Cystaid and Cystease

[Gillian Harvey]

There is another product called Furinaid which acts in the same way as Cystease and Cystaid to support the bladder lining, it looks like its a liquid - and it says its Roast Meat flavour, so could appeal to cats  Its £13.50 for 150ml.  http://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ca0&s=furinaid

[Millys Mum]

Cystaid/cystease dont adjust urine ph, they are a glucosamine based supplement to help replace missing GAGs in the bladder lining, at the moment the whole long word for GAGs eludes me 

At one time the difference between the two products was cystease had alfalfa in it then they brought out cystease s which had no alfalfa so basically its now the same as cystaid

[Pinkbear (Julie)]

The cystaid, cystease thing I think qualifies as an FAQ. I was asking it myself about six months back and since then I've seen it brought up at least 4 times.

It works by adjusting the alkalinity of the urine so that's not going to do any great harm to any non-cystitis cat. Tilly has her Cystease sprinkled on the food once every other day. I tend to close her in a room away from Jumpy when I first put it down, she eats a fair amount and leaves the rest. I then let her out the room... sometime she'll return and finish it, sometimes Jumpy will finish it. He's never shown any ill effects.  I figure if she gets at least half the powder into her then it's good enough... so far it's worked very well. No cystitis since we started this regime. 

I think Cystease is every bit as good as Cystaid and as you say, a lot cheaper! The vets don't like it as they don't get as much commission from selling it. 

[Leanne]

We use Cystease, we've successful given them to Jess straight down the throat, but he is an easy cat to tablet. But for the past few months we've been sprinkling it on his food.

In the photo below the tablet on the right is the Cystease (Vetuk sent me a dodgy batch, Ceva (I think) who make cystease had messed up, there is nothing wrong with the tablets just a change in components but I didn't want to use them and sent these pics to prove the size difference - I've used Vetuk since with no problems)

[tab]

Amber has a history of stress cystitis and as my life isnt exactly peaceful at the moment I thought I might stock up. I have about 15 cystaid from the vets to give her one a day but Im wondering if I should get some from vet uk. I notice though that cystease is a LOT cheaper. Does anyone have any opinions on which is best? How big are the capsule for cystease? I see it says sprinkle capsules for both but the vet never told me that so the cystaid has been going down her throat with no problem but they are a little capsule. I cant really sprinkle it on food as both cats share food and will eat the non sprinkled one and fight. I could put it in treats if I really have to but Ambers podgy enough without having treats every day.
Any advice would be great
Thank you
love
Tab