Struvite Crystals In Cats Ph

The three standard crystals in cats are struvite oxalate and urate.

Struvite crystals in cats ph. Calcium oxalate crystals on the other hand are usually present when urine is too acidic. It mainly occurs due to lack of or inadequate moisture in cat food or lack of drinking water. These diets only contain 10 water. They are most likely to develop when a cat s urine is alkaline more than 7 0 ph.

However your cat s diet still does play a factor. Cats fed the dry pelleted diet had urine of higher ph 7 55 and 78 per cent of the samples contained struvite crystals. Struvite and calcium oxalate are the most common type of stones in cats. The main dietary factors that appear to affect the development of cat crystals are urine ph and water consumption.

Struvite specifically is a material that is composed of magnesium ammonium and phosphate. This is the main reason they are so susceptible to urinary crystals and stones. Struvite crystals develop in concentrated urine once the urine becomes supersaturated crystals aggregate to form stones. Less common stones include ammonium biurate cystine and uric acid.

How struvite crystals form. Struvite stones are composed of magnesium ammonium and phosphate. They typically form because of urinary changes that happen when bladder infections occur. Cats should naturally have a very low acidic urinary ph and a ph over seven.

By eating a diet that is high in plant based food kibble commercial cat food. Cats fed this diet supplemented with ammonium chloride had a urine ph of 5 97 and only 9 per cent contained struvite crystals but when the ph was adjusted to 7 0 all the samples showed struvite crystals. A cat affected with struvite crystals calcium oxalate crystals or any other type of crystal will suffer from the same array of symptoms and are affected in the same way. This has been the major reason that special dry diets have such variable results with preventing urinary crystals and stones in cats.

So how do cats get urine that is too alkaline. Struvite stones are one of the most common bladder stones in dogs and cats. Once the stone is formed it increases in size over weeks or months. The more concentrated the urine the more likely minerals can become crystals and eventually stones.

Healthy cats have low ph urine ie acidic. Urinary crystals is a common problem in dehydrated cats. They cannot form in acidic urine. Struvite crystals are microscopic crystals that are found in the urine of some cats.

Cats are not natural water drinkers as they evolved over millions of years and derived most of their moisture from their prey. Two dietary factors urine ph level and the amount of water consumed daily have the greatest impact on whether or not a cat will develop struvite stones.