Cystitis in cats

[Skits]

I brought in my one year old male today to the vet as we has been having a hard time peeing, and was peeing on everything in the house. He got a radiography where they didn't find any solid rocks but sand-like crystals, and then he had a catheter put in, and flushed with liquids to remove stones. They said it was a little complicated and he had to be put to sleep while doing so, but after some effort they managed to get some pee out, but think that he may have a stone stuck in his ***** which may or may not pass once he comes back. If not, he will have to undergo a surgery with a specialist to remove his ***** completely. He's being put on a special diet and will be on prazosin and buprenorphine. I wanted to know what's anyones success rate with this? Does it come back later on? How was everything afterwards, and what have you done to help your cats? My boy is coming home tomorrow, I'm really hoping all will be better.

Edit: Sorry if this is in the wrong section. If it could be moved to members lounge, that might be better.

[Starbuck]

I'm sorry about your cats diagnosis :-( luckily, while not normal, this is common in older (especially unneutered) males. Sometimes, and change in diet can prevent it from coming back or happening again, I would recommend a phone consultation or meeting with the specialist to see what theybhave to say regarding preventative care.

Additionally, you are correct. The surgical treatment for this is to create a new urethral opening, shortening and widening the urethra, to make sure that if he gets crystals again theyvare able to pass. Blockages in cats can be life threatening, so it is good that you caught it in time!
I have never had a cat personally with this issue, but I know we did have a few in the practice I worked for, and they did seem to live normal lives otherwise. Again a key change is diet, you meed to correct the protein imbalance that caused the crystals to accumulate.
Best of luck

[Skits]

Hi, thanks for the reply. We went to pick him up yesterday. He's doing a lot better, peeing on his own already and seeming out of pain. I'll definitely change his diet, is there any foods you'd recommend?

[Starbuck]

Sorry, I havnt taken nutrition yet in my curriculum! I know you need to work with the proteins, honestly I would follow tour vets recommendations or give the specialist a call amd see what they would recommend.

[MDT]

Our female spayed cat has some form of "cystitis" (not infective) and frequently peeing of stuff :(
This cat is my youngest daughter's best friend, so.......she is on a special (Rx only) feline "bladder health" diet (read: really $$$$$$$$ cat food)......we do a lot of laundry and frequent vet visits which include some kind of laser therapy on her bladder. Fortunately, the vet is a friend and goes easy on us :)

Starbuck, when you finish school, you gotta get in on this Rx food action. You'll make a ton of cash!!! :)

[swolek]

Have you considered a raw diet? That's supposed to help a TON. My cats are on a prey model raw diet, it's easy and actually cheaper than dry food.

[MDT]

Like raw chicken and such? Hadn't heard of doing that. Are their poops horrendous on a raw diet? What specifically do you feed?

[swolek]

Like raw chicken and such? Hadn't heard of doing that. Are their poops horrendous on a raw diet? What specifically do you feed?

Yeah, raw meats but not just chicken. This morning my cats got pork brains and chicken gizzards. Dinner will be turkey neck chunks.

Something like this: CatCentric.org - A Prey Model Raw (PMR) / Whole Prey Feeding Guide (http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and-food/raw-feeding/a-frankenprey-and-whole-prey-feeding-guide/)

Actually, their poops are small and hard on a raw diet...they don't smell AT ALL. The litterbox no longer smells and they don't poop as often so less cleaning! That was my main motivation since I knew it would happen due to my dog having been on a raw diet for a long time :).

The idea is to emulate what they would eat in the wild...so you make sure to feed meat, bones, and organs from various species. It's super easy once they're switched over, just hand them the meat ;). My roommate's cat was really fat and lethargic, he also threw up CONSTANTLY. I switched him to raw and he's lean, active, and no longer pukes...at all :p. It's great!

[Starbuck]

Please do lots of research on raw diets before.commiting to them. They can br very beneficial when done correctly, but the field itself is new and there is a lot of misinformation out there. If your vet tells you it is rediculous and shouldn't be done, ask why and then get a second opinion. Vets that graduated even only 10 years ago may noy know how far the raw diet movememt has.come.

Additionally there are plenty of.pre made refridgerated/frozen diets available.for cats and dog (raw I mean). Raw diets do not mean chicken breast on mondays, livers on tuesday, etc etc... the goal is to mimic the natural, whole prwy diet (just like we do in out snakes).

TL; DR : DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST!

[maroongrad]

You can go with a dry food, there are some decent ones out there. I have a cat that got bladder stones and infections regularly. Or, you can just put the cats on a wet-food diet. 9 lives pates are surprisingly healthy for a "cheap" food with no grains/carbs in them. That's excellent for cats. Feed wet food AND mix in about a quarter of it as water, and your cat will probably be fine. Avoid the foods with fish in them; they tend to have too much calcium and can trigger stones again. But we've been stone free for over a year just by feeding wet food with a little water mixed in. It also took care of the diabetes in the fat cat!

[Skits]

Hi, thanks for the replies everyone. I'm sorry for the late replies, I've been a little busy. I definitely want to put my all my cats on raw. I have two ferrets who are on it, I understand the mixture of them eating variety of raw meats, organs, etc. I know it's ultra beneficial for them, but definitely need more time invested into it, which I'm willing to do as soon as I'm able to get something started. My three males take raw meat pieces great so switching them wouldn't be a problem.

An update on Artoo, unfortunately he's slowly beginning to strain his urine again. We've spoken with a vet and given the option to have a perinal urethostomy. We've started a page for him: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-save-Artoo/351943451617007?ref=hl and a fund if anyone is willing to donate. Unfortunately this happened at a bad time where personal problems have been going on and we can't fully afford a second large vet bill and are looking for help, even the smallest amounts would help. If you can't help, even good vibes would be amazing and appreciated.

I'm sorry if this is not allowed, admin feel free to erase if it isn't and it won't be posted again.

[TheZoo]

Hi, My but kitty had the same problem it was mostly recamended to us to not feed any fish or fish products (i dont remember why anymore, but its not natrual in there diet anyways) we also have ours on wet food which could mean nothing but since this he hasnt had it again. sorry about the problems though it really dose suck