Soft food for a cat who had a UTI

About 3 months ago my cat Mickey had a uti. I wanna feed him soft food, but dont know what my options are. I dont feed them wet food every day, dont want them getting fat, and I heard it can rot their teeth. But maybe once every second or third day. They have cases of wet food at the vets where I get his special food, so im wondering if I would have to use that, or if I could use something else? The receptionist at the vet said using regular food is not a good idea, but Im wondering it this is only a ploy to get me to only buy from them.
Im wondering if anyone knows anything about this.

Edited to add, I have 3 cats, so all 3 would be getting the same food. My other two eat the special food that Mickey has to eat.

TALK with a VET or vet tech.. as a whole receptionists are not good to talk to ...

IF okayed by the vet ... look for mag no higher than.025 preferable .022%

Originally Posted by Melmo

I dont feed them wet food every day, dont want them getting fat, and I heard it can rot their teeth.

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Actually, it is excessive quantities of dry food, loaded with carbohydrates and other things which cats don't really need (or at the very least cannot process efficiently), that is much more likely to lead to weight gain, not canned food.

Canned food is also more effective at helping to prevent a UTI because it provides much-needed liquid intake, which helps to flush the toxins out of the system. Cats tend to not have very strong thirst drives and may not otherwise consume an adequate amount of water.

And whoever told you that wet food can lead to rotten teeth is grossly mistaken. Dry food isn't nearly as beneficial for teeth because cats tend to swallow some or even all of the pieces whole.

Originally Posted by RobertM

Actually, it is excessive quantities of dry food, loaded with carbohydrates and other things which cats don't really need (or at the very least cannot process efficiently), that is much more likely to lead to weight gain, not canned food.

Canned food is also more effective at helping to prevent a UTI because it provides much-needed liquid intake, which helps to flush the toxins out of the system. Cats tend to not have very strong thirst drives and may not otherwise consume an adequate amount of water.

And whoever told you that wet food can lead to rotten teeth is grossly mistaken. Dry food isn't nearly as beneficial for teeth because cats tend to swallow some or even all of the pieces whole.

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So I should feed him wet food instead?

Originally Posted by xpiercedgoddess

About 3 months ago my cat Mickey had a uti. I wanna feed him soft food, but dont know what my options are. I dont feed them wet food every day, dont want them getting fat, and I heard it can rot their teeth. But maybe once every second or third day. They have cases of wet food at the vets where I get his special food, so im wondering if I would have to use that, or if I could use something else? The receptionist at the vet said using regular food is not a good idea, but Im wondering it this is only a ploy to get me to only buy from them.
Im wondering if anyone knows anything about this.

Edited to add, I have 3 cats, so all 3 would be getting the same food. My other two eat the special food that Mickey has to eat.

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It's not a good idea to give prescription food to your 2 cats who don't need it. I would go with a grain-free canned food. I have seen a significant improvement in my cats since they have been completely off dry food since the spring. Two of them had previously had struvite and oxalate crystals in their urine. They had been on mostly dry food.

My vet has even told me to keep feeding whatever I am feeding as the cats are doing well on it, even my 17-year-old kitty. Do a google search for grain-free cat food or check the listings on a site like pet food direct where you can break down your search by food types. If your cat absolutely must have a prescription diet, canned would be the best choice.

Actually, on a grain-free wet food, you don't have to feed as much food. You have much less poop to clean out of the litter boxes. My cats rarely vomit hairballs now. Stools are all nice and small and firm. No loose bowel movements.

Above all, do your research. Dry food is not a good choice for cats. I never knew that until this year when I started researching on my own. It does take awhile to transition dry food cat addicts to all wet food.

There are also the options of home cooking or raw. There are some excellent books written by vets out there with recipes.

I don't recommend any brands. I actually rotate a few different brands and flavors, with occasional organic wet food. Do your research and good luck with your kitties. Dry is NOT good for cats. You will notice they will rarely drink water once they are on grain-free wet as they get most of the moisture they need from the wet food. Only my oldest with early CRF still drinks a little water. Of course, always have fresh water availble.

So would it be better to feed Mickey say, a can in the morning and a can at night? Should I leave dry food out for him aswell or no?
The vet told me it was ok to keep my other 2 on it and it just makes sense to me that if I did, neither of them will get a UTI. Am I wrong on this?
Maybe ill search for another food at the vet to feed them.
Oh, and all my cats eat my dog's food. Even Mickey, which I know is bad. Maybe I will swwitch his food to canned aswell, so they cant eat his food.
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Oh and Ive considered the home cooked food, but dont think I could do that. I would be too worried about doing something wrong.

oh, and if its grain free, does that mean there is no risk for that pet food recall that affected the wheat gluten? I dont feed my cats wet food at all since then, too paranoid.

some foods that are specially designed to prevent UTIs in your cats future may come in "sets" such as wet and dry food just like when you buy regular food (Nutro's feline weight management formula is a good example).

I would however, take into consideration that if you are buying a special diet for one cat and you have others that live with you that you either buy a larger size of that bag, or keep that special food to one cat. it can get pricy.

i mix the wet and dry food together. i use more dry food than wet food, and they only eat once a day - middle of the day. I believe that they are only supposed to eat the equivalent to One mouse a day in calories, fats and so on...

when Munchkin had her IBD and exploratory surgery i bought a case of Euk Rx Diet Low- Residue diet to keep her digestive tract comfortable. Although i could have fed it to my other cat Tai as she was eatting it, i thought it best to savor the cans i had and buy him his own dry food like normal.

good luck and )))))))good vibes((((((( for your kitty to feel better =(^.^)=

At the moment, I feed all three of them dry food specifically for preventing a urinary tract infection. It costs me 30 dollars a bag and lasts 2 weeks.
So I need some advice. Should I keep feeding all three cats this dry food, or switch them al to wet food? If I do switch them all, should I feed Mickey the food for UTI prevention and the other 2 to something else? And how many times a day should I feed them, once or twice? Feeding them once a day doesnt seem like much, I dont want to starve them lol.

YOu need to have a talk with your vet...

wet IMHO is better for almost all cats( cept for those that refuse to eat it ) ... At this pt NO grain frees dry s are UTI friendly and you may need to call the companies on the wet

i will defenitely be talking to the vet the next time I get a bag of food.
But I just have one more question. If I was to feed Mickey normal food (instead of prescription food) Which would be better, wet or dry? I have heard Tuna flavoured wet food is bad for UTI's, is this true?

Just as a note, Im not planning on feeding him normal food, I will always be feeding him his prescription food, I was just curious.

wet..fish is high in the things that are kept lower calcium phos and magnesium for UTI health ... so many with uti issues avoid fish ... or like I did limit it to once or twice a week

If you want to talk with the vet about possible safe OTC foods , I suggest a google for urinary tract health cat foods

And has anyone tried giving cranberry juice to their cats?

Originally Posted by xpiercedgoddess

And has anyone tried giving cranberry juice to their cats?

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NO NO .... juice is sugar filled ... cranberry extract ( make sure no sugar ) cranberry powder

Sorry, tha's what I read, pure 100% cranberry juice. Said that most cats wont drink it so they give them cranberry capsules.