Crystals In Cat Urine Diet

Different types of crystals may develop if your cat isn t eating a proper complete and balanced diet.

Crystals in cat urine diet.

The veterinarian may also place the cat on a diet aimed at correcting the cat s ph levels. It takes approximately two months to correct levels via dietary changes. This partnered with a diet of dry cat food can lead to crystal development in the cat s urine. These crystals form when there is more magnesium calcium phosphorus or protein in the urine that it can be dissolved.

These diets only contain 10 water. Certain diets can cause urinary ph to rise and can be the cause of crystals forming. It mainly occurs due to lack of or inadequate moisture in cat food or lack of drinking water. Crystalluria is a medical condition where crystals are expelled into the urine.

Also any condition that changes your cat s urine ph such as kidney disease or long term medication use can cause crystals. The three standard crystals in cats are struvite oxalate and urate. So how do you make a cat drink more water. Cats should naturally have a very low acidic urinary ph and a ph over seven an alkaline ph can encourage certain types of crystals to form.

Cats that are routinely fed a diet of dry food are particularly at risk for struvite crystals. Urinary crystals is a common problem in dehydrated cats. They ve evolved over millennia to get most of their moisture from prey. Dealing with calcium oxalate crystals and stones can be a little more of a challenge.

Interestingly these crystals used to be extremely rare but now account for roughly half of feline urinary crystals. Crystals in cats also known as feline crystalluria is a medical condition which involves the formation of crystals in the cat s urine. Many believe that this is due to cats eating commercial foods that acidify the urine. Dry cat food provides very little moisture in their diet can make their urine too concentrated making it difficult for them to pass the crystals.

Cats should be fed a diet that consists of both wet and dry food. Struvite and calcium oxalate are the most common crystals but their formation can t often be pinned to one cause. The detection of urinary crystals is not synonymous with kidney stones or the clinical signs associated with them nor is detection of urine crystals irrefutable evidence of a stone forming tendency but there is some association with an increased risk for kidney stones in animals that are. An underlying cause for the development of struvite crystals is that many cats are reluctant to drink water from bowls.

This has been the major reason that special dry diets have such variable results with preventing urinary crystals and stones in cats.