I wanted to throw this out there in case any of you had the same problem I did. After months of urinary tract infections, countless test, (and hundreds of dollars), oh, and months on the special Science Diet food, my Vet asked again, "Are you sure this cat is not ingesting anything other than his cat food?"Later that day it finally dawned on me--it's my well water. I bought a bottle of distilled water and within 24 hours he was better and in two weeks he was completely fine. The Vet said I was wrong and that he got better all on his own. Out of fear, I've kept him on the special food, but that was three years ago and he's still fine. I did discover, (this is why I buy distilled water) quite a few of the bottled water companies ADD minerals to their water to make it taste more like water????? Some of these minerals are what causes urinary tract problems in cats. Hope this helps someone out there.

I have one cat with Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease and we have city water in the small country town that I live in.  But, my vet was adamant that all of my cats are not to drink it.....she says it has too many minerals in it.....so I buy the walmart or hiland brand of drinking water for them.

So far so good with Harry.....his attacks have been few and getting farther in between.  I aslo had to put him on Hill C/D food as well.

The reason I buy distilled is it is boiled water and the steam is captured and whatever is in the water is left behind. There is no minerals, bacteria, nothing. I don't think it cost any more, but I'm not sure. If it does it can't be much. Sometimes it's hard to get. You're lucky your Vet pays attention. I was told a long time ago that if you take them off C/D they will have problems because their bodies have become so used to it. I wonder if that's true. Like I said, now I'm afraid to go back.

Hi Veronica...

Not necessarily on the food.  Basically what you are looking for is something that is low in ash and magnesium and nothing in seafood flavors.  My vet said that seafood is a contributer.  So basically stick with chicken, turkey, liver, and beef.   Ideally, canned food is better than dry...unfortunately, Harry will not touch wet food with a ten foot pole.  He has several other medical conditions on top of this and the C/D is one of the few things he does like that he can keep down.   And no...your vet was wrong, not you. 

You want to keep the PH levels balanced  at around 6.0  ....anything lower than 5.0  is too acidic and anything higher than 6.5 is not acidic enough.  They also make an acidic powder that you can sprinkle on the food as well if you were to go back to store bought.  Finding the right food is really a trial and error thing.  If you do decide to change your furbabies food, pleaase do it gradually so that  they don't get stomach issues. 

There is a site on the yahoogroups that is for people who have cats with this problem and they are a fountain of information and that might be something you could look into as well for suggestions on food.

My Boostie cat came down with this when he was 2 and he's 5 now. At the time there was alot of wet food being put down, and the vet told me to stop the vet food for awhile. I've never put him back on it. It's good to know about the seafood type foods, cause Bootsie loves them and I will keep that in mind, since thats what he's eating now, and I can't get out (Damn Snow) to get anything else. But the next bags will defiantly not be seafood. The idea about the bottled distlled water, is a good one, and in fact I think I will start getting it for mine, cause alot of times lately you can taste the cholorine in our water, and I tell you its disgusting.

Carol, if you're still around...I never change food to quickly. I learned my lesson with a dog I had. Wow! I didn't know about the acidic powder. Funny the Vet didn't mention it. I guess it would be hard to keep track of the acid level in their urine then.

Cheri, I went to your link. Very sweet. My last cat, no the one before that, looked just like her. (or him?) Her name was Mom because she showed up at my house with six babies. The cat I have now showed up almost five years ago on my deck, frozen and starving. He's a white persian. I couldn't find his owners, and believe me I tried because at the time I had two other cats, so I kept him. Persians are a pain in the butt. (Or at least this one is.) He looks just like my icon.

Another thing that helps is too add a teaspoon of apple cider vinagar to your cat's water  (per gallon).  It helps acidify your cats urine which helps dissolve any crystals and also helps combat any bacteria.  Some cats won't drink with it, so add it very slowly so they get used to it gradually.

Vet Tech Tory

I read that somewhere before.  I use vinegar for a lot of things, including cleaning.  It's cheap to buy by the gallon at walmart.

I've never heard of  adding the vinegar to the water ......that is definitely something for me to think on for later down the road.  Thanks for the idea.  Unfortunately, I can't try it out at the moment as in addition to having the urinary issues, Harry also has Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Gall Bladder Disease and I can't risk that fine balance that I have to stick to.......the smallest change can make him really sick.

My cat Spike has the struvite crsytals. He is on S/D Science Diet perscription food. Expensive stuff, but worth it for my furbaby. When he first got the crystals, we didn't know what was going on. He was meowing and licking at himself. We took him to the ER vet when he started yowling.

They had to unplug him, but they told me that I would be better off just putting him down because it was an 'expensive' procedure. Yeah? So what?! Do it!!!!

I was NOT a happy camper. They just looked at me like, "Who are we dealing with here?" According to the vet, most people would've just put him to sleep. That wasn't even a freaking option! Yes it was expensive, but the cat is my child! I can't just put him to sleep because he's sick! How's that for a conversation?

"Oh, I am so sorry Spike, but since you got sick, you have to die now. Thanks for being the best companion a person could ask for."

Nope. No way. Didn't happen. Spike is still on the S/D food and he will be for the rest of his life. I have heard rumors about the seafood and ash content in the food as well. We have only had one UTI infection since that day he was diagnosed and unplugged almost 3 years ago. I love my kitty with all my heart.

Colleen, what's the difference between SD and the CD food?  My cat is on CD.

Veronica- I really have no idea what the difference is between the two. The vet said he might eventually switch Spike to the CD, but since he is doing so well on the SD, he doesn't really want to switch it up at this point. Makes me a bit nervous too.

Huh...I'm going to have to find out.

I have a cat that had chronic UTIs until I finally realized she is allergic to fish. The smallest amount in dry or wet food would set her off. The entire clan existed on turkey Friskies for years and years. Now she can have a bit of fish-flavored food once in awhile and it doesn't seem to bother her. I got so sick of the vet trips that I started dosing her with cranberry juice concentrate. A syringe full at night and the next day she was over it.

I bought spring water for my cats for years, until last summer when the price of everything went up so much and then I started giving them filtered water from a Brita pitcher.

There is absolutely no way I would feed my cat or dog Friskies or Pedigree. Do you know what goes in that stuff? Ugh. I really don't like feeding my kitty Science Diet, but he has to be on the Rx stuff, so I have to. :-/

I heard that fish is a big no-no when it comes to cats with these problems.

Coleen...what would you feed your cat if he didn't have to be on S/D?

There is a yahoo group called FLUTD  and every member has been through what we all have with our babies and they can give a wealth of information of things to feed our "kids" besides the s/d and c/d.  Ideally canned food is best because of the water content, but Harry hates wet food of any kind and refuses to eat it.   It's worth checking them out....I learned alot from them.

I give Snow canned food (chicken, no fish) twice a day just because I don't care what the vet says that they can do fine on hard food, they should be able to eat nice wet meat sometimes.  But, he can only have a little bit because if I go too far he'll get the runs.  I also buy the canned indoor formula.  One thing about him is he does drink quite a bit of water.  I buy distilled for him.

I would feed Spike Blue Buffalo. It's the best food that I have found out there and that is what Riley eats.