Calcium Oxalate Crystals/Stones- Diet

[Cataholic]

My male cat, Dakota, had the PU surgery last month, and is recovering nicely. I finally got the analysis back on the stones, and it is the less common Calcium Oxalate, rather than the struvite crystals. This is not great news, as the oxalates are not dissoveable. He is eating a wet/dry balance of Hills C/D- which is probably helpful/okay, but, not optimum.

Has anyone looked into a diet for this condition? Any other cats on here with this condition?

Thanks in advance,
Johanna

[Glacier]

Pete has a combination of both kinds of crystals. He had a PU surgery almost 6 years ago. He eats Royal Canin Urinary SO. Originally he was on the Hills CD, but it seemed to get less effective over time. He's been on the Royal Canin for a couple years and seems to be doing well. He eats both the dry and the canned formula. All my cats eat the kibble. Feeding different diets just didn't work for me and this kibble is nutritionally sound for all cats, except kittens.

My vet told me the single most important thing for Pete was to get enough water into him. He's not a big drinker, but he does love his squishy food!

I hope Denver finds a diet that works for him.

[Cinder & Smoke]

My male cat, Dakota, had the PU surgery last month, and is recovering nicely.

Ya know, we couldda *helped* with a few PT Purrayers, iffni we'd known.

Here's a Purrayer that Dakota finds a diet he likes and that eliminates the stones.

[Randi]

Oh poor Dakota.

Fister had stuvite crystals, and as you may remember he had the big operation. Hills S/D are the ones which are supposed to dissolve the struvite crystals and C/D are supposed to prevent cats from getting them, but since Dakota has another kind, I'm afraid I can't give you any advice really.

I don't know what PU surgery is, but if it's the same Fister had, he should not be in danger of blocking up again.

What did the vet suggest?

I hope Dakota will feel better and thrive on the diet you and your vet decide! Keeping all fingers and paws crossed for him.

[krazyaboutkatz]

He should be on a diet that will help dissolve the calcium oxalate stones and I don't think that that Hills C/D will do this. I think that Hills makes another diet that will do this so if you still want to use Hills you'd need to switch him over. Storm also had the PU surgery and he had the struvite crystals but may of also had the calcium oxalate crystals so I put him on Royal Canin Urinary S/O both wet and dry. This formula helps prevent both types of crystals.

Storm's now on a grain free diet and eats Innova Evo wet and dry and it's been approved by both my regular vet and my holistic vet. I just need to make sure that he gets plenty of wet food and I also add some water to it so he gets even more moisture. Good luck.

[Cataholic]

All my cats eat the kibble. Feeding different diets just didn't work for me and this kibble is nutritionally sound for all cats, except kittens.

How true. Get this, for 3 months, I had ALL my cats on Hill's SD! Unaware that this was NOT a recommended practice, and that SD is specifically a short term application. I even had my kitten eating it. I was supplementing her with kitten food, but still.

I thought I had read that dissolving the oxalate crystals was NOT possible, and that working to prevent them was my goal. One of the stones that was removed was about a 1/2 inch (no, not a typo) in diamater round, and shaped like two jacks (the ones we played with as kids). The doctor said those words you don't like to hear, "I never saw that before".

Randi- I forgot that Fister did have the surgery, which is the same as Daks. The doctors call it PU here. And, while tiny crystals will pass now, the development of the larger stones will still be a concern. AND, Daks has stones in one of his kidneys, so, I am going to investigate 'blasting'.

KAK- what is the purpose of the grain free diet? And, does the Inova still help with urinary tract issues?

Phred- it was a CRAZY time since December with Dakota. He spent 4 days in the ER, coming home Christmas morning, as he was totally blocked, and then, long story, short, after being on SD for 3 months, I **knew** he was blocking. Only by a freak occurance did the ER vet xray Daks, and admit him overnight, with surgery the next day. Very, very scary time for us.

Happily, Daks does see mto be doing okay now. He looks a little 'bare' on the bottom, plus, he is shaved up his belly since they also had to open the bladder.

Thanks for the information already given, and hopefully the information to my new questions/comments above.


Johanna

[Bengalz]

In the past week we discovered (x-rays) that Eve has some small stones in her bladder and don't know if they are Struvite or Calcium Oxalate. My vet explained the Struvite stones can be remedied with proper diet however, Calcium Oxalate stones don't really dissolve easily. He indicated that if Eve's condition worsens, the preferred method is to surgically remove the stones; this will enable them to know exactly what type of stones are forming in her bladder and then determine the best method to prevent further occurrence.

Eve is currently on Innova EVO mostly wet food which she prefers. The vet is happy with this choice and doesn't want to change anything at the moment. It is a high protein, low carb, non-grain diet and keeps her well-hydrated. We leave some dry Innova out for her to nibble on. In addition, she gets a food supplement every day - Enisy-F oral paste.

[Cataholic]

I saw that Eve has this same thing as Daks! Daks, too, had stones in his bladder, his urethra and his kidney.

The one thing I am upset about is that the first time we went to the ER vet, we were encouraged to switch to the Hills SD. This seems to be a complicating factor if the stones turn out to be the oxalate, rather than the struvite. I realize you can't know the type of stone if it isn't passed or other wise removed, but, I would have thought it might show up in an urinalysis...that is why I asked you in Eve's thread if diet was an issue.

[jenluckenbach]

Rutherford had the PU surgery and the Oxylate crystals. He eats (as well as everyone else----) the Royal Canin SO. (but they were on the c/d for a very long time before that. c/d formula had been changed to prevent both these crystals.)

I am sorry that we did not know you were going through trying times, but prayers will be said for a brighter future.

[Bengalz]

Joanna,

We must have been posting at the same time

In Eve's case the vet doesn't feel the stones in her bladder are of a significant size and are not causing the infection she's being treated for. However, knowing they do exist, he wants to keep a watchful eye on her progress and if necessary, we will investigate the stones further and perform surgery to remove them.

She is so healthy in every other respect that he feels her current diet is right for her and doesn't want to change things up on an assumption. I have fed her Innova for the 2 years she's been with us and she has really thrived. She has gained weight gradually, is strong and muscular, teeth and gums are excellent and, as we've discovered over the last few days thru testing, all of her vitals are 100% normal.

Personally I would follow the advice of others here (Glacier and Jen) who have experience with Calcium Oxalate conditions and try Daks on Royal Canin SO. It seems to work. Many years ago my male kitty had to be on Science Diet CD AFTER being treated for crystals by Hills SD. However, at the time Hills was the only company known for their special prescription diets for such conditions. I believe there are more (and better) choices today.

I hope Dakota feels better soon.

Betty

[Catlady711]

Where I work at we put many of our stone cats on Royal Canin Urinary diet. We've had good results with it.

To my knowledge the struvite are the ones we use the C/D for. I'd have to ask to be sure though.

[Jessika]

I think that Hills makes another diet that will do this so if you still want to use Hills you'd need to switch him over.

I'm not a big fan of Hill's, but apparently their prescription diets are not too bad for specific conditions.

http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/pro...y=&d-49653-p=1

There's a list of all of their prescription diets... Again I would speak with your vet about the best option because in some cases switching around from a bunch of brands may make it worse all-around on your kitty

[krazyaboutkatz]

KAK- what is the purpose of the grain free diet? And, does the Inova still help with urinary tract issues?


The main reason that I switched to a grain free diet is because of Starr's IBD/Colitis/Food Allergy Problems. I then decided to start feeding my other cats the same diet. My vet said that it would also be fine if Storm ate this diet too. I was surprised to hear this because a long time ago I tried feeding him the regular Innova wet and dry formula and over time he developed struvite crystals again even though I had read that the wet food was good for cats with urinary tract problems.

My holisitic vet also told me that it's the grains in the food that causes a lot of urinary tract problems in cats. I decided to take try it out on Storm and he's been doing well so far and has been on this diet since about June of last year. He gets his regular check up in a couple of weeks so I'll know more then. He was also starting to eat less of his Royal Canin Urinary S/O wet food because he wanted the Innova Evo that the others were eating. He gets two medium sized helpings of wet food mixed with some water every day and he loves it. He also eats 2 small helpings of the dry. I've also noticed that he has a lot more energy now too.

I haven't heard that the Innova Evo is good for cats with urinary problems and like I said before the real test will be to see what Storm's urinalysis results will be. He does get one pill pocket a day with his Calm Spirit pill to help reduce his aggressive and stress issues and this does contain grains. I've now reduced it to half a pill pocket and hopefully this won't hurt him in any way.

I hope that whatever diet you end up putting Dakota on that it'll work for him and keep him healthy. I think that there's also one by Purina too. Good luck.