We have three cats. One of them has a urinary crystal problem. It was bad enough that we had to spend some time in the emergency veterinary clinic trying to catheterize him so he could pee (the thread about that ordeal is here). He ended up needing surgery - a urethrostomy, removing his little penis and rerouting his urethra in hopes that he’d stop blocking up.
He’s supposed to be on special “urinary tract health” food. The prescription stuff is prohibitively expensive and I’ve been trying some other options (with the vet’s approval). The problem is, the other two cats in the household are big older cats who need to be on a low-cal food. We really, really want to find one food that would be good for everyone, so we don’t have to try and keep them apart for feeding. Two out of the three are grazers and didn’t adapt well when we tried timed feedings.
It seems to me that a few years ago, nearly every single bag of cat food had a huge “maintains urinary pH” or something similar on it, and now I never see it anywhere. Did everyone change their formulations and give up on urinary health? Or are they all still good for it but not advertising the fact? What makes something good for a cat with urinary problems, and is that incompatible with low-cal food? Is there something I should be looking for on the label?
And if there’s no food out there that fits our weird needs - does anyone have any good ideas to try and keep the little guy from eating the fatties’ low-cal food instead of his own special stuff? Or any tricks to getting them to accept being fed twice daily instead of grazing?
I had a kitty with a urinary problem, and I fed him nothing but Friskies Special Diet. He lived to be 20. His brother (who didn’t need it) also ate it, and I heard no complaints.
I don’t have an answer to the other problem. I once had a 27-lb. cat, and at the same time had a cat with some chronic problems, who I had to encourage to eat more. There was really no easy way to feed one and not the other. If nothing else, keep the fatties active.
Humm - my kitty had just this problem including the wenis removal when he was about 2.
He is now 22.
FWIW, he’s always been feed Whiskas - now the long life formula which seems to be working. We’ve also been advised that adding wet food is important for kitties with urinary issues as the extra moisture is important.
Further, changing a cat’s diet to all wet will help many kitties lose weight - my MIL’s cat is a bruiser (24 lbs) - just the switch from dry to wet and he’s down 2 lbs which doesn’t sound like lots, but it’s almost 10% of his body weight.
Perhaps you could get an appropriate wet food for everyone to share, and then have a stash of the dry Whiskas for Mr. Pee Pants.
The short summary? Do not feed your cat dry foods, or the fiber filled special versions for diabetes, etc. Her case notes point to the causes of many disorders in cats being caused by the carbohydrates in dry foods. Cats in the wild almost only eat small animals which contain only a few percent carbohydrates, usually the contents of the digestive tract of the small critter the cat eats. As a result of such a consistent low-carb food type, cats are not well equipped to deal with carbohydrates. Hence obesity, diabetes, etc. As true carnivores, they should be fed a meat diet only. A change in nutrition can reverse many health problems cats endure.
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My cat’s crystal issue wasn’t as bad, but I put him on Innova Evo. Currently he’s on Wysong Uretic because we’re at my parents’ house.
Agree with alice about the wet food. If your cats are willing to eat pate style meat (our fussy monsters aren’t…assholes), I recommend Innova (the parent company is California Natural’s I believe) or Wellness. Basically the boutique brands. If you google Innova Evo and go to the website, they’ll let you search by location which will lead you to some of the non-corporate pet food stores in your zipcode. These usually stock the small brands that aren’t stocked at Petco etc. (Wellness, Innova, California Natural, Wysong).
You’ll have to pay more because these companies won’t use fillers, the foods are all high protein and they don’t use corn-but the cats should need less food as well. Alternatively, you could try making your own cat food-I have a bloggy friend who was living in Mozambique who did that for quite a while because the shipments of commercial cat food were spotty. There are recipes online.
I simply don’t have the patience or stomach for the scent that would waft through the house or the desire to switch them to raw, so it’s paying a slight premium for me. The cats are all unbelievably healthy since we switched them to the nice brands.
My recommendation is pretty much the same. With crystals hydration is the key and wet food is the best way to accomplish that. I’ve gone to an all wet diet of super-premium brands like Wellness. While per unit cost is higher, food intake should be slightly reduced as the low-carb stuff tends to be just a bit more calorie-rich,and sometimes fat-rich as you can see from this handy chart. But if this is still too pricey, any wet food should be an improvement. In addition I’d strongly recommend a pet fountain as moving water seems to encourage drinking. Note that all of this means more pee in the litter box to clean up ;).
Most cats should adjust to regimented feeding meal times and that is also the best way to monitor food intake. My two male cats ( one smallish, the other medium-large ) eat ~2.5 or a little less 5.5 oz. cans of cat food between them in 2-3 ( usually two ) meals a day and according to my vet both are at pretty much a perfect weight for their respective sizes.
Here’s some helpful tips on transitioning to wet food from dry ( pdf ). Most cats can be transitioned from free-feeding to regimented feeding and it really does help with monitoring weight ( but obviously is a slightly bigger pain in the ass )
Oh yeah, thanks for explaining this in more detail, Tamerlane…and agreed. In addition to keeping a running fountain (away from their food, apparently it’s their habit to drink from running water and they like it away from the mess of their “kill”), we also add copious amounts of water to their wet food.
Good god, penis removal? Poor boy. When I was still living with my parents we had to put our sweet kitty to sleep for the same issues, we couldn’t afford the surgeries…
I second the recommendations for grain-free wet food. Kibble is such shit. I am a prey-model-raw feeder (zero carbohydrates) myself, my 3 dogs (2 geriatric) and 2 cats are now slim, muscular and freakishly healthy. I’ve converted several picky foster cats from crap kibble to a raw diet (including whole chicken wings, etc) as well… it’s tough and time-consuming but not impossible.
Anyone who is interested in their pet’s health and nutrition should read Pottinger’s Cats.
We have a cat with urinary problems. Our vet had us put him on Hill’s Prescription Diet C/D. Them the vet switched us to Hill’s Prescription Diet W/D, because he was having some unrelated intestinal problems.
The food was expensive, but the bigger pain was having to go to the vet’s office to get it. One July 4th weekend a few years ago, we ran out of food and the vet’s office was closed. I went to Hill’s website and found the Science Diet Adult Hairball Control Light was very close to the W/D. The vet had told me what to watch for as far as the crystals, so I figured as long as we were ok for that, I could deal with the constipation if it happened (ever give a cat an enema?), Bought the Science Diet. He was good on that, so we kept feeding him that. It was a little cheaper, and I had the advantage of being able to go to Petsmart or other pet stores to get it.
Then we had to cut back again for financial reasons, so we switched to Purina One’s urinary tract formula. He has been on that for about a year with no problems. His constipation issues are even better on that then they were on the W/D. If we needed to go one step lower, the Friskies Special Diet looks like it would be ok. It’s the only other food that I’ve looked at that I would even consider. Everything else I looked at had higher magnesium content and would be worth the risk.
This has all been dry food. Through all this, our other cats have happily ate whatever we put in the bowl. Our only cat with weight issues is the cat with the urinary issue, and he was always a big cat, even before the crystal problems.
Canned! I have a cat who also has urinary issues. I have a cat who was overweight. The UTI infection cat is doing good now, and the fat cat lost 4 lbs. I feed Wellness canned - mostly the chicken and turkey (grain free) flavors. I had tried raw, but that is when my boy cat got his UTI and I put him back on Wellness.
I have two cats who have urinary issues, one with crystals, one without and a formerly-overweight female alpha. I developed a routine where they get fed twice a day, in separate rooms. If they choose not to eat all their food, they lump it until the next mealtime.
The cat with the crystals problem gets mostly wet food and a bit of dry “anti-hairball” food, only about 15 pieces per meal. He gets 3 oz of wet food with each meal. The other two cats get 1/8 cup of dry food and 1-2 oz of wet food with each meal. It works very well. They are all healthy and walking away from an all-dry diet has improved their coats and lessened their allergies and weight issues.
Rice and corn gluten are not any part of a cat’s normal diet. Dry food is just full of crap (and so is a lot of wet food to be sure). Sure, I keep it around because it is cheap and the cats do seem to like it but they are much healthier since I changed the ratio of wet to dry. Yes, it can be an issue when I stay away from home overnight but so far, so good. It’s been three years since I switched.
If expense is a concern, the boutique brands of canned food may be prohibitive. Once you start researching feline diet needs, you will find that if you can afford any change, then any canned food, even the cheapest you can find, will be an improvement.
The fat cats will lose weight. The “diet” dry food is crap, it’s like a person trying to lose weight by switching from their all-cereal Corn Flakes diet to eating all GoLean - it’s still cereal, and still will be a problem.
Cats are obligate carnivores. Their system doesn’t know what to do with carbohydrates, no matter how low-cal they are. Give them all the canned they want and they will still lose weight.
To take care of your urinary guy - canned without a special formula is worth a try, but there’s still a chance he could have a problem. I believe Friskies makes a canned urinary health formula that may or may not do any good. ADD WATER TO IT.
I have 4 cats that all eat Hill’s k/d because I have a urinary-issue guy who has issues for reasons other than the norm. It’s imperative that his urine pH stay neutral. Since I can’t risk him ingesting anything other than k/d, that’s all I have in the house and the other 3 eat it too. For 4 cats, they get 1 can in the morning, split 4 ways and with a tablespoon (15ml) added to each quarter. Once they’ve eaten most of it (lapped up the majority of the water) I split 1/2 cup of kibble between the 4 bowls because I’ve got 2 who really like their crunchies and I just don’t have the heart to take their crunchies away from them.
I justify giving them kibble because they have to eat the k/d canned, and it’s only marginally delicious from what I can tell. I also give measured amounts, and meal-feed, so it’s not out all the time in unlimited portions. None of my cats are fat. I would love to feel all canned, but Rx food is expensive - especially canned - so the added water and limited kibble are a compromise that works for me. In the case of my household, it has to work. PU surgery wouldn’t help my urinary guy, he would eventually grow stones too big to pass anyway if his diet didn’t work. If he blocks again I’ll have to euthanize him, and he’s only 2 1/2.
My cat developed urinary cloggage about six months after he was neutered. Vet said he needed special food- use any national brand. I switched him to Walmart Special Kitty Urinary Tract Protection dry food and he’s been fine for nine years so far.
