Prevention of Feline Urological Syndrome

Preventing Feline Urological Syndrome is preferable to treating the condition once it occurs. If you have a male cat, you will want to set the stage for a healthy urinary tract ASAP. Come to think of it, these tips will help females, too--although females don't get "plugged" nearly as often as males, they are just as prone to cystitis, which is usually the precursor of FUS.

Diet is the most important factor in urinary health. If you feed your cat a commercially prepared diet, switch to homemade. If this isn't possible, feed a premium canned product and supplement with food you cook yourself. Do not feed dry food at all, and don't leave uneaten food around between feedings. Supplement daily with one-tenth of a natural adult multi vitamin (no iron) mixed with approximately one-eighth teaspoon of calcium carbonate or ground eggshell powder (phosphorus is better balanced than with other calcium sources).

Egg yolk and gizzards are high in l-methionine, an amino acid that acidifies urine. Do not supplement l-methionine as a prophylactic measure, though, as it has been associated with tumor generation. Don't feed your cats fish, except salmon and sardines as an occasional treat. Fish is not a natural food for cats anyway, and consumption of fish products is a factor in urine crystal production.

Do not let your cat become overweight. If you follow the above diet recommendations, this will most likely not occur. Commercial diets, particularly dry cat food, are loaded with carbohydrates, which cause weight gain with little commensurate nutritional value. Overweight cats tend to be lazy, while cats of normal weight are much more apt to be active.

Make sure kitty drinks enough water. Like their desert ancestors, cats aren't big water drinkers, so you must be creative. In addition to having clean water available at all times, add a bit of warm water or chicken broth to his meals. Dilute urine is much less likely to harbor crystals than concentrated urine. Some people have had success with pet water fountains, which recirculates the water and encourages drinking.

Since feeding a homemade diet, I have been able to cut the Bear's l-methionine supplement from two tablets a day to two-thirds of a tab per day. If you follow these tips, chances are excellent that you will never have to deal with this serious health condition. Good for kitty, and good for you!
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Feline Urological Syndrome

Cats, for some reason, seem to have extremely sensitive urinary systems. Many cats have chronic problems with cystitis, or inflammation of the bladder, which often causes them to urinate in unacceptable places. Older cats often suffer kidney failure, which, unfortunately, is incurable. Others, often young males, develop the dreaded Feline Urological Syndrome; or, as we used to call it when I worked for veterinarians, "plugged cat".

And "plugged" they are. If this condition is ignored for too long, the cat will die from blood poisoning brought on by renal failure. Particularly if you have an indoor cat, it will be hard to miss the symptoms: The cat keeps squatting in the box more and more often, and for extended periods of time. There is no urine output, or there are only a few bloody drops. The cat becomes very upset, and looks very anxious. Despite these obvious clues of distress, some people do not take care of the problem in time. I worked once with such a person, too caught up in her own life to notice that her cat was dying. Yikes.

What causes this problem? Crystals made of magnesium and phosphorus form in a cat's urine when it is in an alkaline state, rather than acidic. These crystals will irritate the bladder and get caught in the urethra (which is why this problem affects males more than females). Mucus forms as the body tries to soothe the affected area, and a solid plug forms, keeping the cat from emptying his bladder. The real cause of this problem is a diet that is foreign to what a cat would naturally eat. Commercial dry food is the biggest offender, but canned food also contributes to this problem.

When Bear developed this trouble, he was typical: 4 - 6 years old, a bit overweight, lazy and eating a commercial (though premium) diet, both canned and dry. He was hospitalized for several days, and put under anesthesia so they could drain his bladder. The veterinarian told me in no uncertain terms that dry food was now out of the picture, which I already knew. He was also put on a urine acidifier called Methioform. This is pretty much standard treatment, and it does work.

Tomorrow, preventing both the occurrence and recurrence of FUS.
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