IVD for struvite, any experience?

wrote in message ...

If he's eating something that acidifies the urine, it's probably okay to
also give him some of his usual wet food. The prescription diet has an
acidifier so if he's eating some of that and some of his usual, that should
be enough. Cats need to eat regardless, they can get serious health issues
if they don't eat for too long.

What is the minimal amount of food (can) a 14lbs cat needs to eat so
that he didn't get badly sick?


I've never tried IVD (I don't think that's available where I am), but my cat
was diagnosed with the same thing and I managed to find another premium
kibble, Wysong "Uretic" formula, which does the same thing as the Hill's in
that it acidifies the urine which is what you want because it dissolves the
crystals. Both have the same acidifying ingredient (DL-Methionine or
something like that). But the Wysong has much better ingredients than the
Hill's.

Wysong Uretic? Dry?
I thought I should avoid giving him dry food, since this is one of the
cause for stuvite crystals formation ...

I used the Wysong dry, and also served lots of Wellnes wet food, and added a
little extra water to his wet food, and that has done the trick (3 weeks
later he was declared crystal free). I also gave him a homeopathic remedy
to help with the acidification.

Which homeopathic remedie did you use?

But now I'm switching all my cats to a raw food diet because that keeps the
urine in proper balance, just slightly acidic, which will help prevent the
problem from recurring.

Yes, I have started feeding them raw chicken. But I still have to work
on the supplements. I will buy a already prepared suppements, I was
recommended to use from a yahoo group.

If they stay on the prescription stuff with
acidifiers it can cause another type of crystal that forms in a too-acidic
urine! So acidifying is what you want short-term to get rid of the struvite
crystals in there now, but it's not a good idea long term to have the urine
too acidic.

I agree and I really don't want him to get the oxalate crystals.

Thank you very Sherry for sharing your experinece with me/us.

Patricia

wrote in message ...

If he's eating something that acidifies the urine, it's probably okay to
also give him some of his usual wet food. The prescription diet has an
acidifier so if he's eating some of that and some of his usual, that should
be enough. Cats need to eat regardless, they can get serious health issues
if they don't eat for too long.

What is the minimal amount of food (can) a 14lbs cat needs to eat so
that he didn't get badly sick?


I've never tried IVD (I don't think that's available where I am), but my cat
was diagnosed with the same thing and I managed to find another premium
kibble, Wysong "Uretic" formula, which does the same thing as the Hill's in
that it acidifies the urine which is what you want because it dissolves the
crystals. Both have the same acidifying ingredient (DL-Methionine or
something like that). But the Wysong has much better ingredients than the
Hill's.

Wysong Uretic? Dry?
I thought I should avoid giving him dry food, since this is one of the
cause for stuvite crystals formation ...

I used the Wysong dry, and also served lots of Wellnes wet food, and added a
little extra water to his wet food, and that has done the trick (3 weeks
later he was declared crystal free). I also gave him a homeopathic remedy
to help with the acidification.

Which homeopathic remedie did you use?

But now I'm switching all my cats to a raw food diet because that keeps the
urine in proper balance, just slightly acidic, which will help prevent the
problem from recurring.

Yes, I have started feeding them raw chicken. But I still have to work
on the supplements. I will buy a already prepared suppements, I was
recommended to use from a yahoo group.

If they stay on the prescription stuff with
acidifiers it can cause another type of crystal that forms in a too-acidic
urine! So acidifying is what you want short-term to get rid of the struvite
crystals in there now, but it's not a good idea long term to have the urine
too acidic.

I agree and I really don't want him to get the oxalate crystals.

Thank you very Sherry for sharing your experinece with me/us.

Patricia

"icarus" wrote in message ...

ascorbic acid will increase the acidity of his urine and break down the
struvite chrystals. just break up and add to his food and keep an eye on how
much he eats and spits out. you will probably find he eats some and realises
and spits out the rest but enough gets eaten to work.


That is incorrect, it is impossible to get a cat to eat enough
ascorbic acid to move the urine pH enough to be of any value
whatsoever.

"icarus" wrote in message ...

ascorbic acid will increase the acidity of his urine and break down the
struvite chrystals. just break up and add to his food and keep an eye on how
much he eats and spits out. you will probably find he eats some and realises
and spits out the rest but enough gets eaten to work.


That is incorrect, it is impossible to get a cat to eat enough
ascorbic acid to move the urine pH enough to be of any value
whatsoever.

"icarus" wrote in message ...

ascorbic acid will increase the acidity of his urine and break down the
struvite chrystals. just break up and add to his food and keep an eye on how
much he eats and spits out. you will probably find he eats some and realises
and spits out the rest but enough gets eaten to work.


That is incorrect, it is impossible to get a cat to eat enough
ascorbic acid to move the urine pH enough to be of any value
whatsoever.

"icarus" wrote in message ...

This is the active ingredient in Hills to cure struvite crystals and you can
buy it instead of Hills prescription (Hills is just ordinary pet food plus
this stuff).......

http://www.lloydinc.com/vmsmall/methioform.html

Its cheap in the USA but expensive here. see thread below for info.

Icarus - again that is incorrect. It is a great deal more complicated
that simply adding urinary acidfiers to a diet. For that reason
testing is done on foods to determine the APR value of a food. APR
(Activity Product Ratio)is a method of looking at the bio reactors and
every constituent involved in the process. Just removing magensium
and/or adding urinary acidifiers is not the best possible choice.

"icarus" wrote in message ...

This is the active ingredient in Hills to cure struvite crystals and you can
buy it instead of Hills prescription (Hills is just ordinary pet food plus
this stuff).......

http://www.lloydinc.com/vmsmall/methioform.html

Its cheap in the USA but expensive here. see thread below for info.

Icarus - again that is incorrect. It is a great deal more complicated
that simply adding urinary acidfiers to a diet. For that reason
testing is done on foods to determine the APR value of a food. APR
(Activity Product Ratio)is a method of looking at the bio reactors and
every constituent involved in the process. Just removing magensium
and/or adding urinary acidifiers is not the best possible choice.

"icarus" wrote in message ...

This is the active ingredient in Hills to cure struvite crystals and you can
buy it instead of Hills prescription (Hills is just ordinary pet food plus
this stuff).......

http://www.lloydinc.com/vmsmall/methioform.html

Its cheap in the USA but expensive here. see thread below for info.

Icarus - again that is incorrect. It is a great deal more complicated
that simply adding urinary acidfiers to a diet. For that reason
testing is done on foods to determine the APR value of a food. APR
(Activity Product Ratio)is a method of looking at the bio reactors and
every constituent involved in the process. Just removing magensium
and/or adding urinary acidifiers is not the best possible choice.

wrote in message ...

But now I'm switching all my cats to a raw food diet because that keeps the
urine in proper balance, just slightly acidic, which will help prevent the
problem from recurring.
Sherry

Sherry do you have any data to support this claim? I would be very
interested in seeing any published peer reviewed data you might have.

wrote in message ...

But now I'm switching all my cats to a raw food diet because that keeps the
urine in proper balance, just slightly acidic, which will help prevent the
problem from recurring.
Sherry

Sherry do you have any data to support this claim? I would be very
interested in seeing any published peer reviewed data you might have.