Friend had crystals-food suggestions?

A friend of mine has a cat that had crystals about 6 months ago. They just got done treating him for them again. They were feeding Purina Cat Chow. I talked to them about what's in Purina, & how feeding a higher quality food would cost less as they eat less & poop less, there are less fillers, & those dull coats will shine on the right food. They agree with me. I suggested trying Solid Gold, but at the moment, price-wise that isn't a good choice.

They are really looking for a cheap food that would be safe for a cat who had crystals(Struvite, if I am remembering right). They are feeding 6 cats. I looked at the Purina ONE bags shopping yesterday & they're about the only food that lists the phophorus, magnesium, calcium, & ash all on the bag! Would Nutro be a good choice? Of course, I suggested canned food & they selected Iams new Chicken entree....as that was already the favorite in the house! Canned 2x a day & dry free fed is what they are going to be feeding.

For those of you who have cats with crystals, do you feed an Rx diet, or just a specific brand of cat food?

Nutro max in adult or lite depending on kittys needs are both good for that .... I gave you the canned foods list

One is not my first choice but also has a UTI formula if they only have a grocery to buy food...

What would you suggest for guidelines as to how much manesium phosphorus, calcium, & ash should be in a dry food? How about in a wet? I know that the owners would do their own reserach & select a food if they had guidelines... None of the vets around here know anything about "good" food. I asked the vet they use what he considers high quality....Iams, Science Diet, & Eukanuba...of course!

my cat had triple struvite crystals...it sucked. he was on prescription royal canin S.O. for almost one year (but then one day he stopped eating it...maybe he got sick of it!) so for the past 5 months, he has been eating nutro and seems to be doing fine on it. he went to the vet last week and the vet said nutro is fine for him right now.

Zoey has a problem with struvite crystals. She's been on perscription Science Diet C/D for over a year and that's where she's going to stay because it seems to be keeping her problem under control. I really dont recommend any 'grocery' store foods for a cat that has crystals. Even if it says its specifically for that problem.