Food for FLUTD

Anyone use Wysong brand "Uretic" cat food? My cat is going through his first bout with FLUTD. The vet sent him home with Hill's prescription c/d. My Sasha just does not like canned food. The Uretic is supposed to accomplish the same results as the Hill's. I was seeking an independent crictic.

I strongly suggest you discuss this with your vet, as diet can play a major role in controlling UT health. To me, it's essential that you keep your vet totally in the loop before even thinking of switching foods - and make sure you have follow-up urine analyses done, whatever food you and your vet decide on. Honestly, no one here is a vet, and I'm pretty sure no one is a certified feline nutritionist. Sure, some of the prescription foods, to the layman, may not look so great, but if they work, that's all that counts, IMO.

BTW, Hill's makes a dry CD - my boy likes kibbles way more than wet, and so the vet has him on both. Thank goodness, his last exam came back clear. Good luck - believe me, I can imagine how concerned you are.

darlili, you read and posted in my thread about Sasha's condition. http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=209993 So you know about my loss of faith in my vet. Sasha won't eat the canned. BTW, I told the vet Sasha did not like canned food when she dispensed it. Does she not know it comes in dry? Right now I'm still feeding him his regular dry which he loves. I try to get him to eat the canned Hill's. I mix his dry with it; he just picks the dry out. I tried warming it in the microwave. He just doesn't like canned. He's got to eat something between now and Monday.

Mine won't touch the canned CD but love the dry CD. Since Muddy loves wet food so much (says a lot that he wouldn't touch the wet CD), I eventually found a wet that he does love: Purina UR.

You can get them to switch to wet, but it will take time. I love this site where it talks about some tricks to get them to eat wet. Look for Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Wet section. It's a good read if you have the time to go thru it.

http://www.catinfo.org/

Also a link to her info on FLUID:
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_urinary_tract_health.htm

I'm sorry - I forgot you hadn't been able to find a vet you feel comfortable with...no wonder you're feeling very leery of these vets. I'm really surprised that they didn't have the dry CD in stock (usually in a few different sizes) - my vet started me with about 4 cans of wet and the small bag of dry, since I told her that Dante tends to love his kibble most.

I'm just scared that if he's subject to any sort of UTI issues, it's going to be so hard on both of you if you don't have a vet you trust. A good vet will talk with you and listen to your questions or worries about a certain food or treatment. I feel so lucky with mine - she's really good at listening to me, and staying very available for me to check in as treatment progresses.

My Beeba would not go within 2 feet of the wet s/d. Beeba will be on s/d for a a couple of months and transition to c/d for maintenance.

My vet stated that very few cats refuse to eat the dry and Beeba is devouring it. The food is the most important thing here. He should be on the food with the acidifiers in it. It think you are running the risk of the crystals returning if you feed him the original food he got into trouble on.

Someone in that clinic should know c/d comes in dry. Don't depend on them to give you any answers, you need to go in and demand the dry food. If they don't have it, which I find totally hard to believe, then they can send you to another vet to pick some up. It seems these people are totally inept and your cat is at their mercy.

Please be the voice and advocate for your cat. You are all he has!

I have one on the prescription c/d mulitcare. She loves canned food but does not love the Hills prescription canned.

I've tried changing her to other foods. The crystals always come back. It's Hills Prescription c/d for life, for Mazy cat.

The others would like to eat it too, but they eat Wellness wet foods, and that's that

Be aware of possible weight gain on the c/d. You'll have to step up Sacha's exercise level. Exercise, weight control and water intake are all just as important as the special diet in controlling FLUTD.

Some of you may recall that I was at first impressed with this vet. That was because she took the time to do a thorough, hands on exam. She took the time to explain her findings and the course of action.

It became apparent to me that Sasha had been misdiagnosed a full week after he was first seen this vet. I then realized that my input, everything I observed and related to her had been dismissed. You all know this because you read about it and commented on it. I know you guys are not veterenarians but several of you did diagnose him correctly. Sasha got 10% of the new Wysong "Uretic" food mixed in with his breakfast. IMO it can't do any harm since it is formulated to prevent crystal formation. It is likely a very small improvement to the dry food he is eating now. He needs a full stomach to tolerate his meds.

Meantime Sasha is still acting normally. He is still passing urine though in smaller amounts. Yesterday he had diarrhea probebly due to the initial double doses of the antibiotic (another vet mis-step). He is also becoming more unruly when it comes to taking his medicine. This most likely due to administration issues. Looks like the supply will last at least another week.

I wonder - is there a vet school in your area, that you could call next week for a referral? Or have you called the vet in Newburgh (sp?) that was recommended to you and asked for an urgent appointment although you're a new patient?

Also, is there an e-vet in your area - with the smaller amounts of urine that you're seeing, I'm wondering if he's progressing toward a blockage - or if he's feeling irritation and thus a feeling of having to go more frequently. That's how I figured out Dante was having issues - smaller and smaller pee-balls over a day or two.

Vets in my area tend to be open on Saturdays (darn the holiday weekend), but I'm not sure about yours. I hope you're not getting the lake effect snow storm they were talking about for some parts of Indiana - just in casey you do have to take a quick run to a vet.

FWIW, for me, once I found a vet I liked, I have everything done there - just so someone has a complete record of his health handy, besides me.

I'll throw in my 2 cents just to confuse you. My Muddy has been seen by at least 5 different vets - some ER, some specialists, and some GP's. Every last one of them has their own opinion on how FLUTD type diseases should be managed. The problem with this disease is that they really don't know what causes it, therefore no one has exactly the right answers on how to treat it. I have found over the last 2 years that it's a lot of trial and error with a lot of frustration until you find the mix of things that works out for the cat. And every cat is different.

Certainly challenge your vet about it, and if you honestly feel that what she recommends isn't working, then find another. For as many vets that Muddy went to, none of their treatments were exactly right, and it was a combination of things they recommended that finally worked for him. I've found that prescription food is a must, followed by different medications to use either on a regular basis, or to have on hand if he has a flare up. Sometimes a single dose of a pain killer is enough to stop an episode with him.

In the mean time, keep a very close eye on him and be prepared for an ER visit if he stops peeing.

Sasha is being treated for a UTI. That is about all can expect from any vet. I will not be surprised if the vet presently treating him calls me tomorrow to check on him. She does care.

I am monitoring him very closely. I know when and how much he urinates. I am confident that the antibiotic will get him back in order. The course of meds didn't start for nine days after the first notice of symptoms. Hard telling how long he had actually had the problem before the loss of appitite raised a flag.

Meantime he ate all of the c/d canned I put down for lunch today. I think he enjoys making a liar of me. I mixed it up with his regular dry and a bit of the Uretic.

The elephant in the room; there is a reasonable chance that Marlow's presence 24/7 has stressed him into this condition. As many of you know Marlow moved in on 11/19 full time.

BTW, Marlow is being introduced to the Uretic food as well.

I am using Wysong Uretic right now and so far I'm happy. I gradually transitioned the cats from the Royal Canin SO which was prescribed for my male kitty after developing crystals this summer. He was on the SO dry for about 3 months, and when he had his regular check up and urineanalysis in the fall he was given the all clear. With the vet's approval, I slowly started transitioning him from the prescription food to the Wysong. He's now been on 100% Wysong for about a month and we haven't had any problems (knock on wood!). He also gets wet food twice a day. Time will tell, but so far it seems to be working out fine and both cats seem to like it (I free-feed the dry). I prefer the ingredients to most of the other OTC urinary formulas and to the prescription as well. My biggest complaint is that I don't have any convenient places to buy it locally so I have to order it online. It's also rather pricey for the amount of food that you get per bag, but the prescription food wasn't exactly cheap either. Good luck! I hope your kitty feels better soon!

Originally Posted by sweetseamus

I am using Wysong Uretic right now and so far I'm happy. I gradually transitioned the cats from the Royal Canin SO which was prescribed for my male kitty after developing crystals this summer. He was on the SO dry for about 3 months, and when he had his regular check up and urineanalysis in the fall he was given the all clear. With the vet's approval, I slowly started transitioning him from the prescription food to the Wysong. He's now been on 100% Wysong for about a month and we haven't had any problems (knock on wood!). He also gets wet food twice a day. Time will tell, but so far it seems to be working out fine and both cats seem to like it (I free-feed the dry). I prefer the ingredients to most of the other OTC urinary formulas and to the prescription as well. My biggest complaint is that I don't have any convenient places to buy it locally so I have to order it online. It's also rather pricey for the amount of food that you get per bag, but the prescription food wasn't exactly cheap either.

Good luck! I hope your kitty feels better soon!

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Always nice to hear good news and that someone IS working and Talking with their vet