UTIs and Felidae? Maxximum Adult formula? High thyroid part of the problem?

Okay, I have a 14 year old cat who has started getting almost chronic UTIs. She also has high thyroid, if that factors in to all this in some way. We are already avoiding foods containing fish, as one of my cats gets a UTI everytime she eats something containing fish, and another shows a tendancy towards it (We have 4 cats ages 14 to 7 years).

They are all indoor/outdoor cats, and so they free feed dry food all day (and night ) and get canned food (tablespoon or so) or a hairball treat twice a day (also with no fish).
I am working on switching the canned catfood to a senior formula (Friskies) that is supposed to be for urinary health, the other treat canned food is regular Friskies cans (turkey and giblets, or turkey and cheese, chicken, etc.).

The hairball treat is Friskies hairball formula, that she gets 2 of a day (this is what I hide her thyroid pill in, and then hide that in the canned food).

The dry food is Felidae Chicken and Rice, and Maxximum Adult formula.

If this current round of antibiotics doesn't do the trick, her vet said they will start looking into other things (when I mentioned does she need a culture). I don't know what else that would be, either.

Any help would be really appreciated!

Would it be possible of feed Nutro MAX cat(chicken flavor)? I do not think there is fish in it....and it is UTI safe. A few Nutro canned foods are also UTI safe, but I cannot remember off the top of my head which ones. Sharky aught to know.

Thanks, I'll have to look into that !

I admit, on one hand, I am hoping that these foods they are on now are okay, because otherwise, they have been doing so well on them (weight is good, coats are soft and shiney, litterbox habits -aside from this - have been good, no tummy troubles, etc.

But, on the other hand, I hope it is the foods, and that a simple food change would fix this, without having to try to seperate them to feed them, because she needs a prescription or some other fun combination instead of free feeding....*sigh*

Ingredients
Chicken Meal,Corn Gluten Meal,Wheat Flour,Ground Rice,Poultry Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a Source of Natural Vitamin E),Ground Whole Wheat,Lamb Meal,Dried Egg Product,Natural Flavors,Brewers Dried Yeast

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Here is the Nutro MAX Adult formula:
Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Ground Rice, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Ground Whole Wheat, Natural Flavors, Lamb Meal, Yeast Culture, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Dried Egg Product, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Inositol, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Manganous Oxide, Garlic Flavor, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Potassium Iodide, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite.
http://www.nutroproducts.com/mcgcdry-arc.shtml

No fish, I don't think I saw any. Would a non-hairball formula work? I think all Nutro foods are OK for UTIs, but the Adult Chicken is the one sharky first reccomended to me. And my 3 UTI kitties, plus Moo Cow & a few UTI farm cats....have done well on the Chicken Adult formula.

whcich dry formulas of those brands

FISH IS a UTI NO NO in most cases

Sharky, are you asking which formulas I'm using?

The dry foods are Felidae Chicken and Rice, and Maxximum Adult formula (blue and black bag). I've got pics of the Maxxium bag, I think- I'll have to post this and then go look...

Thanks Whitecatlover, I got mixed up and looked at and posted the wrong Roasted Chicken ingredients list (oops). I edited it, but apparently not quick enough! Though a hairball formula would have been great! Oh well....and thanks for the ingredient list!

Here's the Maxximum bag:

UTI safe food should have .08 for magnesium.

Really? Learn something new every day...and that would answer a few questions since they are on the non fish food, and have been for years....


Here's the Felidae:

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein (min.) 32.00%
Crude Fat (min.) 20.00%
Crude Fiber (max.) 2.50%
Moisture (max.) 10.00%
Ash (max.) 5.50%
Lenoleic Acid (Omega 6) (min.) 3.75%
Calcium (min.) 1.00%
Phosphorous (min.) 0.90%
Magnesium (max.) 0.095%
Vitamin E (min.) 200 IU/kg
Taurine (min.) 0.20%
Alpha Linolenic Acid (Omega 3) (min.) 0.75%
pH 5.5

So, I guess these foods are part of the problem if .08 is the neccesary level.

Well, hmmm, I guess I'm off to find some Nutro, unless someone has any other advice/suggestions?

Okay, the Nutro has:

Magnesium (maximum) 0.085% . Is that low enough? Science diet (which I was feeding them a couple of years ago, with rarely a UTI, but bad coat and overweight cats) has .08... Interesting....

I really appreciate all the help- I am just so frustrated and clueless, trying to get something better for them, and it not working for everything....*sigh*

Originally Posted by catsallover

Okay, the Nutro has:

Magnesium (maximum) 0.085% . Is that low enough? Science diet (which I was feeding them a couple of years ago, with rarely a UTI, but bad coat and overweight cats) has .08... Interesting....

I really appreciate all the help- I am just so frustrated and clueless, trying to get something better for them, and it not working for everything....*sigh*

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.085 is the IDEAL ... some say under .09... but the UTI certifieds are .085

Just a thought...being in/out means you can feed whatever you want but you have no control once they step outside. I have had one in/out and PLENTY of outside only cats. Years ago I was feeding about 10 cats and it was normal for them to come and go and new ones to appear for a day or two..my neighbor came over to me complaining her cat would not lose weight-it was on some weight loss diet but the cat was eating ALOT of friskies dry at my place !

On to the subject...My cat benji had urine tests showing a ph of 8+ and what worked wonderful to LOWER that was vitamin c...and that with his c/d hes been free of any issues

Thanks! I've had that "problem" with a neighbor before and my cats, but I have talked to her since, so she isn't feeding my "strays" anymore- . Also, Bird's "daughter" (foster baby) goes with her usually, and Meggie hasn't had any UTIs since then, whereas when this was going on, they both had issues...and this UTI issue with Bird has been going on pretty regularly since I started mixing the Maxximum and the Felidae (they like the Maxximum better, and I was trying to put some weight on Bird since she lost a bunch before with her high thyroid). Well, I know I shouldn't beat myself up about it, but now I feel bad...

I have been struggling with making her an indoor only cat, but she is my hunter, and goes nutty on me in the house- it is very stressful for her, not a boredom issue, so I am banging my head against the wall on that one lately.

On the plus side, the older she gets, the more time she spends in the house and spends laying around on the deck, instead of off in the woods hunting...and we don't have very many neighbors where she hunts (we have a wooded valley behind our house, only a nursing home behind us on the far side), and dogs at most of the other houses, so I don't think that is the problem anymore (thankfully).

I will ask about the ph on the recheck (thanks! they haven't told me what it has been) and start her on the Nutro as soon as I get my van back (it's in the shop as of tonight) or as soon as my mom goes to the town that has all of our decent pet food (30 mins away), whichever comes first !

I really appreciate all the help! Hopefully, this will help her out!

Just wanted to give a quick (really short term! ) update!

I found the Nutro chicken dry food on sale at Superpetz , 20 lbs for $19.99 , and said, "Well, they are just going to have to eat it, like it or not" and bought 2 bags, lol. I got the first bag halfway open, and when I went to get the knife to finish opening it, Butterbean had her head stuck in the bag already . It has much bigger pieces than the Felidae, so they have been picking it out of the mix I made to swap foods- the best laid plans...

I just wanted to say thanks again, and please pray this does the trick for her!