My poor cat has cystitis ,how can I help her?

She is 10years old there is also a little blood in the small amount of urine that does pass.I have taken her to the vets many times (which is very stressful for her) no pills have helped and all the tests they did were negative. Is there anything I could try? Shes such a lovley cat,I hate to see her in pain :(Thanks for your timeShe just eats normal dry cat food

Have you tried a vet who specializes in homeopathic remedies? Or also look in a "good" pet store (one that sells products, not pets) and ask what they think or have that's natural. Sometimes a better food helps!!

I give my cats cranberry pills for this..(they work fast) . but you might take her to the vet.get another type of food >"good for urinary tract health"and put a drop or two of lemon juice in her water to change the PH.

is she on perscription food?

I have a 10 year old male Himalayan who has dealt with this for years. First off, a GOOD cat food helps a lot. I either use Wellness or Wellness Core. Wellness with cranberry is really good. Also - the more fluids, the more the cat urinates, the more gets flushed out of the system so I also feed my guy a package of moist food twice a day and I add some water to it. I don't care if he eats all the food or not - it is the water I want him to take in to flush out those crystals. Additionally - you can purchase Urinary Acidifier for animals - you can even buy it from Foster & Smith - for like $17 + shipping or get from your vet. You don't need any prescription for it. But it acidifies the urine and helps break up the crystals. Check to see what kind of crystals she gets first, though. Cranberry treats are also good. Hope I have helped - I have been down this road so many times before - heck I have even gotten a urine sample from the box to take to the vet. I feel like an old pro at this! Good luck to you and your kitty. Oh one more thing - a good drug your vet can use for this is Delta Albaplex. It is an antibiotic AND an anti inflammatory. The straining you describe definitely sounds like an infection - Delta Albaplex and Baytril are excellent at knocking out UTI infections. Like I said - I am a pro at this.

CATS AND URINARY ISSUESThis is not my area of expertise, but this has been my experience: As a kitten, Poppy developed both a weight problem and a UTI. My vet told me to start feeding her special food which he happily sold me *gulp*. Poppy refused to eat it. Back then I was less aware of how to get cats to eat new foods, so I just said the hell with it and bought Purina One's urinary health food, mixed with weight management. She ate that from then until she was 2 years old. She never had another UTI. Does this mean that this food is as good as the overpriced prescription food, or did I just get lucky? I don't know the answer, although I suspect the former statement is probably true.For various reasons, I soon thereafter began researching cat nutrition. I learned about the benefits of wet food, and found that in many cases, that's all that's required to prevent future urinary problems. Even the crappy brands like Friskies would be better than dry food!I don't claim to be a vet, vet tech, vet student or anything like that. But I know how to research and examine results. I've read a bit on this topic which is how I've reached the conclusions I have.At the very least, were I to have another cat with urinary problems, I'd sooner try them on a GOOD QUALITY canned food (or properly balanced raw meat diet) before shelling out the dough for a "prescription" dry food (or even their canned varieties). That's because I believe that good nutrition and species appropriate food is much more likely to keep a cat healthy than inferior ingredients which have been tweaked to change their chemical composition.What should YOU do? If your vet recommends a prescription diet, I can safely recommend that at the very least you get the canned version of that food. That way your cat will get the extra hydration it needs. And don't feel bad about giving your cat this food - temporarily. It will do what it's designed to do, so you can be sure that your cat will do well while you do more research. And I would encourage you to do so. Don't take my word for it - read up on these things for yourself. Stabilize your cat with the prescription food while you look for something better. If canned food (or raw) alone is not helping enough, there are other supplements you could research. I have not done so, but I know that Wysong makes a supplement for urinary issues. "Biotic pH- is designed for cats or dogs needing assistance generating and maintaining an acidic urine to help prevent struvite crystal formulation."I can't endorse this particular product, but know that it's out there. And if it is, there are sure to be others. Again, I would sooner feed good food, with a supplement such as this, than the crappy prescription foods.UPDATE: I wanted to quote some info I ran across this morning (3.8.08). This info is taken from discussions in WholeCatHealth. While in and of itself it may not answer any questions, it can at least demonstrate that this group would be an excellent resource for anyone whose cat has a urinary problem."S/D and C/D are acidifying diets - meant for short-term use to bring down the urinary pH. There are risks associated with long-term use of these diets....." (see the last paragraph for more info on this)."Feeding a high-quality, low-carbohydrate, meat-based, high-moisture diet reduces risk of urinary problems, incl crystals. Meat proteins provide the amino acids that naturally keep the urine slightly acidic (desirable for cats is 6.0-6.5 pH)...and the moisture (about 78% for canned and 68% for the premade raw) helps promote urine volume and pee frequency, which reduces risk of crystal formation. But some cats, even on a species-appropriate diet, can't maintain pH...so it's important to monitor the urine, which you can do at home with pH paper or urine dipsticks. If the pH consistently stays about 7.0, then you can add an acidifier such as L-methionine or ammonium chloride to the meat-based food...and then still monitor to see how the pH is doing."This last bit is from http://vetsites.vin.com/Kidney/FLUTD.doc:"Chronic use of acidifying diets leads to metabolic acidosis, which can lead to decreased bone formation and detrimental effects on calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium balance. Potassium depletion, hypokalemia, and chronic renal failure can result from feeding acidifying diets which have a marginal potassium content. The use of acidifying diets is also contraindicated in cats with chronic renal failure as these animals are often already acidotic. The use of diets high in NaCl should also be avoided in animals with congestive cardiac failure. Finally, as indicated above, the use of diets designed to dissolve struvite may lead to a higher risk of calcium oxalate urolithiasis."

No wonder she has cystitis... you're feeding her dry food! You need to get her on a high quality wet food pronto. Contrary to popular belief, wet food is actually healthiest for cats.The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don't drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least (cats barely even chew their dry food and, really, does a pretzel clean /your/ teeth? Cats should have their teeth brushed with cat toothbrushes and cat toothpaste at least a few times a week as well as see the vet for dental cleanings when necessary /regardless/ of what they are being fed). Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat's natural diet. More on why canned food is best:http://www.catinfo.org/ (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canned_food.htm (Canned Cat Food: Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?)http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood (Why Cats Need Canned Food)http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4.php (The Dry Food Crisis)http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm (Max's House: Feline Nutrition)http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=doesdryfoodcleantheteeth (Does Dry Food Clean the Teeth?)Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.Seriously on a budget? Two of the most affordable of the higher quality foods would be Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul and Felidae.Darksong~