Guaranteed Analysis versus Quality Food

dorabella's mom

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Hello!! I am forcing my eldest (4 on april 1) to eat purina's urinary tract health food as a preventative measure against uti. He has never had any problems.

Whenever I feed this, at some point he gets gross, horribly smelly, runny yellow poo that he kicks everywhere. This happened with the purina pro plan, as well. This happened with purina's all stages in blue bag and the purina one chicken and rice, too. Obviously there is something that purina uses that doesn't agree with him.

WHen I tried nutro, his urine output wasn't good.

Now he is eating meow mix's hairball formula, and as before when I tried it, he is thriving. Nice poo, etc. Regular meow mix with it's colors are gross and it smells horrid and Calvin's tummy can't take it; however the hairball formula as a basic brown color for the most part and the fiber seems to do him well.

But, the meow mix hairball used to say low magnesium, now it only shows analysis for phosphorus and calcium, not ash or magnesium.

THe purina proplan and purina one urinary formulas show all the analysis.

AND I was looking online at hills' science diet and not only do they show the analysis for the calcium, phosphorus, ash, and magnesium, they're numbers are WAY LOW. and it isn't even a verfied uti food.

I have heard talk that grain free is not great for utis [dry grain free, anyway]

The big problem with the meow mix is that I have a kitten. There is no way I can seperate the two, so he too gets the hairball formula.

The fiber in the meow is a 9. I have read that high fiber can make the urine concentrated due to the binding that the fiber does to water. IN addition, kittens shouldn't have a lot of fiber as the extra fiber can absorb too much and the kitten can lose nutrients.

Please help this meowmy!!
 

jack31

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May I ask why you are pushing the uti dry food so much if he's never had any problems?

Leslie
 

carolina

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Hi -
If he has never had problem, why are you doing this? Did a vet say anything?
Purina is a very low quality food, so is Science diet, and so is Meow mix...
If you look at the guaranteed analysis, they might look good, but you need to look further, at the ingredients...
Is there a budget reason why he is on Purina?
The best way for you to prevent UTI at this point is to put him in a wet diet, or wet and dry. A Wet diet will help him to get the most water intake, which is a very big step in preventing kidney disease and UTIs.
To save $$$, you can give him a lesser quality wet food, and invest on a nice grain free dry food. Your cat doesn't have any problems for what I can see, and he needs good nutrition for a healthy life.
Cats do not need grain, by-products, artificial flavors, etc; which are quite abundant in Purina, Science Diet, and Meow mix...
 

yelloweyes

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Extra water is good, of course. UTI prevention was part of our thinking when we got a cat water fountain. We have a Drinkwell, and like it quite well. And so do the kitties . . .
 
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dorabella's mom

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Originally Posted by Jack31

May I ask why you are pushing the uti dry food so much if he's never had any problems?

Leslie
I am just afraid he will get one, and figure if I am ahead and just be proactive I will never have to worry about him having a uti. Have you all seen the thread in IMO about worrying about your pet and not enjoying him due to stress. That is me, I am so worried about food, etc. I am a basket case. I am so afraid the meow mix is going to give my cats a uti, but that is all calvin can digest.

It is driving my fiance batty.
 
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dorabella's mom

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Originally Posted by carolinalima

Hi -
If he has never had problem, why are you doing this? Did a vet say anything?
Purina is a very low quality food, so is Science diet, and so is Meow mix...
If you look at the guaranteed analysis, they might look good, but you need to look further, at the ingredients...
Is there a budget reason why he is on Purina?
The best way for you to prevent UTI at this point is to put him in a wet diet, or wet and dry. A Wet diet will help him to get the most water intake, which is a very big step in preventing kidney disease and UTIs.
To save $$$, you can give him a lesser quality wet food, and invest on a nice grain free dry food. Your cat doesn't have any problems for what I can see, and he needs good nutrition for a healthy life.
Cats do not need grain, by-products, artificial flavors, etc; which are quite abundant in Purina, Science Diet, and Meow mix...
They used to love, until, like, this weekend, the friskies wet shredded turkey and cheese, they used to eat 6 cans a day between the three, along with the urinary tract food.

Ideally, I would love to feed the nutro maxx roasted chicken, as calvin has never tried that formula before, only the adult nutro chicken. I am not pleased having him on the meow mix, and nutro seems to do well with sensitive tummies.

I wonder what in the world is in purina, I can't do it though. Finances and budget are a big thing. But, they can eat a 4 pound jar of proplan and it will be gone in a week at $12.00 a jar, so I can probably find a better food comparable. I have other things in life I should concentrate on, but I want the best for my cats.

You have basically answered my concern; do I do kudos for science diet's numbers or follow others and get a quality food and don't worry about Calvin until I get to that road.

I hear so much about neutered males, and blockages, utis that can result from this. Preventative measures mean so much to me, but not at the cost of my cat's GI tract. Wellness is out of my league, so the best thing for me is nutro. I don't know why it seemed as though his urine output wasn't good with the nutro regular, but I can't do purina, period, it kills his system.

I just want to find a food and be done with it. I have no idea why all of a sudden they don't want the friskies. Calvin hates loaf. He loves wet meow mix, I remember from last year, but the fish, I just don't want to risk it. I will read the old threads about quality food and nix the numbers so much. I just thought it the low numbers were good for ca, phosphorus, magnesium, and ash, that it would promote uti health moreso than a premium food with higher numbers...
 

carolina

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Hi,
If you can't do grain free, a couple of budget minded options for you would be the PetSmart brand Authority, or Chicken Soup for the Cats Soul... Taste of The Wild (TOTW) is a good budget friendly grain free...
For now, as a preventive measure, look at good nutrition, and you will have the best bets...
Offering them a little of wet food along with the dry will go long ways in preventing UTIs - you can give them 1/2 can for the day, and it would already be of some help...
The water fountain is a great tool - I can not say enough good things about it.
Good Luck!!
 

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wet is best ...

I totally understand the uti friendly thought but how about a non certified food that fits the uti friendly guidelines>?>? Wellness does not but I know several cats with uti issues doing well
 
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dorabella's mom

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Originally Posted by sharky

wet is best ...

I totally understand the uti friendly thought but how about a non certified food that fits the uti friendly guidelines>?>? Wellness does not but I know several cats with uti issues doing well
That's really what I was asking but I babbled so much, I couldn't get my thoughts together. I could be wrong, and forgive me if I am misquoting, but I thought at one point it was said that grain free dry food with its berries and veggies could be too rich for some cats and aggravate uti, or maybe I am confusing this with rich formulas that use grain.

I feel as if my cats are not having 'fun'. Good yummy foods with some fish as a treat because I am so paranoid they will be doomed with a uti.

Thanks, everyone, for your input. For the price of my proplan, I could get a lot more nutritious, quality food.
 

sharky

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The Wellness I am talking about has grains.... it is the blue bag
...


If you are okay with grains( grain frees have TOO high %ages of certain minerals usually to fit a UTI friendly guidelines)... then look for corn or corn gluten in the dry formula of a chicken based food
 

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Originally Posted by carolinalima

Hi -
If he has never had problem, why are you doing this? Did a vet say anything?
Purina is a very low quality food, so is Science diet, and so is Meow mix...
If you look at the guaranteed analysis, they might look good, but you need to look further, at the ingredients...
Is there a budget reason why he is on Purina?
The best way for you to prevent UTI at this point is to put him in a wet diet, or wet and dry. A Wet diet will help him to get the most water intake, which is a very big step in preventing kidney disease and UTIs.
To save $$$, you can give him a lesser quality wet food, and invest on a nice grain free dry food. Your cat doesn't have any problems for what I can see, and he needs good nutrition for a healthy life.
Cats do not need grain, by-products, artificial flavors, etc; which are quite abundant in Purina, Science Diet, and Meow mix...
Purina's veterinary diets aren't that cheap, if that is what the OP is getting. However, it's a prescription food. Is there a Purina for urinary tract over the counter? Note, I'm not saying they're good foods, just that the veterinary diets aren't cheap.

I feed Orijen dry and Wellness grain-free canned. Both have low percentages of magnesium and are not fish based. I give them the turkey and salmon formula once in a while. On the Wellness website, it states that the magnesium is low for urinary tract health. I hope these foods are okay.

You can also try running the faucet at a low pressure. My cat and kitten love this. There are two cats at the animal hospital where I work for whom we turn on the faucet.
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by SweetPea24

Purina's veterinary diets aren't that cheap, if that is what the OP is getting. However, it's a prescription food. Is there a Purina for urinary tract over the counter? Note, I'm not saying they're good foods, just that the veterinary diets aren't cheap.

I feed Orijen dry and Wellness grain-free canned. Both have low percentages of magnesium and are not fish based. I give them the turkey and salmon formula once in a while. On the Wellness website, it states that the magnesium is low for urinary tract health. I hope these foods are okay.

You can also try running the faucet at a low pressure. My cat and kitten love this. There are two cats at the animal hospital where I work for whom we turn on the faucet.
For what I gather from her post, the Purina she is talking about is over the counter, Purina One Urinary Tract Health. Not by any means a good choice for a cat that doesn't have any problems.
 

carolina

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NP

You feed great food to your kitties, BTW - I also feed Orijen, and I love it!!
 
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dorabella's mom

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Originally Posted by SweetPea24

Purina's veterinary diets aren't that cheap, if that is what the OP is getting. However, it's a prescription food. Is there a Purina for urinary tract over the counter? Note, I'm not saying they're good foods, just that the veterinary diets aren't cheap.

I feed Orijen dry and Wellness grain-free canned. Both have low percentages of magnesium and are not fish based. I give them the turkey and salmon formula once in a while. On the Wellness website, it states that the magnesium is low for urinary tract health. I hope these foods are okay.

You can also try running the faucet at a low pressure. My cat and kitten love this. There are two cats at the animal hospital where I work for whom we turn on the faucet.
I used to feed the Purina One Urinary Tract Formula; but, because of the horrible GI issues my cat was having, I switched to the higher end Purina Pro Plan urinary tract health formula. It costs about $12.00 for 4 pounds and $20.00 for 8 pounds. After a while the same issues (GI ) occurred with this fomula, as well.

ETA: I like the looks of the authority and nutro max cat. Because a Petco store is right around the corner from me, I will do nutro. I remember liking it a while back, but was weirded out about the huge waffle shaped kibble, but that is inconsequential. Thanks for caring about my babies!!
 

sharky

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FYI Orijen is low mag the other UTI minerals are NOT in the ball park for UTI health . ....
 

carolina

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Originally Posted by sharky

FYI Orijen is low mag the other UTI minerals are NOT in the ball park for UTI health . ....
Just to clarify - my response about Orijen was to Sweetpea24, and not to the OP, who is inquiring about UTI... SO, it was a general statement about the quality of the foods she feeds to her kitties
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by carolinalima

Just to clarify - my response about Orijen was to Sweetpea24, and not to the OP, who is inquiring about UTI... SO, it was a general statement about the quality of the foods she feeds to her kitties
It's important to be clear in our responses so there can be no confusion.
 

carolina

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I thought I was being clear. When I noticed there was a confusion I posted again...
 
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