bladder problems

Question
my male cat jinx of 4 years has recently started having urinary problems. we've been to the vets and had his urine tested which showed he had blood and struvite crystals, the vets has placed him on a special diet and also gave him an antibiotic which will last him for two weeks and we've put an extra water bowl to encourage him to drink. This is the second time for him as we first noticed a problem back in feb 07 and that was treated as cystitis we are concerned that it may have been the food we were feeding them (purina one) or just that jinx doesn't drink enough. could you help with any tips on how to get jinx to drink more as we cant feed him on wet tins as the vets told us not to give him anything other than the royal canin bits an meat and also do you know of any other way of treating his problem as we cant really afford the royal canin food. and also concerned about the amount of antibiotic's he's had/having. any help will be greatly appreciated thanks. and also my female jess keeps pluckin the sofas any tips on how to stop that too lol thanks

Answer
Unfortunately, if that is the food your vet recommends for Jinx, you need to stick with it. In order to make the food go a little longer, I suggest you start "drop" feeding him. Do not leave a bowl out for him to feed freely; instead, put out one cup of food in the morning, and one and one half cups of food at night.

Also, make sure that your cat's water is always fresh and there is a bowl available for him in every room of the house. In order to freshen the cat's water, drop a few ice cubes in his dish in the morning, and fully change it out in the evening.

Antibiotics are nothing to worry you. They are as common for cats as they are for children. They're 100% safe. In fact, my tomcat is on an anti-biotic on an as needed basis for a reoccurring asthma induced pneumonia.

To discourage Jess from plucking at the sofa, I suggest getting a good old fashioned squirt gun and spraying the top of her head when you catch her. You can also use Hartz "Stay Off Training Spray". You spray this on the area you want her to "Stay off" and the smell of it will train her to stay away. The smell is not detectable to human noses and works like a charm for scratchy kitties.