Male cat with cystitis

kimbyanne

I noticed the other day that my 14 month old cat had some blood in his urine so I took him straight to the vet the next day who diagnosed him with cystitis. I was prescribed Loxicom antibiotics and anti-inflamatory and he is now on Science Plan Urinary SO.

However, after doing some research it seems cats with cystitis shouldn't really eat dry food and should be moved to a wet food diet. This confused me because my vets had always pushed dry food, saying wet food was bad for them, etc and the fact they had had prescribed me dry food this time.

He has now had three days of antibiotics and he seems fine in himself but is still peeing in stages and now has a dodgy tummy thanks to the antibiotics.

I was wondeirng if anyone has any experience with male cats with cystitis (I know its more serious in males than in females due to the possibility of blockages).

What is the best way to treat this/prevent it from returning? Is wet food the best way to go?

I did ask the vet is switching him to a dry food with higher meat content would be better for him (like Applaws which has 80% meat or Orijen) but she said there was no "scientific proof to argue the case either way" which I think is just she doesn't know so can't answer.

Any advice would be great!

Thanks

ljonski

Mr H. has never had any similar problems since he is now on a mixed dry/wet diet

~Beanie~

My male cat has been 'blocked' twice now and the vet advised me to feed him wet food only from now on, and to try and get him to drink more, basically to get as much liquid into him as possible to encourage him to wee more.

They sent him home with special diet wet food to help but the fussy puss wont even try it!

Carer

One of my male cats has had this for years. He's ended up in vet's twice with severe blockage which is life threatening and really really scary.
The only thing that keeps it at bay for any length of time is the specialist diet.
We have tried everything over the years due to the high expense of the urinary food.
We've tried high protein dried food, raw diet, water fountain, normal tinned food etc, nothing works for any length of time except the tinned wet urinary food, all other methods end up with him bleeding again.
http://www.bestpet.co.uk/product/~product_id=6134

This is the one we now use, it's slightly cheaper than all the others but he likes it and it works. He has 1/2 tin twice a day, no other meals or treats at all (unless he catches something, but as he's fat and lazy that's not a regular thing) as feeding him other stuff will cause crystals to form.

paddypaws101

http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth
I did have a link to Hills'own site in which they state quite clearly that their own studies have shown the best way to avoid further ongoing bouts of cystitis is to switch to wet food, unfortunately they have re-organised the site and the article no longer loads.

I think the only time the dry is a good idea is if the cat has actual crystals in which case the food has a specific short term task to do in dissolving the crystals. After that....switch to wet or even raw food.
I would make sure the cat has various bowls of water available, or a cat fountain and I would also add a good dash of warm water to every wet food meal.

TeamLowe

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I think the only time the dry is a good idea is if the cat has actual crystals in which case the food has a specific short term task to do in dissolving the crystals. After that....switch to wet or even raw food.
I would make sure the cat has various bowls of water available, or a cat fountain and I would also add a good dash of warm water to every wet food meal.

Sorry but i have to disagree - as i was told by my vet- if your cat is prone to blockages and crystals then you have to keep feeding them the special food as it has to keep breaking it down.

it's no good feeding it to them for say three weeks, even a year, blockage gone, cat fine and dandy, then changing the diet because as soon as you do there's nothing to stop a new blockage from forming, and as the food takes a good few days to work through the system your cat will get ill and need to be rushed in to have their bladder flushed, and each time that happens they do more damage to the urethra exacerbating the problem and making it more likely that your cat will need its penis removed- which they could have to do anyway if they don't get the catheter in.

my cat doesn't have a struvite crystal problem per se, his problem is excessive proteins around the crystals form. but the food gets rid of the crystals which makes holes in the blockage so his urine can flush the rest away.

And as this is an MSE site- it also costs about £1k everytime the bladder needs flushing, and a bag of food that lasts about a month- six weeks costs a tenner/£15 from the vets

Wickedkitten

Both of our boys have had crystals more than once and after switching them to an all wet diet last year they have been fine. Side affect is our chubbo has actually lost a bit of weight as well and is in a healthy range now because he isn’t getting stuffed full of fillers.

paddypaws101

TeamLowe wrote: »

Sorry but i have to disagree - as i was told by my vet- if your cat is prone to blockages and crystals then you have to keep feeding them the special food as it has to keep breaking it down.

And as this is an MSE site- it also costs about £1k everytime the bladder needs flushing, and a bag of food that lasts about a month- six weeks costs a tenner/£15 from the vets

I see your point TeamLowe, but do still believe that wet food is the better choice...remembering that it is possible to get Prescription wet food.;)

mazza111

After Breezer had the same problem, our vet advised to put him onto wet food only. He hasn't had any problems since, touch wood.

snozberry

My boy had the same problem. My vet advised a wet diet and extra water dishes dotted around the house.

Carer

I think it depends on the cat, obviously some are worse than others, but we've tried everything, our cat is about 9 now and he's had FLUTD for quite a few years now.

Poor boy still kept getting crystals on wet food although he lasted longer between bouts, but in the end the only thing that has kept it at bay is the wet urinary food (dried was no good either).

He will be on it for life.

Oh and moneysaving wise - get the food online, the vet's charge a mint and it doesn't need a prescription!