Crystals in Cat Urine-need advice

**shoiji** · 01-08-2010, 04:47 PM

Well the results came back for my cat. She has crystals in her urine. Apparently she needs to eat some special food from the vet for a month. I need to get in contact with the pet food I feed her know to see if there is amonium phosphate in the cat food since this is what the crystals are made of.

Fortunately I am already spending way to much on organic cat food for them. So price wise I am not worried.

The person I spoke with at the vet's office said that they can also get the crystals from stress. Which is believeable since this is the cat that gets stressed when new people show up, especially men. She gave me info to read. Also said for multiple cat house I should have three cat litter boxes. WHAT??!!!!! I am in a one bedroom apartment. So will try two for now. Also suggested a water fountain since cats like fresh water. WHAT???!!!! I know they like fresh water, but a water fountain.

My route has changed which I realize may also be stressing her out. Unfortunately I realize I can not be here 24hours a day for her.

Right now I will be really careful about cleaning and cleaning out the litterboxes. She will be confined to the bedroom and bathroom at night for a couple of more days. Just want to be sure she doesn't start going to the bathroom all over the place. Only to have a vicious cycle started.

If you have had a similar situation with your cat, what were you able to do that helped them. Still trying to get my head wrapped around this since all the cats I have had never had this problem.

Thanks in advance.

**Neeley** · 01-08-2010, 04:57 PM

One of our cats, Mocha (age 15 years old), had crystals in her urine, too. Hers was so bad her urine was extremely bloody. Our vet put her on a round of medication and told us to change her food to one that is for urinary tract health. No particular brand, as she get tired of foods easily. I switch between various brands, like 9 Lives, Good Life, Friskies, etc...Also, she eats a can of wet food everyday. For that she gets Friskies Senior Care or Friskies Special Diet. She also eats a couple of cans of tuna fish a week.

She had this episode two years ago in April and has been fine ever since. No more crystals, no more blood in her urine.

As far as the litter box, just within the past couple of months have we added a second one.

**Josephhgoins** · 01-08-2010, 05:00 PM

what are the symptoms of this?

**shoiji** · 01-08-2010, 05:16 PM

For my cat she was going in and out of the litter box alot. Then on Tuesday she started urinating on the clothes I had on the floor to throw away. Then she urinated on one of her beds. I knew something was definately wrong when she went in the litterbox, squatted for a while then stood up to cover stuff up, but I made her come out before she could cover anything. There was nothing there for her to cover up. I argued with the vet tech over the phone and finally had them agree for me to bring her in. Otherwise she would still be suffering. They had to take a sample from her and test it.

**Brat** · 01-08-2010, 06:52 PM

I feed my cat the 9 lives uninary track healt food for the last 10 years of her life..I also changed from the litter that had the clump/scent in it to floor dry and bakeing soda. She never had any more trouble with it after that...I did change her water twice a day but that was all.

**Lindsay E** · 01-08-2010, 08:01 PM

I recently had this problem with our male cat. You should feel very very fortunate that your cat is female. When male cats have this problem it can be far more severe and cause death within a few days (this is because they have a narrower urethra and can become blocked up entirely).

We have a water fountain for our cats, although I'm not entirely convinced they are using it. It cost me about $40 at the pet store. My vet also recommended putting water in odd ball containers in various places in your home. The idea is that the cat will be intrigued and will drink more water. What we have had the most success with is adding water to the canned food. Our cat was on the special food for two months and will have to remain on a urinary canned food for the rest of his life.

Best of luck with this, let us know how things are going. This was a very expensive problem for our family and involved many trips back to the vet (only because of the risk of death in male cats). I feel for you

**shoiji** · 01-08-2010, 09:42 PM

Well I cleaned out the litterbox, put out three cups of water. The sick one likes to drink out of my cup when she can. I will look into the waterfountain since I know the other cat likes to drink out of them. I stopped because the pump was not something made for cats to drink out of.

Until I can trust her alone she will be sleeping in the bathroom, which she hates but like I said I don't want her going to the bathroom somewhere and a vicious cycles starts.

She seems to really like the new food which is supposed to make her thirsty.

I will be glad when things get back to normal around here. Am sure the cat will also.

Thanks for the support. Keep any information coming, need all the info I can get.

**mountainbum** · 01-09-2010, 03:19 PM

Glad to hear they were able to find out what the problem was. I have a male cat who has kidney disease. Our vet also recommended putting water bowls in several different locations, especially near where he sleeps (he's 18 years old and can't get around well, so this kind of reminds him to drink water). It has seemed to help a lot - kind of a pain to have little water dishes all over the place, but I have to take care of my "little old man". Good luck to you and your kitty!

**shoiji** · 01-09-2010, 03:57 PM

Thanks for all the responses. I made her sleep in the bathroom last night and am glad to report she is finally urinating. The food seems to be working. Today I let her stay with the other cat in the bedroom. She seems happier and is sleeping better. Tomorrow will let them run around the apartment.

This coming week I will get another covered litter box. The second one I have now is just a plain open one. They seem to like to kick alot so that should solve that.

Just need to find a good catfood for both of them.