Hi,
Has anyone got any advice on how to prevent struvite stones in cats? My cat has had to have a catheter fitted 3 times now to clear blockages in his urethra, we just had to take him back in again tonight. We are doing all we can to try to stop this recurring, he's on a special diet although he has put on weight in a month which as he eats less than recommended is a bit worrying, he's always been fussy with water so we bought him a pet fountain that he can't stand and doesn't use. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as aswell as my cat being in pain this is getting increasingly expensive at the vets.

Hi

Sorry to hear about your cat, hope he's okay this morning?

Unfortunately this is often a recurring problem and it can be difficult to resolve. What food is your cat currently on, and is it dry or wet? Weight can be a contributing factor however this can be a vicious circle as many cat do put weight on when on a urinary diet. Is he active at all? If not, try and increase activity-feed him upstairs/on a height, find anything at all to amuse him and get him moving (those little laser lights that you can flash on walls are often good).

Does your cat suffer from stress? Sounds silly I know, but this can be a factor as well. If for whatever reason the cat feels fearful (change in routine/litter, new cat etc) then this can affect urination and make recurrence of the crystals more likely. If this is the case something like Feliway may help.

Lastly, there is a surgical procedure that is sometimes recommended to cats who are regularly blocked. Its a urethrostomy and creates a permanent opening into the urethra so blockage is unlikely. If you do go ahead with this, the underlying problem (if found) would still need to be rectified.

Hope all goes well.

It's apparently a common thing in neuter boys so i have all my neuters on Royal Canin Urinary S/O - it prevents this happening and touch wood he's been fine since x
The biscuit smells like marmite to me and the cats love it x

hope this helps xx

edit: mine aren't putting on weight with it x

This is a very good link lots of info
Reducing Struvite & Calcium Oxalate in the Urine of Cats

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Mazpahs Siamese & Orientals

Interesting info, May!

Thanks for all your help that link is handy.

This is probably too late an addition to be of much help but I'd just like to tell you that my cat was diagnosed with struvite when he was 8. For years he did pretty well on Royal Canin Urinary but two years ago, at the age of 16, he became diabetic. He's never been overweight so I was a bit surprised, but I've since realised it's because of the high carbohydrate content of the diet he was on. This diet also meant his diabetes got progressively worse until, a couple of months ago, he was on the maximum insulin dose and his blood sugar was off the scale. The vet said there was nothing else to be done and I was basically waiting for him to die.

The internet came to the rescue and I found that a 100% protein diet brought his blood sugar right down. I've also read (and I hope this is true) that protein from meat and fish does not cause struvite crystals because the urine stays acidic. It is the protein in the cereals that pad out commercial cat food which causes the problems.

I would therefore recommend all cat owners not to feed their cats dry food, high in carbs - it's not natural for cats to eat carbs. Most commercial wet food is no better but Nature's Harvest contains no carbs at all.