5 Effective Ways to Prevent Your Cat From Growing Crystals in the Urine
written by Dr.Laxmi Iyer

Crystals! From a feline perspective it's a nightmare word. Stones in the urinary tract - either the kidney, bladder or urethra can be a painful condition - that can be the reason for emergency surgery.

The truth is that a significant proportion of all the calculi or stones found in the urinary tract of cats belong to a single group - magnesium-ammonium-phosphate (struvite) crystals.

Of course, nowadays with the control on magnesium in the diet and an acidic pH being maintained, there is a small rise in the percentage of calcium oxalate crystals being seen.

Besides your cat's genetic predisposition there are 5 common sense things you can do to prevent those crystals from condensing in your cat's urinary system

The best way to prevent the crystals from happening is to take care of the Water intake, Exercise, Magnesium levels, maintainance of acidic urine and Litter cleanliness

Make sure that your cat drinks enough water
Water! The cool drink that can erase more than a hundred ailments can sure help your cat too!

It's all the little drops that count. Make sure that your cats are well hydrated. A lack of water can be detrimental to your cat's health.

Remember the E word
Now, your cats are not natural aquaphiles. If your cat is not naturally fond of water – you need to tastefully inculcate the taste for nature’s brew.

So, the best way to get them to the watering ground is to create the thirst.

They need to be thirsty enough to down the aqua...and the reasoning that goes with it is that they will get thirsty when they have had their daily bout of good, wholesome exercise.

The trick is to play with them - even if your cat is a religious carpet and lounge napper. Get them out to breathe some fresh air...Lift them if they won't budge.

Coax them into the garden.

Make them play...

Make them work a little to get their food.

That means if it's chow time, you could place their bowl in a slightly remote place where they would need to climb up and down staircases or walk through serpentine corridors.

The dogs had their own role to play in making sure that the cats got their fair share of exercise.

Watch out for the magnesium levels
Magnesium when present in excess in the diet can cause the formation of magnesium-ammonium-phosphate calculi formation.

Examine the food. Whether you feed your cat canned food or dry food the important thing to take care of is to watch out - for how much of the stuff your cat is eating and whether in trying to maintain his or her caloric requirements, more of the magnesium isn't being consumed as well.

Most commercial cat food available does take care of this problem…but just in case, you’ve switched to an exotic, new brand of cat feed.

When you feed your cat commercial cat food check the label to ensure that the magnesium content is less than 40 mg / 100kcal

If the caloric value of the food your cat consumes is very low then in order to meet the calorie needs, you cat will eat more of the stuff....and that in turn will lead to more magnesium intake....propelling the beginnings of a urolith to get formed somewhere in the urinary tract.

Acidic pH
Researchers have seen that another critical cause for the formation of uroliths is the pH. They observed that the more acidic pH, the less likely it was for the struvite crystals to appear.

Cats who have free access to food and have many small meals throughout the day are more likely to maintain the pH of the urine acidic.
You can if possible, at least once a week do a dip stick test to see if your cat’s urine is maintaining the acidic state.

Once every 3 months, get your cat ‘s urine examined in the laboratory.

Litter cleanliness
This cannot be overemphasized. A clean, dust free litter box is essential for your cast’s natural sense of cleanliness and in order to get them to use them routinely.

Inappropriate elimination that is sometimes seen can happen because of a dirty litter box that is inappropriately located.

The smallest movement of furniture in your home, introduction of noisy machines or new products without giving your cat his or her fair of proper attention can work as major stressors – causing your cat to pee in inappropriate places. Watch out!

Heavily scented litter material or litter material that is not convenient and comfortable for your cat to use can also act as deterrents.

Examine your cat’s litter box regularly. Is the litter too dry, too dusty, too sticky?
Different packs of the same litter material can work differently. Check everyday if you can.

Observe and take action where needed. If possible, maintain a daily health check diary for your cats.

Consult with your veterinarian regularly. Stones in the urinary system are a serious emergency .