how to prevent bladder stones from reoccurring? PLS READ!!!

[Beth]

Hello. My 4 yr. old cat , Milo had bladder stones removed July of last year. Was put on Hill's Science diet food made especially to prevent them from reoccurring. Noticed blood in his urine a few days ago and took him to the vet and he has a bladder FULL of stones again. Vet is a little bewildered since he was on a special diet. She is giong to call Hill's Monday morning to eee what they suggest as far as possibly preventitive medication plus diet for the future. (He will require surgery again to remove them.) Anyone heard of this and if so, what advice can you give me regarding prevention? I'm a little leery that my vet doesn't seem to be very informed in this area. Don't want to keep putting Milo through this if he's prone to continue to get stones year after year, but of course I don't want to put him to sleep either. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

[Marty]

have a dog who just had her second surgery for struvite stones. If this is what your cat has, it is necessary to monitor the PH of her urine on a regular basis, to keep it at the right level. We are doing that with our Vet's help now. It is also necessary to keep a close watch out for UTI"s, which is the main cause of struvite stones-they develop quickly with an infection, and I think that is what happened with Winnie. She was on prescription food also. I have also heard that it helps to give them distilled water rather than tap water, which contains too many minerals. I hope this helps a bit, and good luck to your kitty!....Here is a link that may help..
http://lbah.com/Canine/urolithiasis.htm

[Traci]

What type of stones were found? triple phosphate/calcium carbonate/calcium oxalate/etc ? If your vet isn't experienced in identifying the crystals or managing them, you need to find a new vet ASAP. Assuming she indeed identified them correctly, perhaps another diet can be initiated, there are several feline veterinary diets available for urolithiasis in cats.

Are you supplementing the diet with additinional acidifiers? If so, this could be a major problem, a properly formulated acidifying diet does not need to be supplemented, so make sure you're not doing that, because doing so can actually cause oxalate crystals and then the problem becomes even more severe.

Find a new vet, get a new urinalysis plus culture if necessary, reduce stress in the home to the barest minimum, ask your new vet about other dietary methods, and if re-catheterization is necessary, discuss a contrast cystography or other advanced diagnostics to rule out other causes/problems. If the new vet, upon new exam and review of your kitty's prior health history and frequency of urolithiasis, determines, you may be facing perineal urethrostomy, which is a surgical procedure to shorten the urethra (more posts and information regarding this can be found in this forum) .

Btw, this is NOT a condition in which you should be considering euthanasia, you simply need a dedicated, experienced vet, and possibly additional diagnostics or a new management approach altogether.