I think you need to ask your vet what exactly in this special diet will stop
your cat from urinating in odd places. (I assume that this Vet's special diet
costs more than the Science Diet you have been feeding your cat. Am I right?)

Ask your vet to be specific. Is an ingredient in Science Diet making your cat
urinate in odd places? What ingredients in your vet's diet will change your
cat's behavior? Lastly, ask your vet if he/she objects to you buying this
special diet directly from the manufacturer, thereby bypassing this vet.

Good luck.

My dog has this. The calcium crystals don't dissolve themselves,
unfortunately, they only grow bigger. Keep strictly to the diet, don't feed
*any* milk products or cheese or treats for the teeth. All calcium has to be
avoided!
She urinates in the washing because she is in pain, the crystals are very
sharp. So if the crystals remain she will still be in pain and carry on. In
that case she'll have to be operated.
Litter training may help, but she might soon associate the box with her pain
and ignore it.
As soon as you see blood in the urine there must be an x-ray taken in order
to locate the stone(s) and to remove them.

As far as prevention is concerned: What did you feed up to now? Did the cat
drink enough? Did she get wet food too? Anything spicy or salty?
I did it wrong with the dog feeding cheese crusts.

HTH  Carola

Hi,
Thanks for the good advice so far.
Anyways to answer a few of your questions;  She has always eaten Science
Diet and he recommended a medi-call food the u/d if I recall correctly.  It
is a few dollars more but cost is of no concern when it comes to my baby.
She does drink enough and she would get wet food from time to time but more
as a treat and not part of her regular diet (2 or 3 times a month).
Whenever we have chicken for dinner she does always get a little bit of the
meat, could that have contributed?  She does get Pounce treats, so I am
definitely going to check out the ingredients on it and see if they should
be of concern.

Carola, did the diet change alone for your dog remedy the problem or where
there other steps that needed to be taken as well?

I appreciate the responses so for, thanks again.

B

Hi there,

I was curious about your questions -- particularly the diet for calcium
 crystals. I did some web searches and it sounds like calcium crystals
are becoming more of a problem due to changes in pet foods. Here's part
of one of the websites I was reading:

"Dietary management focuses on influencing the pH of the urine that the
animal produces. Keeping the urine dilute and slightly acidic reduces
the chances of struvite formation. Keeping the urine dilute and slightly
alkaline discourages calcium oxalate crystals. It's a question of
individual balance for each cat. In years past, the large majority of
problem stones were struvite. But as pet-food manufacturers began to
respond by lowering magnesium levels, veterinarians began to see more
cases involving calcium oxalate.

So what's a concerned cat owner to feed? "Feed a food labeled `complete
and balanced,'" advises Remillard, until a problem arises. If one does,
work with your veterinarian to see if the cause can be determined. Your
pet's doctor can then make appropriate dietary recommendations."

The complete article is here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FRO/is_4_133/ai_63713863

Best of luck with your kitty.

Rhonda

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