Urinary Crystals in Cats
#5076: Urinary Crystals in Cats: a real problem or not? Dr. Donna explains that urinary crystals are the biggest health issue in cats — and caused by stress factors like a multi-cat household, a dog in the home, a lack of environmental enrichment, a diet of dry food, and a cat being overweight and sedentary (which can be the effect of the previous two stress factors!). What do urinary crystals actually mean for a cats health? Are they a problem that must be dealt with aggressively? Are special diets needed? The bigger disease here is called idiopathic cystitis (or FUS or FIC or Pandora syndrome…lots of names) which is when cats show up at the vet because they are straining to urinate. Dr. Donna explains, “Vets often want to point a finger at ‘a culprit,’ with crystals often being the easy out. But crystals themselves are NOT the main issue. Moisture in the diet from feeding species-appropriate meat-based wet food provides the fluids they need. As they told us in vet school, ‘Dilution is the solution to the pollution.’”
