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My cat has urine crystals and stress. How to treat his urinary issues?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | British Shorthair | Male | neutered | 7 years and 10 months old

My 8yo male cat is suffering with urine crystals, he has been on 2 lots of medicine and seemed ok but now the meds have finished he is back to constant cleaning his privates. He also is under stress due to not getting along with one of our other cats. Can you please help and recommend anything I can do to help him! Thanks

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Amy Poole, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 26th, 2017

Poor Dylan! I would recommend you keep him on a canned prescription diet for urinary crystals. Your veterinarian can recommend one that should work. I usually recommend rechecking the urine after at least 2 weeks of this diet to make sure the crystals are no longer present and the diet is working. You also can try environmental enrichment to see if that helps with his stress level. For example, you can use shelves to make space so he can perch up high away from the other cats and have his space. I would also make sure you have multiple litter boxes and they are cleaned regularly. We want to encourage him to use the litter box often and not hold his urine. Feliway is a product you can purchase either through your vet or at a pet store that sometimes helps with stress. It is a synthetic cat pheromone that is sometimes effective to help with stress and urinary issues with cats. It will not impact the crystals, but hopefully help calm him and make him more relaxed and use the litter box more readily. Some vets also will add in glucosamine to the cats diet. It won't hurt and could possibly help with his cystitis. Some cats needs other medications, like anti-depressants, if they are still having problems. Hopefully a few changes will improve Dylan's overall situation. Good luck!

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    Answered By Destini R. Holloway, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    I would simply get him on the prescription cat food Royal Canin urinary SO or Hills C/D multistress. These diets are formulated to dissolve crystals in the urine and help cats with symptoms of Feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD). Ask your veterinarian for a prescription card and make the transition (over the course of a week to avoid stomach upset) from Dylan's current diet to his new prescription diet. If he is still symptomatic after a week or two then I would highly recommend making sure he doesn't already have stones by having your vet do a abdominal radiograph, if not done already. If stones are already present then he will likely need surgery to remove these as these are a constant source of stress and discomfort. I wish you the best and I hope that Dylan is back to his normal self in no time.

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