Anyone have experience in Calcium Oxide Crystals?

My sisters cat was diagnosed with Calcium oxide crystals & we were wondering if anyone has experience with this illness & what you did & how it worked.

Here is some info my sister sent me on Spliff:
9 yr old Female
weights 12 pounds
Calcium oxide crystals
1/4 of a can of wet food of CD hills
wet food is better because it has more water but she can eat dry food of CD hills.
cannot be treated by pills.
X ray results- has no big crystals in kidney or bladder

1/4 of a can is causing Spliff to starve greatly.. My sister upped it to 3/4 of a can & thats still not enough for poor spliff. My sister saud all Spliff does now is cries in the kitchen begging for sood. This is something Spliff has never done in the past so its greatly upsetting my sister, but shes already feeding Spliff double the food/day & is worried its going to make the crystals worse.

We both think her vet is an idiot, so this is why I'm asking here, as this is the last vet she can get too (the other one assaulted Spliff a few yrs ago & ruined the whole vet experience.. Spliff was totally cool with the vet & shots, etc.. Now shes psycho :( )

3/4 of a big can, or a little can? Or does it even come in 2 sizes anymore? Someone else here has a cat with the same crystals but I thought they said it ate s/d

edit: their cat had struvite crystals, nevermind.

I'd start feeding the dry c/d as well if the cat is still hungry, but that's just me!

I'll have to ask, but I think she said it was a small sized can.

Spliff was eating Royal Caine (sp?)before they found the crystals.

She has been giving her the dry too.. She said its sooo little food that shes sure shes starving Spliff... The vet keeps saying Spliff needs to loose weight, but Spliff isn't an obese cat.. I think Spliff looks fine. Pluto is a chubby bugger, but hes loosing weight & looks good now.... But I'm not happy they are trying to put Spliff on a diet.. I think its unneeded as that cat as never been a big eater.

RB Rutherford had the calcium crystals. He ate Prescription Royal Canin SO. I fed dry only, even though I realize canned has more water in it, so it is good for them. the SO really helps to make them drink, so that was never an issue.

He ate 1/4 cup 2 times a day, of the dry. Am unsure how much canned he would have needed, sorry.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jenluckenbach

RB Rutherford had the calcium crystals. He ate Prescription Royal Canin SO. I fed dry only, even though I realize canned has more water in it, so it is good for them. the SO really helps to make them drink, so that was never an issue.

He ate 1/4 cup 2 times a day, of the dry. Am unsure how much canned he would have needed, sorry.

---

I know nothing about Royal Canin, but can my sister get that kind where she normally gets her Royal Canin?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by king2005

I know nothing about Royal Canin, but can my sister get that kind where she normally gets her Royal Canin?

---

No, it is a vet formula (like the c/d). She'd have to ask her vet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jenluckenbach

No, it is a vet formula (like the c/d). She'd have to ask her vet.

---

Thank you!!

I'll let my sister know, as she really doesn't like feeding that much wet, & she doesn't like the quality.

i know this is slightly off-topic, but ever since I got one of those pet fountains my cats drink a lot more water than they used to. Might help keep Spliff better hydrated. I have the medium sized for 2 cats and I still have to fill it daily. If you have a lot of pets get a bigger one or a bubbler (like 20-25 bucks on Walmart.com) it doesn't work quite the same way but it holds over a gallon.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aTailOf2Kitties

i know this is slightly off-topic, but ever since I got one of those pet fountains my cats drink a lot more water than they used to. Might help keep Spliff better hydrated. I have the medium sized for 2 cats and I still have to fill it daily. If you have a lot of pets get a bigger one or a bubbler (like 20-25 bucks on Walmart.com) it doesn't work quite the same way but it holds over a gallon.

---

She has one of those. Shes actually planning on getting the biggest she can find as she has to fill it 2-3 times a day with her 3 cats :D

Shes thinking of giving it to me for Digi, as Digi LOVED it when we were visiting :)

I have not had experience with a cat having calcium oxalate crystals but I did have them myself. This is what is known as a kidney stones in people. Mine came from two components, eating a lot of green leafy vegetables and not drinking enough water. The lack of enough water was really the main reason because the diet would not have been an issue if I had been drinking enough.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1741

I've only dealt with the struvite crystals but I know that making sure that your cat gets plenty of water is very important. My cat Storm had to have the PU surgery because he became blocked 2 times and diet alone wasn't helping him. He was eating Royal Canin Urinary S/O which is good for both the struvite and calcium oxalate crystals. I gave him both dry and canned food and I would mix in some extra water with the canned food. Your sister could also mix some dry and canned food together with some extra water.

Now Storm is eating a grain free diet which is Innova Evo and this has been approved by both my regular vet and my holistic vet. He gets about 1/2 cup of dry a day and 2 small helpings of canned mixed with extra water each day. He's had no more UTI's or crystals in his urine since being on this food. I know that Catty1 had started a thread about grain free foods being good for cats with urinary and crystal problems here's the link: http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=151655.

I think that many vets will not agree with the grain free diets but many of them don't know much about nutrition so they think that only the prescription diets are the ones to use. Good luck.:)

I, too, have only had experience with struvite crystals, but my vet told me that inadequate hydration is the major cause of most crystals. I feed wet and dry and she told me if I had to stop one, to stop the dry. She said a diet of dry only was not healthy for cats. There are some very high quality wet foods out there now. I ran the Friskies Special Diet for Urinary Tract Health by my vet and she gave it her blessing. It seems to work for me, that and the Puring One dry food.