Good foods for Urinary Tract health? Kind of long.

Originally Posted by littleraven7726

Every time we've tried, a few days into it Stimpy starts barfing up his meals because he eats too fast. Doesn't matter if I feed chunks or pate, fancy or cheap canned, and it's elevated.

It's just easier sometimes to feed wet and dry. It's not ideal, but it works for us. Every cat is different. Even on the FLUTD Yahoo! group, there are about a million different methods to dealing with Feline Lower Urinary Tract disease.

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Originally Posted by Fenleebe

I do have this problem as well. He INHALES his food. I give him smaller portions, but I work from home and can feed him a few smaller meals a day. I realize a lot of people don't have that option.

As for how to treat FLUTD, I have been on the yahoo group also and I know what you are saying. My other concern though is that dry food only diets cause a host of other problems. It would just be really sucky to trade off one issue for another...

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Originally Posted by sharky

One empty you pm box

I have always done 50/50 dry and wet and no one had UTI issues till age 17 at that pt was on raw and just needed a tweek

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Originally Posted by Fenleebe

Done. (Only 5 messages? I didn't realize.

)

The only cat I've personally owned with FLUTD has been the one I talk of, but he fits the bill with having been overweight and male. Though since I cut out the dry food he lost 3 lbs.

The others were fosters and also male/overweight, and also my aunt's cat who was also male but not overweight. Some are just prone to it...

Though I truly believe that canned food in their diet helps tremendously. So your 50/50 may be enough, or maybe they aren't prone in the first place. One can never tell. The hydration and keeping the urine diluted are so important and they get so much moisture from the canned foods...

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Originally Posted by sharky

Now if they would just say I am prone

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Originally Posted by Fenleebe

Grrr. I had spent a lot of time on a reply and it got wiped out.
I agree, if your cat's not going to eat canned food, that's a whole other issue, but if he will and you are trying to steer clear of prescription diets, I feel strongly that a high quality canned diet is far better than a Friskies diet (or the like) even one that is certified for urinary health. Not to mention that dry foods are such a big contributor to so many other health problems, such as diabetes, etc.

If the original poster said she's tried and the cat is just not eating wet food. That would be one thing, but i would really try to ditch the dry food if he will allow it. My kitty that had surgery for crystals was a dry food addict. Came to me that way as a package deal with the boyfriend. Though after the crystals, I cut off the dry completely. We had a bit of a stand off but he gave in. Many cats will, but that's not to say that you won't come across the occasional cat that would sooner starve himself before he ate something he didn't like. With a little persistence though, most of them do come around.

I can not stress how important hydration is. If you don't have one already, a pet water fountain is great too. I never saw my cats drink out of their water bowl but since I started using fountains a few years back I see them all make several trips a day to it.

Also, most prescription diets and foods certified for urinary health contain DL-Methionine (which is the synthetic form of L-Methionine, an amino acid that has been used to acidify the urine). I forgot about another food that is a more natural food available without prescription. It's called Petguard, some (if not all) of their flavors of canned food contain DL-Methionine. If you have a Whole Foods nearby you can pick some up and see if your kitty likes it. They make a dry food too and it may contain DL-Methionine as well. (Though there are several other foods that contain DL-Methionine)

If you choose to use a urinary formula, be careful to monitor your cats progress because sometimes they can over acidify the urine and lead to oxalate crystals. You end up exchanging one problem for another. It's incredibly frustrating. I feel your pain.

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Originally Posted by kady05

Oh, one other thing. I have a bottle of stuff called UT Strength, it's made by Vetri Science. Here's the list of active ingredients:

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Active Ingredients Per Two Tablets:
[font=Courier New, Courier, mono]Uva Ursi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100 mg
Chanca Piedra (Phyllanthus niruri) Powder. . . . . . . 75 mg
Cranberry Juice Extract. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 mg
Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis) Root Powder . . . . .50 mg
L-Methionine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 mg
Corn Silk Powder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 mg
Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 mg
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) Whole Plant Powder. . 25 mg
Olive Leaf (15% Oleuropein) Extract . . . . . . . . . .25 mg
Lactobacillus acidophilus . . . . . . . . . 17.5 million CFU [/font][/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Inactive Ingredients: brewers yeast, fish flavor, microcrystalline cellulose, silicon dioxide, stearic acid, vegetable stearate.[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Directions For Use:
Give 2 tablets daily. Daily amount may be divided between AM and PM.[/font]

It says on the back that it's not recommended for continual use, and to take the recommended amount for 7-14 days or until results occur. What does everyone think of this?

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Originally Posted by Muzby

A lot of good responses, also, look into getting a cat fountain if you don't already have one. Makes all my cats drink more.

I've also noticed on a grain free diet, they all drink MORE!

So maybe try a grain-free food like Innova EVO?

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Originally Posted by sharky

It has a number of good things BUT run it by a vet

Grain frees thus far in DRY are NOT UTI friendly at all actually the OPPOSITE

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Originally Posted by kady05

Any reason you think the company doesn't recommend it for daily use? Seems like if they're prone to UT issues, it'd be a good supplement..?

So a grain free, WET food would be good for him?

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Originally Posted by sharky

magnesium .025 is the max .... .022 is what I look for ....

calcium and phos should be .025 and under ( most of the time you have to call the company to get these

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Originally Posted by venusgirltrap

Do you have recs for a specific brand?

Also, everytime I've feed her wet it seems like her poo smells worse. Anyway to combat this? Maybe she just ate too much; she gets excited if I feed her wet.

Oh and one more Q, I'm gone all day at work and she's use to free feeding. Should I feed her wet morning and night and then leave out dry for the rest of the day? She's a bit fat, but my roomie feeds her kittens dry and I don't want my cat to get into their food because she's hungry.

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Originally Posted by sharky

TRY to avoid fish

... which nutro dry is she eating right now?? is the smell after eating wet or dry??

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Originally Posted by kady05

I checked around today, and found a few brands that I think are UT friendly (wet). Wellness, Natural Balance, Nutro, and these two I questioned, Felidae & Merrick. I think all of these had Mg levels of .025%.

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