Bladder stones in Male Cat on Raw Diet?!

They all have their preferences and little idiosyncrocies, Ralph prefers to drink from the bathroom tap.

Do you have a mat under the fountain? If yes, is it slippery so he can drag his paws before drinking? Four of my six do the “paw drag” in front of the waterer before drinking so I don’t put a mat under it.

I initially put a silicone baking mat underneath it (my orange lad is hell on wheels!) but after witnessing only one kitty using the water fountain I took it away. At least one uses it and it is rather pretty! :slight_smile:

I have 3 cats and was feeding all of them a raw diet. Then the boys got struvite crystals (one got these very close to the second time). It was vet emergency & surgery as he was blocked and both boys got switched to Urinary SO–I was pretty scared. I hate it because the quality of protein, etc. is poor compared to the raw diets. Then a month ago my 11 year old female (the only one left on the raw diet) got a huge crystal. It was surgery and good thing because the vet was surprised how big it was–even than from the ultrasound. It looks like it is a rarer type of oxalyte crystal and my vet has sent the sample to a lab in Ontario (I live in BC Canada). So, I won’t really know what to feed her until I get the results. All my cats are getting extra water with the urinary so stuff. But I really want to go back to raw, so I am researching a way to do it. Maybe I will do the PH strip tests and regular urinalysis or half and half raw and urinary so. I just don’t want other health problems because of the poor quality prescription diet food. I hate the fact that vets sell the stuff–it really isn’t very good.

If you don’t mind me asking, what brand of raw are you feeding (if it’s a commercial mix)? What about asking the vet if it would be ok to feed the raw but try adding L-Methionine to lower the urine pH?

I was using Instinct Raw for cats mostly the chicken recipe, sometimes the rabbit. I like it because it came in these nice pucks and I would pull them out of the freezer the night/morning before the mealtime and they would be thawed for breakfast or dinner. I do admit that I gave a few dry treats–so now I am going to use my leftover raw as “dessert” or “treats.” And I thought there was enough water content in the raw, but in hindsight I should have mixed a bit of extra water with it. My vet said a bladder stone can form very quickly! And from my research it could be from other stuff going on with the cats as they get older. I think there are a lot of idiopathic issues that can go on to complicate bladder and kidney health. I did ask my vet about additives and she said there wasn’t anything, but I am going to do my research before I talk to her next and be more specific–when she calls about the test results to discuss kitty’s diet going forward.

While you’re researching stuff, have a boo at L-Methionine. When reading the labels of the prescription can foods I noticed that included with all the other ‘stuff’ was L-Methionine (acidifies urine). Definitely double check with the vet though. I feed my cats raw food as well. I add a little bit of psyllium powder to my raw mix so I can add extra water.