Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Diet lowering struvite saturation below 1 dissolves cat bladder stones
By Houston, Doreen M et al.·Published in The British journal of nutrition·2011·Medi-Cal Royal Canin, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: A diet with a struvite relative supersaturation less than 1 is effective in dissolving struvite stones in vivo.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of cats with struvite bladder stones was treated with either a wet or dry special diet designed to lower urine pH. Most of the cats saw their stones dissolve within about 18 days, while a few needed surgery to remove stones that did not dissolve. The study showed that feeding these specific diets can effectively help dissolve struvite stones in cats. If your cat has been diagnosed with struvite stones, discussing a specialized diet with your veterinarian could be beneficial.
People also search for: cat struvite stones diet · how to dissolve cat bladder stones · cat urinary diet for struvite stones
Abstract
Magnesium ammonium phosphate (struvite) is one of the most common minerals found in feline uroliths. Previous studies have shown the efficacy of acidifying calculolytic diets (inducing urine pH < 6.5), in dissolving struvite stones in cats. Recent work in our laboratory found that wet and dry test diets induce a struvite urinary relative supersaturation (RSS) < 1 and that the urine of healthy cats fed the dry test diet dissolved feline struvite stones in vitro. The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the efficacy of those test diets on naturally occurring struvite urocystoliths in cats. A total of twenty-one cats were used, of which seventeen completed the study. Of the seventeen cats, eight were fed the wet test diet and nine the dry test diet. Uroliths dissolved in a median of 18 (10-55) d. In the remaining four cats, uroliths failed to dissolve and were removed surgically. Quantitative analysis showed that these uroliths contained either calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate. The present study demonstrates that diets that induce a struvite RSS < 1 result in struvite stone dissolution in vivo.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22005442/