Hi
Just wondered if anyone could help. My cat has Long term Cystitis so was having the Royal Canin urinary wet pouch, half a pouch morning and night. However due to her being overweight because this food is apparently high in calories and also her being on prednisolone tablets for ashtma which causes weight gain, the vet recommended she have half a pouch of urinary a day (1/4 am and 1/4 pm and a few hypoallergenic dry food (for her ashtma).

Since cutting down to half a pouch of urinary a day her cystitis has flared up, which I thought meant its because shes not having enough of this urinary meat to help the cystitis. The vet said it makes no difference on how much of this meat you feed her, less of it doesnt mean to say it makes the cystitis worse.

So shes had antibiotics and cystaid, which havent helped. I'm wondering if the vet is just saying this to get more money, as the next stage would be to do a urine and blood test all over again to see if there is some other problem.

Any thoughts would be of great help!
Many thanks

Hi there and welcome,

Firstly, how old is your cat and when was the cystitis and the asthma diagnosed? What actual symptoms are present with the latter? Any triggers like stress? Cystaid dose?

A few things strike me here - firstly it's perfectly possible the steroids are actually exascerbating the cystitis owing to their ability to lower immune system. Another side-effect is increased urination not to be confused with cystitis. Upping fluid intake ( water fountain ) is a very important part of therapy so I'd invest in one if not already. If stress is a factor then a Feliway could help a lot.

Lastly, while not aware of calorific value of RC 1/4 sachet twice daily sounds incredibly low to me. You have to ensure she's getting the correct amount of nutrients in her diet as well though of course a lot depends on her size and weight. I would look to increasing her exercise levels as a means of dealing with weight gain.

I can only echo what Ianthi has already said.

In addition to her medication, there are at least two reasons as to why she now seems to be worse than when she had double of the S/O food.

1) you are now also feeding her dry food. From a FLUTD perspective, it doesn't really matter whether this food is hypoallergenic or not, what matters is that it is dry food and contain hardly any moisture. Cats with FLUTD need moisture to help flush any possible crystals out, so dry food is actually quite counter-productive.

2) Related, you have halved her wet food proportion, which means that she now takes in half as much moisture. As per point 1 above, cats with FLUTD - actually any cat - need moisture in their food.

Now, regarding her feeding amount, that is far far too little. It ISN'T a calorific food at all, sorry but that is just bull. One pouch contains 7% protein and 5.3% fat; actually 100g contain 93 kcal of food, which is within normal/average limits. Have a look at RC own' feeding recommendations, which they also offer for overweight cats: Urinary S/O Chicken - Pouch - Royal Canin. For a 4kg overweight cat they recommend 2 pouches a day, so 4 times as much as you are offering her now.

The overall implication is, as Ianthi has already said, that your cat not only gets the moisture she needs but also not the right amount of nutrients.

My advice to you is that you stop the dry food now, up the amount of wet food she gets now, invest in a water fountain if you haven't already got one and just up her exercise level (get a da bird or laser pointer) to help her lose weight.

Good luck!

Ianthi - Many thanks for your help. In answer to your question my cat is around 8 years old (she was about 4 when i got her from a rescue place) and the FLUTD and asthma was diagnosed about 3 years ago.

I had an £800 allergy test and the result was she was allergic to flea saliva (FAD) and sensitive to all cat foods - beef, chicken, fish etc. So I was advised to use stronghold once a month and put her on a hypoallergenic diet. However her FLUTD then flared up so had to cut down to 1/2 puch of urinary a day and 28g of dry hypoallergenic food.

I have spent over £5000 now on constant trips back and forward to the vets, which i am fed up with now, as each vet tells me completely different things!

I am confused because my vet said the steroids would compromise her immune system, but then told me to up the dosage of them to cure the FLUTD because steroids are an anti-inflamatory so would help both, is this true?

I have a water fountain already, but may buy some feliway to see if that helps. She may be stressed as she is on her own all day.

Are you aware of a new Cystaid tablet on the market which also combats stress in a cat? My vet said he would order them for me, but i would rather get them off the internet as it is alot cheaper.

hobs2004

Yes thats true i dont think half a pouch of urinary and 28g of dry hypoallergenic biscuits per day is helping, even though this is what my vet recommended. He reckoned reducing the urinary meat would have no big impact on her FLUTD??!

I was going to start off with exercising her once a day for 5 mins chasing her up and down the stairs, this is the only way she will move, the laser pen doesnt help as she looses interest after a minute!

Thank you both for your help!