Question about food UTI Siamese that throws up

I have a 13 year old Siamese, Max. When he was about a year old he got a UTI and almost died. The vet put Max on Science diet CD dry. Max has been eating this for 12 years and has never had another UTI! Max has always thrown up a lot - we thought it was eating too fast and would give him little bits at a time. The vet always said, nothing was wrong with him.

In the last few months the throwing up has gotten worse sometimes 3-4 times a day! I have asked the vet about this on numerous occasions and he always says, "probably hairballs" and acts like it is not a problem.

Well several months ago the vet finally said, "there has been new studies out that says canned food is better for cats". I started giving Max canned Science diet CD - 1/4 can in the morning and 1/4 can for dinner. And leaving his dry out to nibble (if I don't do this he will throw up everything he eats from gobbling when hungry).

With the can food the throwing up decreased some but did not stop.
Now SD has changed the formula of the dry food and Max only wants the dry and will not eat the canned! Guess it taste better, it sure smells very fishy.

My questions:

Someone told me that Siamese just puke all the time - it's the breed. Is this true?

Should I try to change his food (with my vets advice of course) since the throwing up is worse now? Could this increase in throwing up be due to him getting older?

He has never gotten another UTI after the first one on the CD. So I must say it has probably saved his life. Could changing his food increase his risk of getting a UTI? I sure don't want to put him at risk.

Other notes: Max's weight is good, he acts healthy, sheds a lot (could this be breed or food?)

My daughter has a tabby cat and she says he never throws up. So this throwing up can't be "normal" like my vet has said for years.

Thanks for your help.

Food can cause shedding. I have a cat that throws up a lot at times bad enough that he would start to dehydrate and had to go to a vet. I finally took him to a cats only vet and she thought he had a type of chronic pancreatitis. He has slowly gotten better but he still episodes they just don't last as long and aren't as severe so he can get over them at home. He isn't a Siamese I call him and his buddy 100% moggies. He does have the oriental type build though long and lean with a wedge shaped head. She told me the same thing about Siamese and vomiting. He didn't have the problem that yours had with a severe UTI though he did have one when he was going through a particularly severe case of the nausea and vomiting which was chaulked up to stress. I feed California Natural Chicken and Rice but I don't know anything about prescription foods for UTI issues. I am sure that someone who knows more about food will be along with some better answers.

Were there crystals or just a uti???

If the latter look at and take ingrediants and %ages to vet ... purina( urinary formulas of one and pro plan)... or Nutros Max cat adult( also look at senior )

Since the UTI was 12 years ago - I'm just not sure if there were crystals.

When I came home from work that terrible night, poor Max was lying in the floor with a horrible fever and I tried to pick him up and he just flooped back on the floor.

I called my vet and of course it was after hours and they had a emergency vet on call (different location). I rushed Max to the emergency vet and the vet stayed up all night with him and told me he didn't know if Max would make it through the night - well thank goodness he did and Max had all his follow ups with the emergency vet.

My vet has looked in his records and he has no record of exactly what Max had. The only record he had was that Max needed the Science Diet CD FOR LIFE.

It's been 12 years - those records are probably long gone.

OHh maybe I missed how long... You need to talk to your vet ...

I would suggest Max senior but talk with the vet ... Some like to keep RXs foods going for good reasons like they need them others do it for a little extra $$

I hope you can sort out the problems with your kitty. I've had 3 Siamese and a part-Siamese and I can honestly say that they didn't throw up so based on my own experience I don't think it is necessarily a Siamese trait. Our own Gayef bred Siamese so she may be able to answer that better than I.

The last time I talked to the vet, a couple of months ago, he told me I could feed Max the canned CD. He said the canned food may help and he said he knew I would be safe feeding Max this.

I must say the Science Diet canned does help (when he eats it) with the new formula dry he begs me for the dry now.

I'm almost afraid to change his food because with 12 years and no UTI, I think the Science diet CD may have made his life much longer. I would hate to make a change and he start having UTI problems. Although, from what I read on the forum SD isn't so great.

Do cats throw up dry more than canned usually?

canned is MORE natural for a cat diet ...

Yes dry feed cats may throw up more.... from not chewing( cats are not good at chewing ) , eating too fast or a allergy to something in it ...

Since CD is working you may want to just try another brand of wet ... waltham makes a RX

The last couple of days I have been increasing Max's canned food and he has not thrown up in two days. Three days ago he threw up just a tiny bit (all dry food).

I had an appointment with the vet next week. I think I'm going to order max some of the chicken canned Science diet CD. It does not have corn in it and keep moving his canned food up. It seems to be helping. I'm really afraid to take him off the CD because of his age and if he got another UTI like he did before, I'm afraid he may not make it.

I feel so bad about feeding maxie dry food for all those years. He is my first cat and I was just going by what the vet said. Maxie couldn't tell me that that is what made his tummy hurt.