Urinary tract health food

Hi everyone, I have been gone a long time!! We've had a lot going on (married last year, just finished a move to a new city, and finding a new job). The kitties (Marlee and Milo for those who remember) have been adjusting very well. I've been doing some lurking lately and reading old posts, but finally decided I'd just ask my question. Here is the problem - A year or so ago Milo was having some urinary symptoms so I took him for a vet visit. The doctor told me it could either be stress related or he could have been having issues that would lead to crystal formation. He recommended that I start him on Science Diet C/D which is what both cats have been eating ever since. I am wanting to change them to a better food, but one that will still prevent urinary problems. We went to a health pet food store and got many samples to try. Evo, Felidae, Taste of the Wild, and I believe the last one was Instinct. The cats are absolutely not having any of it. They have hardly even tried it. I don't know if it is the smell, the taste, etc. Just like with people, they seem to enjoy the foods that are worse for them (SD, 9 lives, Purina, etc). Can I please get some ideas on either a way to get them to eat the foods I mentioned, or a food that might be a happy medium between good taste and healthy? Thanks so much, and I'm glad to see there are some familiar faces still here!

DISCUSS this WITH your VET ... To date NONE of the NO grain foods are IMHO remotely okay for a cat with prior UTI issues...

Foods to discuss would be Nutro max and Purina one or proplan urinary

Originally Posted by sharky

DISCUSS this WITH your VET

... To date NONE of the NO grain foods are IMHO remotely okay for a cat with prior UTI issues...

Foods to discuss would be Nutro max and Purina one or proplan urinary

Click to expand...

Thank you! We are working on finding a vet in our new area, and I will definitely get their opinions on this. I appreciate the input, because I had no idea I needed to make sure and look for foods with grain.

I just had to start my cats on Hills (Science Diet) CD since my boy had some urinary issues and a test revealed struvite crystals. I definitely second Sharky's advice to discuss everything with your vet before trying any other foods. You might search for some posts by Otto - in one she talks about what happens when she switched off prescription food, IIRC. But, for myself, I'm planning on having my vet well in the loop before I even think of trying anything different.

I agree - looking at the ingredients I wouldn't be racing to buy CD at the store - but, I believe my vet has sound reasons for her recommendation, and we're doing a follow-up urine test in a month to see what develops. And, honestly, if the CD is working, I'm not going to switch unless the vet makes a a specific suggestion.

Got to admit, it's almost funny watching how popular the CD is at the moment - don't know if it's because it's new or not, but while I was doing a transition, as suggested by the vet - all the old food is being picked out while the CD is being snarfed up!

I have one kitty who will suffer from extreme UTI issues the moment he's taken off of C/D. I can, however, mix another food with C/D.

For some of my other cats with a UTI history, I feed Purina ONE Urinary.

Ku Ku was diagnosed UT last year, too. First prescribed S/D, then C/D a month after. Around the same time, so much happened in my personal life - relocation, new job etc etc. Added to that, I couldn't get C/D for a long time as it took me a while to find a new reliable vet in the new city.
Meanwhile, I was feeding her BG grain and she was doing OK until this July when her UT problem returned. I had to bring her to a local vet for the first time since we relocated. She was diagnosed that she has several bladder stones & had to get them surgically removed. Now, she's back on C/D again and been doing fine ever since.

From what I've heard and also read here at this forum, I know that Hills is NOT the best of these kinds but I agree with darlili's post - I wouldn't switch it either.

Thank you so much for all the info. Sounds like the best plan is to keep him on the C/D, atleast for now. Thanks again, this place is a life saver!

I made a mistake trying to switch him to something else As you know from my original post, last week I started mixing in some new food with their C/D to try and switch them over. It upset Milo's stomach (he had a little diarrhea). After posting here, I quit adding in the other food and they are now back on C/D only. But ever since the food upset his stomach, Milo is hesitant to eat very much. He is eating, but just very small amounts. I've been keeping an eye on the litter box, and the diarrhea has cleared up. Should I try some wet food to entice him to eat more? It sounds like wet food may be a good idea with the FLUTD anyway. If I do add wet food, do I need to get the C/D wet food, or if its only a supplement can I do another type?

I just always worry a little extra about Milo when its comes to eating because he seems to be a little on the skinny side to me (but the vet says he is health). I guess I just think he seems skinny compare to Marlee

I would love to hear some advice, I know there are very knowledgeable people here!

I'd say C/D wet food but your kitty may still get either of the problem at first. My vet warned me that Ku Ku may get diarrhea or upset stomach until her system gets used to it. She really LOVED C/D and ate like crazy when I first gave it to her...then the very next day, she got diarrhea & completely stopped eating it.

There's 2 flavors of C/D - regular & seafood.(I avoided regular as this is the one Ku Ku ate & got diarrhea. I was told that she was eating C/D seafood while hospitalized, so I bought it to give a try)
First I started mixing it maybe about a tiny spoonful with approx. 3 to 4 times of other wet(BG grains) and slowly increased the ratio of C/D every day. Now she's used to one kind of C/D but then, there's another problem - she's finicky. Even if she keeps eating this one kind now, one day, out of blue moon, she may completely stop eating it...y'never know.
To aid that, I also started feeding her the regular flavor after whole can of seafood is finished. Now, I have to switch it back/forth between regular & seafood so make sure she's eating.
Oh well...after all, she's a cat

I hope your kitty gets used to any of these flavors

I feel SOO lucky. My cats are troopers. They will eat anything!

We have three, but EVERYBODY gets C/D because of LB's "Narrow Urethra" He is prone to struvite crystals.

I HATE C/D. HATE it. But it works. I have tried to take them off before and use other, "urinary" foods. We end up right back at the vet.

LB is also on injections of Adequan (canine) once a month. It thickens the mucus layer in his bladder, protecting it from infection when little tiny crystals might hit it. All seems to be working well. (knock on wood)

I do feed them Wellness Complete Health Dry. (Salmon, Salmon Meal and Deboned Turkey) It has lots of cranberries and olive oil. I feel it's one of the better foods that still contain grains. I like how it rounds out their diet with a better food. I SOOOOO wish I could feed them Evo or Natrual Balance Grain free, like I used too. But I can't.

We also have one of those pet fountains. That helps tremendously. It is a pain to clean though. As well, we returned 2 of them before we found one that decided to work for longer than a month. (it's been going strong for 8 months now)

Things seem to be going well with this regime. So we are sticking to it. If it ain't broke, don't go fixin' it! lol

Originally Posted by sharky

To date NONE of the NO grain foods are IMHO remotely okay for a cat with prior UTI issues... Foods to discuss would be Nutro max and Purina one or proplan urinary

Click to expand...

Sharky, I apologize if I missed this in one of the other threads we've been chatting on -- but are you saying "no grain" foods are bad for cats with urinary issues (i.e. they NEED grains), or simply that the "no grain" foods available have other problematic ingredients and/or mineral levels?

Originally Posted by SummerMH

Sharky, I apologize if I missed this in one of the other threads we've been chatting on -- but are you saying "no grain" foods are bad for cats with urinary issues (i.e. they NEED grains), or simply that the "no grain" foods available have other problematic ingredients and/or mineral levels?

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the latter in dry foods , If feeding dry , grains namely corn and to an extent rice and barley offset the OUT of balance chicken meal ( any poultry) since they often have high bone %ages... there are LOTS of wets that are withing UTI friendly"zone" ...

Does that clear it up a bit for you?>

Yes, thank you :-)

Before we lost Charlie last week from underlying causes from UTI, we had him on the Royal Canin SO. I would choose that over the Science Diet foods.

He was fine on that with canned for 2 yrs. We are not sure if adding raw to his diet was the cause of the 2nd UTI (and blocked) or it was the stress that triggered possible kidney/liver problems, but we lost him in less then a week.

I'm still feeding the others with the RC and mixing it with Max Cat. Jack and Ling should be fine - Jack has shown no signs of any kind of UTI and hopefully never will.

I've only had two cats in my life that had problems with UTI and I've had more males then females.

Late to this thread, but I see others have discovered what I have, that switching a cat with struvite crystals off the Hills Prescription c/d does not work.(<edit> or any prescription urinary diet.)

I want to add that a cat with FLUTD eating Hills Prescription c/d should not have anything but the c/d. No other treats or food, as they interfere with the way the food is designed to work.

And one more thing, just a pet peeve of mine, the Hills Prescription food
is not Science Diet.

Hills Science Diet formulas are grocery store commercial foods.

Hills Prescription Diets are foods specially formulated to treat or maintain specific health problems and are available only with a prescription from your vet.

There's a Big Difference.

Yea, Otto, I agree about not feeding anything but what the doctor ordered. This crystal deal is such a nasty thing, I don't want to mess anything up!

One of the best things you can do is get the automatic water fountains. It's so important to keep the kidneys flushed out and not let urine stagnate. Yea its a bugger to clean, but you get used to it.

Originally Posted by Yarra

I do feed them Wellness Complete Health Dry. (Salmon, Salmon Meal and Deboned Turkey) It has lots of cranberries and olive oil. I feel it's one of the better foods that still contain grains. I like how it rounds out their diet with a better food. I SOOOOO wish I could feed them Evo or Natrual Balance Grain free, like I used too. But I can't.

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Yarra, are you mixing the C/D with the Wellness? Or giving one for one meal, and one for the other? Just curious

I never put Jack on Prescription Diet... he had three UTI's. After the first one, I found Wysong's Uretic Formula. At one point, I ran out and the stores were having trouble getting it, so I stuck with regular food... he got his second UTI. Then I got the Purina UT formula... within a month, he got his third UTI, while eating the Purina UT formula. I threw it out and found Wysong again. Now, I may not be able to use it, due to a possible allergy to wheat for my other cat.... argh. ah well. They're on a predominately wet diet now anyway, and there have been no signs of UTI since that switch.

Amanda

Amanda, did your cat ever have crystals, or just the UTI's? Which wet diet is he on? Our vet is open to us switching foods, but only if the magnesium in the new food is at least as low as the C/D. I still haven't decided whether or not to try it.

Originally Posted by SummerMH

Amanda, did your cat ever have crystals, or just the UTI's? Which wet diet is he on? Our vet is open to us switching foods, but only if the magnesium in the new food is at least as low as the C/D. I still haven't decided whether or not to try it.

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He never had crystals, just UTI's... he had blood in his urine, and it would leak because he couldn't pee because of the pain...

As for wet food. Whatever I can get. I rarely do the friskies or most store brands. I've had some Fancy Feast, but because of the dyes in it, I've pulled that from the line up. I try to do as much high quality/really high quality wet as I can. TikiCat, Innova, Natural Balance, etc... I had thought JoJo's allergy was chicken, but Sharky pointed out in my own thread that wheat is even more common an allergy... so I'm trying to do as little grains... not easy when so much has rice or something in it. This cat food allergy thing is still new to me, so I'm trying to accommodate issues in both cats...

Good luck. If you want to check out Wysong. google them, and you can find the info on the site...