My male cat also had crystals and he is on CD canned food (only) and takes
one Albeta daily to keep his urine acidic. You may need to see another vet.
Do NOT punish the cat as this is a medical condition and he cannot help it.
Gail

Hi Cat Slave,

Baytril is an antibiotic and Torbutrol is simply a pain medication.

If your cat 'only' has a UTI, an antibiotic will clear it up (i.e.
Baytril, even though Clavamox tends to be better for UTIs). But if your
cat has crystals, he will need to get pills to dissolve the crystals
(if they are struvite) and be switched to a prescription diet. Hill's
Science Diet is not a prescription diet, you will need to switch to
Hill's Prescription Diet. c/d, s/d or x/d - depending on the type of
crystals.

It sounds like the crystals are blocking your cat's urethra and this
can VERY quickly develop into a blockage in male cats which is
extremely dangerous. Take your cat back to your (or another)vet
immediately to address the root cause, versus just treating the
symptoms.

Petra

For clearing up crystals -- diet is extremely important. The Ph level of
the urine needs to be managed and how it's managed depends on what type
of crystals the cat has. Most younger cats like yours have struvite
crystals. Your cat needs to be on a prescription urinary food to control
that ph level. It's incredibly important to get this under control on a
male cat so he doesn't get blocked. If he gets completely blocked he
needs to be rushed to an emergency vet. You don't have long when they
get blocked.

If your cat is on prescription diet for awhile and still has crystals,
he will need an x-ray and further tests.

Here's an article about crystals:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=1&cat=1402&articleid=2729

Our 3 yo cat had an infection and struvite crystals. We got rid of the
infection with antibiotics and put him on a urinary diet. His crystals
were greatly reduced in 2 weeks. He did have a bout of an infection a
year later, but no crystals this time.

Good luck. And as someone already said, please don't punish him. He's in
pain and can't help what's happening, but he wants you to help.

Rhonda

Did your vet actually analyze the urine and examine the urine sediment and
culture the urine or did he just assume your cat had UTI based on
symptoms?-- that is very important. Contrary to popular belief, most cats
with bacterial UTIs don't have any symptoms at all.  Also, UTIs are rather
uncommon (<5%) in cats as young as yours- partly because of the high
osmolality of feline urine- and partly because of the acidity.

The symptoms that your cat has been displaying are symptomatic of Feline
Interstitial Cystitis- which is basically inflammation of the bladder. He's
probably associating the pain that he feels when he pees with the litter
box. That's probably why he's urinating all over the place. The inflammation
can be can be caused by crystals irritating and cutting the bladder
epithelium or by a defect in the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer that coats
the bladder epithelium-- either or can permit urine to penetrate the
urothelium and induce inflammation.  In cats,  inflammation in the bladder
and/or urethra causes a nervous sensation that mimics the feeling of a full
bladder. The nervous impulses that control the urge to pee are recurrently
stimulated so that the urge to pee is constant whether his bladder is full
or empty.

Did your vet analyze the crystals? or did automatically assume they're
struvite?  Years ago struvite would have been a good guess. But since the
advent of acidified, magnesium-restricted "urinary tract health" diets
calcium oxalate crystals are just as- if not more common than struvite.
Definitive identification of the crystals is absolutely imperative! Feeding
an urine-alkalinizing diet to a cat with struvite crystalluria can be
*disastrous*-- and could lead quickly to struvite urolithiasis and complete
obstruction of the lower urinary tract. A urinary tract obstruction produces
a pathophysiologic state equivalent to oliguric acute renal failure and
death if not relieved within 24-36 hours. So, make sure you know which type
of crystals your cat has before choosing a diet.  In either case a canned
diet is best.

Another reason for analyzing the crystals (especially the core) is to
determine if they were caused by bacteria. Certain urease-producing bacteria
(especially staphylococci and sometimes proteus) can produce
"infection-induced struvite".

On the outside chance your cat does have a persistent UTI, its imperative
your vet clears it up ASAP. If he can't, find a vet who can.  Persistent
UTIs can lead to pyelonephritis with progressive renal scarring and eventual
renal failure.

Let me know about the urinalysis and crystal determination. I might be able
to give you some useful information.

Best of luck,

Phil