Here to help my Mum

[Flower]

Hi, I'm a newbie here, non-cat owner... but hoping to get some advice from knowledgable cat owners.

Basically my Mum's cat has been to the vets twice in the last fortnight costing over £400 each time. He has basically had a blocked uretha due to struvite crystals.

Mum has been advised and sold a special diet to help dissolve these crystals. Which I think is very expensive and no doubt can find it cheaper online... any suggestions?
She has been sold Hills C/D tinned food.

She has also been advised to try to encourage her cat to drink more... one of the the tips suggested gravy ice cubes but Charlie doesn't seem interested.. any other ideas?

Feel really sad Mum paid for his first vet stay and I've paid for his second lot of treatment but can't really afford for a third visit if it happens too soon... I am worried as he is such a lovely cat... I don't know how else I can help.

You should have seen him... he walked around my Mum's kitchen kissing everyone twice on his return home after his first hospital stay... he was so pleased to be home.

Any advice, places to get the special diet cheaper, how to encourage more fluid intake would be greatly appreciated... thanks for reading my waffling.

[Mags]

A good tip I was told by one of our members, Kazz, to get your cat to take more water, was to add a couple of spoonfuls of water to their wet food...... they will lap it up like gravy. I always do that with my cat's food now.

I'm sure someone with more knowledge about struvite crystals will be along shortly to answer that question..

[Amber]

The prescription diets generally work wonders, but yes you may be able to find it cheaper online, I would just type it into google or similar and see what you come up with :)

Also to encourage him to drink more, she may want to invest in a drinking fountain, as cats tend to prefer drinking running water.

[pinklizzy]

I don't know where your cat's water bowl is but we had a feline behaviour evening at work last week. One of the things mentioned was having a large bowl, that's ceramic,glass or metal (plastic can taint the water) and placing it away from where the cat is fed. The logic behind this is that cat's wouldn't naturally drink in an area where it's prey are located in case the water is contaminated by faeces or corpses. Maybe having more than one water bowl might help as well?

[charliebubs]

Hi Flower and welcome to Catsey!

I'm so sorry to hear about your mum's cat, Charlie. I hope that the diet sorts him out soon.

I buy a prescription diet online for one of my cats and get it from Nutrecare. They sell the Hills foods too. Here's a link.....

http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/prod1.asp?ID=144

The same website also has this information sheet, which may be of help to you......

http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/search.asp?prod_id=2202&search=crystals&offset=12&grpid=2202#prod_anchor

Eukanuba also do a wet food for the same condition. I tend to find with my cats that if I feed them the same stuff for a while they get bored of it :roll: so your mum might want to keep a different brand in the cupboard in case Charlie gets tired of the Hills one. Here's another link.....

http://www.nutrecare.co.uk/search.asp?prod_id=1790&search=crystals&offset=&grpid=1790#prod_anchor

Tell Charlie he's got the best name too!!!! ;)

[Flower]

Thanks so much for all your replies so far... I will certainly read the links and look up the different foods available for his condition.

[alexgirl73]

Another tip for getting them to drink more, is to buy a pet water fountain. the water is circulated all the time and therefore tastes fresher to the cat. My oldest boy suffered the same problem. He is now fed on a small amount of morrisons own wet food and RC vet food (young male post op) £10 for a large bag. Hope this helps.

[kado]

Hi and welcome to the forum and i am especialy sorry about your mums cat. I have 2 cats with exactly the same problem and they started out on the same food. After about 2-4months they went totaly off it. They are now on Hill Science presciption only c/d they love it and always drink water. Once a vet suggested to put water in with the food and they turned there noses up and walked away. I make sure there water is changed frequently as well. A 5kg bag of food last us about 2-4wks i also have another cat who eats it as well. I thought about giving up on the food and replacing it with something else but even the vet nurses at the practice advised us not too as her cat was on it as well. It is expensive its a little more expensive tham iams.

jane

[Juli]

It makes sense about another drinking source. I have to shut my cats in the lounge if i go out, to keep them away from the chinchilla, but i have an extra water dish that i leave there for them, i give them fresh water several times a day and i've noticed that they will go to the kitchen to eat but always come back into the lounge to drink, it's worth a shot!