I had a male cat block up last month - no crystals visible, “just” a plug. At the vet’s suggestion (after he came home from his catheterization) I did put him on urinary food for one case/24 days, but did some reading and since I switched him back to his regular food (canned, Fancy Feast classic pate + Tiki Cat shredded chicken) this is what I’ve done:
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All sources list hydration as #1 most important treatment so I’m adding lots of water to his food - I’m lucky that he’s a good eater and happily drinks his soup.
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I found a site that said that while glucosamine didn’t seem to have a statistically-valid effect in trials, antioxidants and omega-3 supplements do. So I got some of those and add them to his food.
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And what the heck, Costco.com had Cosequin for cats on sale, so I figured I’d give that a try, too!
He hasn’t re-blocked or shown any return of symptoms, but of course I don’t know if he would have if I hadn’t made any of these dietary changes. I strongly suspect that the extra water is the most important of the changes and may well be enough by itself, if anything was in fact necessary to prevent a recurrence. I do know that the water I’m adding to his food is increasing his overall water intake because the clumps in the litter box are noticeably larger than before.