Cystitis (bladder inflammation), Urethral Blockage, Bladder/Kidney Stones - Pt 1

If your cat is on a properly hydrated diet of 100% canned food - and no dry food - you stand a very good chance of never needing to read this webpage.

Cystitis is an extremely common and very painful problem in the cat. Stones are also very common and can lead to a life-threatening urinary tract blockage.

I sincerely hope that these pictures of Opie make a huge impact on anyone who is still not convinced that dry food causes significant suffering in many cats. Rest assured that veterinarians deal with blocked cats extremely frequently which is heartbreaking considering how rarely cats block when on all canned food - especially with added water.

Cystitis can lead to inappropriate urination (urinating outside of the litter box) and stones can cause a fatal rupture of the bladder by blocking the outflow of urine.

Any cat that is repeatedly entering the litter box but not voiding any urine is in need of IMMEDIATE medical attention!

This is one reason why it is so important to use a clumping (scoopable) litter. Clumping litter allows you to see just how much, if any, urine is being voided.

It is important to note, however, that "crystals" are not the same thing as stones. Crystals are often a normal finding in a cat's urine and it is not necessarily appropriate to put the cat on a "special urinary tract" formula when these are found in the urine.

Important: I often see too much clinical significance placed on the identification of crystals in the urine without regard to how the urine sample was handled. It is very important to understand that crystals will often form once outside of the body within a very short (30-60 minutes) period of time.

If the veterinarian does not examine the urine right away and either sends it to an outside laboratory or uses a free-catch sample that the owner brought from home, an erroneous diagnosis of crystals may be made. This is called a "false positive" report and results in unnecessary worry on the part of the owner and often leads to the cat being placed on an inappropriate, low quality diet.

With regard to overall kidney and bladder health, I cannot stress strongly enough how important water is in both the prevention and treatment of diseases involving this organ system.

When a cat is on a diet of water-depleted dry food, they produce a more highly concentrated urine (higher urine specific gravity - USG) and they produce a lower volume of urine (often half of what a cat on canned food produces) which means that a higher concentration of crystals will be present in the urine.

This increases the chance of these crystals forming life-threatening stones. It is also thought that the highly concentrated urine may be very irritating to the bladder wall in some cats, predisposing them to painful cystitis.

Please keep in mind that a cat has a very low thirst drive and is designed to get water with their food. A diet of canned food will keep a proper amount of water flowing through the urinary tract system and help maintain its health.

Adding 1-2 TBS of water (plain or flavored – such as tuna water, clam juice, chicken or beef broth) per meal is also very beneficial. Make your own tuna water by taking one can of tuna and mixing the contents into 3 cups of water. Mash it up and let it sit for ~15 minutes. Pour the water into covered ice cube trays. Freeze to prolong the freshness. Use covered trays to keep the water tasting and smelling fresh.

Water fountains may also help cats consume more water but feeding a water-rich diet is much more effective in increasing your cat's water intake than water fountains or multiple bowls of water sitting around your house.

If you are still worrying about small amounts of crystals in your cat's urine, consider this analogy:

Crystals in cat urine are as normal as the leaves that fall on your driveway. However, if you don’t regularly sweep your driveway, those leaves will build up so you can't leave!