My cat has stress cystitis. Will renal food prevent it from returning?

Poor Dylan! I would recommend you keep him on a canned prescription diet for urinary crystals. Your veterinarian can recommend one that should work. I usually recommend rechecking the urine after at least 2 weeks of this diet to make sure the crystals are no longer present and the diet is working. You also can try environmental enrichment to see if that helps with his stress level. For example, you can use shelves to make space so he can perch up high away from the other cats and have his space. I would also make sure you have multiple litter boxes and they are cleaned regularly. We want to encourage him to use the litter box often and not hold his urine. Feliway is a product you can purchase either through your vet or at a pet store that sometimes helps with stress. It is a synthetic cat pheromone that is sometimes effective to help with stress and urinary issues with cats. It will not impact the crystals, but hopefully help calm him and make him more relaxed and use the litter box more readily. Some vets also will add in glucosamine to the cats diet. It won't hurt and could possibly help with his cystitis. Some cats needs other medications, like anti-depressants, if they are still having problems. Hopefully a few changes will improve Dylan's overall situation. Good luck!

There are many options from dietary supplements such as zylkene or kalm aid, pheromone diffusers and prescription anxiety medications. For renovation works, a short stay in a cattery could also be considered and may be less stressful than house and disruption at home

Stress related (idiopathic type of inflammation) infection and presence of crystals are the most common causes of it. Struvite crystals are very common and usually comes from alkaline urine. Specific diets can be given to acidify urine like s/d by Hill's. I would recommend to have a look at this link to have more informations about FLUTD (feline-lower-urinary-tract-disease): https://www2.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/feline-lower-urinary-tract-disease. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

Poor girl. Crystals in the urine don't come from stress typically. This is a metabolic issue that is causing her to not break down her food properly, which causes crystals to form in the bladder. Stress in cats only causes hematuria (bloody urine) without infection or stones. This is called Stress cystitis. Therefore, if your pets "symptoms" have returned, I would be best to have Kiki rechecked. In particular, I would consider getting her bladder checked for urinary stones by having an x-ray done. She also could have developed a UTI, so a urinalysis should be done first. Adding water is good, but it does not help resolve any of these possible issues. She needs to be seen unfortunately to get to the bottom of things, since this is a bit complex in nature. I hope that your pet Kiki has some resolve to her urinary issues soon! Best wishes and take care.

Hi there and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I can't speak for all renal diets out there, but the Hill's Prescription diet K/D and the Royal Canin Renal Support Prescription diet does contain a urinary acidifier in it to help prevent struvite stone formation. I hope this helps!

Stress-related cystitis can be very frustrating to manage! It sounds as though you are doing everything you can to help Duck. Cats can become stressed by nearly anything - a new person in the house, rearranged furniture, a new type of litter, etc. I'm glad to hear that he is eating the SO food and has been started on Prozac. It can take 2 months to see full efficacy from the Prozac, and if it still isn't effective after 2 months, he may need to have a dose adjustment. Unfortunately, there isn't anything else to try at home since you're already using Feliway, an extra litter box and water fountains. A new kitten is likely to cause more stress to Duck. Until you have his stress-related cystitis under control, I would wait to bring a new kitten into your home. I hope that all goes well!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Felix. Blood in the urine can be the result of bladder stones or crystals in the urine, an infection, bladder cancer, a bleeding disorder or a condition known as idiopathic cystitis. This last condition is an inflammation in the bladder with no known cause. It is thought that stress can make it worse. Typically bloodwork, a urinalysis and x-rays will be done to determine which of these conditions may be the cause. Depending on why he has the blood in his urine, he may need to eat the diet longterm. He should eat it exclusively for it to be effective. I hope this information helps!