Good foods for Urinary Tract health? Kind of long.

Toby, my almost 4yr. old male, has been having urinary tract 'issues' for almost 2 months now.

I posted when it first started (middle of July), and since then he's been put on the Royal Canin Waltham's Control formula (wet & dry). The first time he went to the vet (this was back in July), he was put on Clavamox, Cosequin, and small doses of valium (he had no urine to test, so the vet was just going off of that he probably did have a UTI based on his symptoms).
I ended up taking him to a different vet, for a second opinion, and she kept him so she could take a sample. When the results came back, he did have some blood in his urine, a few small crystals, and his pH level was 7.5. That's when she decided to put him on the Royal Canin food, and she also gave him Terazosin (.5mg, 1 pill 2x a day for 10 days).
All was fine til about 3-4 days after finishing the Terazosin. He started going in and out of the litterbox again, & only producing small amounts of urine, so I took him back. They had to keep him again (darn cat never has any pee in him at the vet!), and this time his pH was 6.5 (which we decided was probably because he does ocassionally get into my other cat, Sneaks food), and no crystals/blood.
So she gave me some more Terazosin (this was on 8/10), which I gave him for 5 days, and he's been fine since then.

So I've been thinking about getting him a different food once this bag on the perscription stuff is finished (I have probably at least a month left, so I'm just thinking ahead). The vet said when she put him on it that she'd recommend keeping him on it til he was over all of this, which I think he is. So now I'm trying to find a UT friendly non-perscription food.
Before all of this started, he was eating Chicken Soup & Eagle Pack dry in the am, and Eagle Pack wet at night.

So, any suggestions for UT friendly foods? Also, what about any supplements that could help keep any issues from popping up again?

Btw, here's the boy in question

Discuss with vet ...

but

OTC UTI formulas

Nutro Max ( adult and lite).... the natural choice falls under the % ages but was not tested

Purina Uriinary in Pro Plan and One

Friskies special diet

Have you checked to see if anything you were feeding might be on the Recall or filled with grains? Just a thought~

kady05;1958823 said:

Toby, my almost 4yr. old male, has been having urinary tract 'issues' for almost 2 months now.


I posted when it first started (middle of July), and since then he's been put on the Royal Canin Waltham's Control formula (wet & dry). The first time he went to the vet (this was back in July), he was put on Clavamox, Cosequin, and small doses of valium (he had no urine to test, so the vet was just going off of that he probably did have a UTI based on his symptoms).
I ended up taking him to a different vet, for a second opinion, and she kept him so she could take a sample. When the results came back, he did have some blood in his urine, a few small crystals, and his pH level was 7.5. That's when she decided to put him on the Royal Canin food, and she also gave him Terazosin (.5mg, 1 pill 2x a day for 10 days).
All was fine til about 3-4 days after finishing the Terazosin. He started going in and out of the litterbox again, & only producing small amounts of urine, so I took him back. They had to keep him again (darn cat never has any pee in him at the vet!), and this time his pH was 6.5 (which we decided was probably because he does ocassionally get into my other cat, Sneaks food), and no crystals/blood.
So she gave me some more Terazosin (this was on 8/10), which I gave him for 5 days, and he's been fine since then.

So I've been thinking about getting him a different food once this bag on the perscription stuff is finished (I have probably at least a month left, so I'm just thinking ahead). The vet said when she put him on it that she'd recommend keeping him on it til he was over all of this, which I think he is. So now I'm trying to find a UT friendly non-perscription food.
Before all of this started, he was eating Chicken Soup & Eagle Pack dry in the am, and Eagle Pack wet at night.

So, any suggestions for UT friendly foods? Also, what about any supplements that could help keep any issues from popping up again?

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MOST RECALL s happened in march or april ... Nice thought thou

PLUS UTI was NOT a symptom of the acute kidney failure

Welcome to TCS

Raw food is the best for urinary tract health. Twinkie had struvite crystals and since being on a diet of 50% raw his urinalysis is perfectly normal.

Originally Posted by coaster

Raw food is the best for urinary tract health. Twinkie had struvite crystals and since being on a diet of 50% raw his urinalysis is perfectly normal.

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Very true if DONE RIGHT which is the issue for most

There's a wealth of information in this thread: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...ght=chronicles

Sharky is 100% correct -- don't do it unless you've researched it thoroughly and know what you're doing, and are comitted to doing it properly. BUT, there's nothing like feeding a cat what they're designed by nature to eat to promote good health.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I don't think I could do the raw food diet.. I still live at home, and my parents feed the cats occassionally, and I know they won't want to deal with that.

What about Wellness foods? I read on their site that they're good for UT health.

My cats thrive on Wellness. I noticed a BIG difference in my nine-year old's fur and whiskers when I switched to Wellness. She is VIBRANT now, her personality, her fur, her very existence is a sign of good health.

She eats the canned and the dry, although, I do wet the dry and mix it in with the canned.

Before the switch, she BARELY existed, she was DULL, NO PERSONALITY, getting CRANKY, SLEPT too much. Her WHISKERS were getting short.

What triggered the switch? Doing research during the recall and finding out what is REALLY in that canned or bagged cat food that I used to feed her.

ETA: I would suggest to anyone who has a cat to do some research FIRST--so you KNOW exactly what is going into your cat(s) stomachs.

READ the labels for

Magesium ... in the CERTIFIRED for Urinary health formulas it is no MORE than .085%


Wellness is .09

Calcium and phosporus should be 1.0 or under for UTI health

If your asking about wet .... Go for it ....022 magnesium is the UTI health range... Mine all love Wellness wet and the dog eat Core dry but UTI health wise it is NOT certified and the ranges are bordline... The foods I listed for you ALL have been put thru EXTENSIVE testing and validated they were good for UTI health

Like posted above, raw food would be great as meat naturally acidifies the urine but if that's not something you are confident doing, then canned food all the way. Absolutely no dry food. Hydration is key and dry food is a culprit in keeping kitties hydrated and urinary health. I have one that had surgery for crystals and has been on a high quality canned food diet ever since with no problems and regular urinalysis results. We use some Wellness, Felidae (Platinum is a little lower in protein and fat, but has lower magnesium/ash %), Precise and Fromm. I keep a rotation of foods to avoid finicky eating, allergies, etc. but usually try to avoid fishy flavors for various reasons including urinary health.

As for foods listed for FLUTD problems, personally, I wouldn't trust any food that is manufactured in dry form and marketed for urinary health.

Originally Posted by Fenleebe

Like posted above, raw food would be great as meat naturally acidifies the urine but if that's not something you are confident doing, then canned food all the way. Absolutely no dry food. Hydration is key and dry food is a culprit in keeping kitties hydrated and urinary health. I have one that had surgery for crystals and has been on a high quality canned food diet ever since with no problems and regular urinalysis results. We use some Wellness, Felidae (Platinum is a little lower in protein and fat, but has lower magnesium/ash %), Precise and Fromm. I keep a rotation of foods to avoid finicky eating, allergies, etc. but usually try to avoid fishy flavors for various reasons including urinary health.

As for foods listed for FLUTD problems, personally, I wouldn't trust any food that is manufactured in dry form and marketed for urinary health.

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AVOID fish is good

Many dont understand the dry .. but for some cats and there owners a UTI dry with modified % is NEEDED..

Welcome to TCS I bet you will learn alot

ONLY one of you suggested brands matches % for wet UTI health

It's not ALL about those magnesium numbers at all. And dry food is a major culprit in urinary health problems.

Originally Posted by Fenleebe

It's not all about those numbers at all. And dry food is a major culprit in urinary health problems.

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It is if they WILL or are WILLING to only feed dry .... MANY MANY studies have stated the need for cats with UTI issues needing modification.. Even a RAW DIET has to be ... WAIT for IMO to debate it or learn how to search and see the debates... I THINK RAW is best but NOT always an OPTION ... CANNED for some cats is not an option either ... IT is called LIVE , LEARN and work with what you have

Read carefully I also note calcium and phos levels

Any particular reason why you seem so aggressive towards me in your posts? You have you opinion, I have mine. I also have a lot of years experience and am not new to these things. I may be new to the forum, but I'm entitled to my opinion without anyone telling me "I will learn a lot" after my first post. Perhaps you could learn from me as well.

Original poster also commented that the cat eats wet and dry food. So there doesn't seem to be a problem getting this cat to eat canned food. So why not eliminate the dry food?

Originally Posted by Fenleebe

Any particular reason why you seem so aggressive towards me in your posts? You have you opinion, I have mine. I also have a lot of years experience and am not new to these things. I may be new to the forum, but I'm entitled to my opinion without anyone telling me "I will learn a lot" after my first post. Perhaps you could learn from me as well.

Original poster also commented that the cat eats wet and dry food. So there doesn't seem to be a problem getting this cat to eat canned food. So why not eliminate the dry food?

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Not aggressive ... Sorry if you thought that ... WE ALL have LOTS TO LEARN ...
YES some cats do well on UTI drys and wets ....

I think eliminating dry is great BUT in many CATS it is hard even if they eat both ... I know from personal and professional aspects

I am sure I will learn alot from you also ...

I fed Purina One Urinary Tract Health to my UTI prone cat for 9 years with no problems at all. It is not the best food but it was for that cat.

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.

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.

BEAUTIFULLY written ....

Many food s have the DL-Methionine is readily avail in "true Premium " foods ... ranging from nutro to petguard ... Meomory is fuzzy but I think evan Iams without by products has it ...

A warning about Wellness--contact the company for samples. I bought a 5 lb bag that was $17 and 1-2 weeks into it, my cats just stopped eating it. The shelter cats got some really good kibble that month. We've tried a few varieties of their foods and my cats just stubbornly don't like it.

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.

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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.

Purina ONE and Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health have been lifesavers for a lot of cats. I don't think they are the greatest, but if it works- go with it. Personally my experience is with Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health canned. I used to feed that in conjunction with Nutro Max dry when my cats were at the height of their UTI troubles. 2 of my cats eat about 2/3-3/4 of their diet as wet food, but Stimpy stubbornly is more like 50% wet food.

I totally agree, that cats on these diets cannot be over acidified or you get calcium oxalate crystals. A vet should have recommended UTI food before a cat is put on it. With my cats, they were (of course that was some time ago--before I knew to feed as much canned food as I do now, they've had a clean bill of health- as far as UTIs go- for years).