Our 18 month Ragodoll/Maine Coon Cross thing (some of you will have seen pictures in the odd For Sale Listings!) couldn’t pee the other day – after gogling yesterday morning and trying not to let Common-law dribble see what I had seen (i.e, get him to the vet, he’s going to die)- he’s been ‘flushed’ and is under control of vet still.

They have ‘ruled out’ crystals, and have a “meh” attitude to what could have caused it; could be stress etc.

Googling is a minefield; one thing is I don’t think his dry-food only diet is doing him any good (ironic as we thought that would be best for him).

So, looking to move to wet food; but god there’s a lot out there – apparenltly (according to google, so not entirely believing) ash content isn’t good…what should I be buying that’s not going to bankrupt me, but it quality stuff, not junk?

Thanks

I feed my cat felix as good as it looks, comes in loads of flavours and looks like real meat, she seems to love it(been on it for 2 years)and gives her a nice glossy coat. still leave dry food out for her but she prefers meat.

you can usually pick it up for £3 for 12 pouches, seems to be constant offers on.

We had a cat with struvite crystals, Hills science plan dry food seemed to work well.

We ran out for a week and used something else, he got another blockage and died 😐

We had a cat with struvite crystals, Hills science plan dry food seemed to work well.

We ran out for a week and used something else, he got another blockage and died

We have three cats, off to google this as we would hate to loose one this way… thanks for flagging this up but sorry about you loosing your cat…

Ditto; sorry about loss.

My Cat is just a moggie, she seems to like the Sheba stuff. Remains very healthy (cross fingers) but I have never given her milk only water, which she disdains and drinks out of drops that leak into the bath from the shower.

Any cheaper cat food is just a waste of time, she just looks at me and goes on food strike. (I know I know Get A Life it’s just a Cat)

(I assume you know not to give cats milk ?)

I had a Maine Coon (family pet when growing up) he kept getting crystals, vet put him on dry food which seemed to help but wasn’t a cure. He lived till about 7 a huge blockage killed him. I’ve got 2 rescue and a Bengal now, they eat felix from a tin with some dry biscuits usually Iams on top. I give my Bengal prize choice raw meat heated in a microwave twice a week as recommended by the breeder.

Hill’s Science Plan, it’s all we feed ours now (after being told off by the vet for giving him a variety of food, which upset his stomach).

It’s expensive, but we buy in bulk so it works out about the same as wet food. The difference is his coat is noticeable, and he loves it… winner.

Look at Hill’s Science Plan, they have loads of special diet variants. Although, our two rescue cats went off it after a few months and are now on Whiskers, which they much prefer (and their waist lines show it).

We have a female cat who suffers from repeated cystitis as a result of stress. She gets feed Symply dry foodand the morning and Felix pouches in the evening and always has plenty of water available. She is also has Cystaid everyday too. Seems to have helped her. Symply also do wet food too and comes highly recommended.

Urinary blockages are more severe in male cats so I’m told.

my cat growing up had teh crystalz too, hill sciencey stuff worked well for him… lived until he was about 14 🙂

the other cat that didnt have the crystals ended up eating the same food and he got HUGE… not fat, but all muscle, lived til he was nearly 16.

there’s magic in that stuff!

There is one well known (cheap) branded cat food that is notorious for increasing risk of struvite crystals according to my other half with her vet nurse hat on, I’m not 100% sure what she said it was though so don’t want to risk giving out duff info (or open myself up to libel). My parents’ cat suffered badly with crystals and we started him on Hill’s SD every other day in supplement to wet food which stopped the problems (vets since recommended Hill’s CD). Too much reliance on SD/CD foods can apparently also be detrimental as it can form a different type of crystal which is harder to dissolve.

One of our cats had a urinary blockage – not crystals but something similar – and had to be rushed to the vets to have it reamed out or whatever they do. They put him on Royal Canin Urinary Feline Dry for a couple of years but he put on weight so he’s now on Royal Canin Urinary SO moderate calorie. Not too expensive if you buy it in bulk (in fact cheaper than wet food from the supermarket) and he’s not had a recurrence in 5 or so years. Might be worth asking your vet if that would be appropriate for your cat. He also has a water fountain as it’s apparently important that they drink a lot of fresh water to keep any crytals flushed out, he drinks a lot from this but uses it mainly to wash his paws.

Just returned from vet (with a personality of a walnut) – She’s suggesting wet food and funnily enough also the water fountain just mentioned.

There were no crystals found apparently, so I guess that’s why they’re not mentioning the Hill stuff (especially as I noticed they were flogging it in reception). I’ll ask though this afternoon when I pick up his “anti-sapsmodic” drugs – hate the idea of giving him drugs, and he is peeing as we speak, but not eductaed enough to refuse medical advice with such a serious condition. Real tempation to think as soon as people see “insurance”…well, you know..

I’m going to hunt out one of those water fountains now (I asked if it would be like one of those naff indoor water features; she did not look amused).

All advice gratefully received thanks; will go for this hills stuff as a dry food anyhow now, for the daytime & wet food for evening meal 🙂

My moggie has also been diagnosed with cystitis in the last week which the vet thinks was brought on by stress as he was involved in some sort of accident recently. He was initially diagnosed with a urinary blockage by another vet and as the vet told me it was going to cost at least £200 to get him treated he wee’d all over the vets table (about 3 days worth).

I convinced the maker put crack in Felix. My two moggies (12-year-old rescuer cats) have been offered every brand of wet food I can find over the two years they’ve lived with me an will ignore most things (inlcuding organic, etc) with the exception being Feix. The current favourites are As Good As it Looks and Doubly Delicious.
Given the way they’ll happily chase each other around the garden it is hard to believe they are kitty senior citizens, so the Felix diet seems to be working for them.

Price sounds reasonable; our bag of fluff has only been in the vet’s care for one day & it’s north of £400 so far, plus daily check-ups. Hope what’s on here about food etc is of some use to your situation.

That was only a rough cost to put a catheter in him and keep him in overnight, drugs and future appointments would be on top of this. The last vet I took him to was a farm vet and for a whole £20 the cat had had two consultations, 2 ultra sounds, a steroid injection and a weeks worth of antibiotics.

I asked if it would be like one of those naff indoor water features

Not far off, cat included for scale:

213 by bazrio, on Flickr

Rio; that photo paints an image of serenity and regular glossing of interior woods.

Every pet shop I’ve phone (near Leeds) tells me they don’t have any fountains, so I’m stuck with going to pets at home, who want £40. Hey ho, bite the bullet!

So how do you tell if your cat can’t wee? As ours go outside, I don’t keep track of their movements (bar emptying poo out of the flower beds).

Slightly cheaper with free next day delivery, and from where we get our cat food from (12kg of dried urinary care/obesity food arriving later today):

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/cat-accessories-cat-water-fountains-c-626_630/drinkwell-platinum-water-fountain-p-776

Footflaps – he’s an indoor cat (Done the moral dilemma on that one several times), so relaively easier to realise, however I have to thank commonlaw dribble though for noticing; she probably saved his life by doing so.

Cheers Rio.

how do you tell if your cat can’t wee?

Mrs Rio here – Both our cats go outside, although keep them in at night. I noticed one of them appearing to squat in several places around the house, which went on for a couple of days. Then on one occasion when I picked him up, he leaked a bit of wee. So I called the Vet and explained what he had been doing and she said, bring him straight in – I did and hence Urinary Tract Disease was diagnosed. Since then, you have to become a bit of a detective and follow them round the garden waiting for them to squat and keep an eye on the litter tray.

Cheers Mrs Rio – will keep an eye out…..