite is gone via testing his urine sample once a month, right? I'm going in to discuss options with the vet today; they called me with the results of the urine test yesterday. The thing is that he is peeing, thankfully, but as far as I can tell the clumps are just about half the size of my female cat's clumps of pee- and much more frequent than hers. You're right though probably. I will go through the prescription diet and hope that I can ween him off it once his bladder is clear.

This thread might be helpful.
D-Mannose & Corn Silk for Bladders?

I also found this article helpful. Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease

I'm not a huge fan of Rx diets, but sometimes they do work. It might be worth it for a couple of weeks to get over this outbreak and then work on increasing water intake and adding supplements to help prevent flare ups in the future. You can always blend the Rx food with your current wet food. I do that with one of my kitties. I also add water to all of my cats' wet food to make it more like a slurry and increase their water intake. Cutting back to just a few dry food crunchies as "snacks" or treats might also help.

Thanks I think I'll definitely be getting some of that D-Mannose. I read the FLUTD article too and it pretty much supports what I've read too. Here's something from catinfo.org about prescription diets and how the trials to determine the effectiveness were conducted. And her general page about urinary tract disease. I'm all about science and I know those prescription diets went through clinical diets to decrease struvite in the urine- but their ingredients seem unhealthy to me and it's not something I like switching to. I will though, for now. Because I don't have any alternative reliable, clinically documented option. But I'm very afraid that this food leads to a "hooking" effect that will, every time I try to get him off that food, make symptoms come back. That when I can clearly see that his drinking habits have already improved from when he first came here. I hate that this could have been prevented if the previous owners had just given him more moisture.

 

[stephanietx]

I have 1 male cat and 3 females. My male cat has ALWAYS had a smaller clump of pee than my girls. His are about the size of a golf ball. Of course, if he's had larger clumps in the past, this might be cause for concern.

 

[Elfilou]

I have 1 male cat and 3 females. My male cat has ALWAYS had a smaller clump of pee than my girls. His are about the size of a golf ball. Of course, if he's had larger clumps in the past, this might be cause for concern.

Ah okay, good to know. He's had the small clumps since he's been here and the previous owner used non-clumping litter, so there is no way to know if this is a new thing. I do read that small clumps are indicative of bladder issues which is true in my case. I've never had male cats before though so I have no clue if its normal for males.

 

[Wile]

Ah okay, good to know. He's had the small clumps since he's been here and the previous owner used non-clumping litter, so there is no way to know if this is a new thing. I do read that small clumps are indicative of bladder issues which is true in my case. I've never had male cats before though so I have no clue if its normal for males.

Just to give another example, my own male cat pees clumps that are twice the size of the clumps my female cat pees. He is also twice her size, and eats more wet food than her. I think it depends on the cat rather than the sex.

 

[Elfilou]

Just to give another example, my own male cat pees clumps that are twice the size of the clumps my female cat pees. He is also twice her size, and eats more wet food than her. I think it depends on the cat rather than the sex.

Very true! Luuk has now been on the veterinary wet food for almost a week and I can already no longer tell the difference between my two cats pee clumps, I have only seen him drink once all week (normally I'd catch him drinking at least 4 times a day, not including the drinking he probably did while I was gone!) so things are looking good for Luuk.

I'm glad we caught it early. I checked with the vet and apparently misunderstood, there were no crystals but there was quite a bit of struvite. Hopefully the next urine test will show that he no longer needs to be on a special diet and we'll continue with a good wet diet, with maybe some struvite prevention in there as suggested earlier in the thread.