Werner and Melanie write:No infection, but...

Phoebe's vet just called. Our poor girl has crystals in her urine. The good news is two-fold: there's no infection, and the crystals were found before they could form stones. So our plan to transition her (starting today!) from kitten food to regular adult food has been sidelined¹; instead, we'll be transitioning her to pH-control food, to get the crystals under control.

The crystals, the vet explained, come from her diet, and since she's been on the Development Formula food all along, this is rather unusual. The seafood flavour of the treats she loves so much may contribute to the problem; the non-seafood varieties are fine. The remaining culprit, then, is that she isn't drinking enough. Phoebe would much rather bathe in her water bowl than drink from it, and prefers her water dribbling from the tap. She won't take wet food, so cannot get water from that source.

Since there are no stones (yet), while her bladder might be irritated by the crystals, at least she isn't in for the kind of pain she could have faced, had the crystals not been discovered. And if the efforts to get them under control don't work.

Our poor Phoebecat!


¹ If only we hadn't opened a bag each of kitten and adult food just last night!! Our plan was to mix the two foods to gradually and gently shift Phoebe from the kitten food to the adult food. So much for that plan!