Variety in a bladder stone prevention diet...

Hi everyone!

My ~12 year old female kitty is now converting to a bladder stone prevention diet (had surgery three weeks ago to remove a huge struvite stone). This was her first issue with bladder stones, and hopefully the last! (She's doing very well; I'm still recovering from all the stress, LOL!).

The vet gave me prescription urinary brand samples of (both canned and dry): Hills, Royal Canin and Purina to see which one she likes best. So far, Purina (can) is the winner. She's pretty much turning her cute little nose up at the rest.

My cat has never been an enthusiastic eater (she eats what she wants, when SHE wants to; and it never seems like she actually eats all that much. But, her weight is good and she's acting like a very happy cat - and all the recent blood work around her surgery came back normal.). Perhaps I'm just worrying too much since I'm now hyper-vigilant about what is going in and coming out of this cat!

The ideal is to transition her to a canned-only prescription urinary food, and she is definitely a "chicken" cat (hates fish). Also, since she historically preferred the "food-in-gravy" types of food (all of these prescription samples are pate') I went on each vendors' site to see what any options were. Looks like only one for the "gravy" food made by Royal Canin (urinary version is called "morsels-in-gravy") on their website.

My vet doesn't have this in stock (apparently it is expensive so they stopped carrying it; and only have the can and dry kibble). I don't care about the expense, but I'm wondering if anyone has any actual experience with it.

Also -- how do all of you feel about having a primarily canned diet, but also leaving out a small amount of (also same prescription) dry food to free feed? My cat has always had both her whole life and alternates between the two varieties. Kitty will also have access plenty of water (awaiting new cat water fountain to arrive any day now from Amazon.com!).

Thoughts?

Many thanks!

go6car

For the prescription food to work at its best, it is important to stick with one brand. However, canned and dry of one brand should be okay, in my (and my vet's) opinion.

The Royal Canin site says, about their prescription SO foods:

"for best results, we do not recommend feeding both canned and dry".

Since both formulas are designed for the same thing this confused me, so I asked them why they don't recommend using both wet and dry on the same cat

Their answer was that: the only reason they don't recommend it is because no clinical trials have been done to determine whether the food will offer optimal benefits when feeding both canned and dry. (So, to cover themselves legally, they put that disclaimer in)

As to how I feel in general about primarily canned, with kibble for snacks, that's how I feed. I don't free feed kibble though. I just feed snacks of it twice a day.

Hope your kitty will eat the RC pouches without trouble. You may have to play around with her quantity, cats tend to gain weight on the RC SO.

PS Welcome to TCS. What's your kitty's name?

I had seen that too, about not feeding the wet and dry, so I'm glad you clarified for me!

The confusing part is that my vet said it was OK to mix the wet foods of different brands, so now I'm even more confused. Seems like there are as just as many opinions as there are vets.

For now, she's only eating the Purina anyway, so I guess she'll end up being be a one brand cat. Before we close the deal on that though, I'm thinking of getting a script so I can at least order a few of the RC gravy pouches to try. My gut feeling is that she'll probably like them better. She tends to lick all the gravy out and then eat some of the pieces that are left.

BTW, the kitty's name is Bala and she adopted us about 10 years ago (she's my first cat!). Oddly enough, we rarely call her that, as variations of "Kitten", "My Cat", "Kitty", and "My Baby" have become our mainstays for her, LOL!! She's almost solid black and has absolutely stolen our hearts! Truly my little baby!

If your vet is ok with it, and knows what you're doing, it should be ok. They probably have experience that this is fine in many cats. And of course, she needs to actually eat this food for it to do any good at all - if she doesn't eat, or eat enough and starts losing weight fast you'll have another set of problems on your hands.

I'm feeding mine canned and dry. My vet thinks that's fine - great even.

Originally Posted by otto

You may have to play around with her quantity, cats tend to gain weight on the RC SO.

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I put both my cats, Marlow and Sasha on RC SO dry because Sasha needed it. Sasha had lost alot of weight because of his illness but had been a little overweight to begin with. After two months he looks great. Marlow however is gaining weight he doesn't need. I feed them both less than the amount prescribed in the guide on the bag. I just dialed it down again to less than the half cup per day they were getting. Both are about ten to ten and a half pounds.

Marlow is new to indoors and is shy about playing for exercise. Sasha exercises a couple times a day.

Originally Posted by go6car

Hi everyone!

My vet doesn't have this in stock (apparently it is expensive so they stopped carrying it; and only have the can and dry kibble). I don't care about the expense, but I'm wondering if anyone has any actual experience with it.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I tried to feed it to Sasha but he refused it. He is a very picky eater though. The canned morsels look like mini sausages cut up into small pieces with gravy. It comes in 3oz cans ($1.90). The canned pate comes in 6oz cans ($1.49). The vet had pouches but not for sale. For reference the 5.5lb bag cost $22.52.

Thanks for all the info!

I think I'm going to stick with the Purina UR. She's eating it (thank goodness), but at her leisure of course -- which is typical for her. She tends to nibble throughout the day when she feels like it. She literally would not touch the Hills or RC after several attempts on my part, so I've pretty much given up on those.

I add a bit of water to a half a can of Purina in the AM; the other half can around dinner time. I'm also leaving out a small amount of dry all day. Seems to be working -- at least she's getting bits of both the wet/dry in her. (Her pre-op weight was 13 lbs).

We also set up her new water fountain. So far, I've only seen her sniff at it, but hopefully she'll like this too! I have yet to catch her actually drinking from it, but she could be just faking me out!

Thanks for the update!

I'm glad you've found a prescription food that Bala will eat. I've heard it sometimes takes a few days for cats to accept fountains, but once they do they drink a lot more.

Keep us posted!

Originally Posted by otto

For the prescription food to work at its best, it is important to stick with one brand. However, canned and dry of one brand should be okay, in my (and my vet's) opinion.

The Royal Canin site says, about their prescription SO foods:

"for best results, we do not recommend feeding both canned and dry".

Since both formulas are designed for the same thing this confused me, so I asked them why they don't recommend using both wet and dry on the same cat

Their answer was that: the only reason they don't recommend it is because no clinical trials have been done to determine whether the food will offer optimal benefits when feeding both canned and dry. (So, to cover themselves legally, they put that disclaimer in)

As to how I feel in general about primarily canned, with kibble for snacks, that's how I feed. I don't free feed kibble though. I just feed snacks of it twice a day.

Hope your kitty will eat the RC pouches without trouble. You may have to play around with her quantity, cats tend to gain weight on the RC SO.

Click to expand...

They no longer make Royal Canin RX pouched food. They're morsels in gravy stuff has been put into cans.

I found this out the hard way, I ordered a case of pouches from my vet, called a week later, and they informed me about it.

My cat is picky, and refuses anything I bring him that comes from a can, whether they say its the same thing or not.

Just figured I'd throw the warning out there, my dog and cat are both on the dry RC Urinary SO.

Originally Posted by CLucas976

They no longer make Royal Canin RX pouched food. They're morsels in gravy stuff has been put into cans.

I found this out the hard way, I ordered a case of pouches from my vet, called a week later, and they informed me about it.

My cat is picky, and refuses anything I bring him that comes from a can, whether they say its the same thing or not.

Just figured I'd throw the warning out there, my dog and cat are both on the dry RC Urinary SO.

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Oh no, that must have been very crushing news to hear for you. Thanks for letting people know.

I know how it is, Tolly boy is so so finicky, and if they mess with what he is currently eating I don't know where I will turn next.

Mazy cat is my FLUTD kitty, and she eats Hill's Prescription c/d kibble, the original formula. The "chicken" flavor makes her vomit, regurgitate, actually.

I would much prefer her to be on the canned food but she doesn't like it after it's been opened and refrigerated. Tolly is the same with with his Innova, I think it's because they don't have artificial preservatives, so they don't keep their peak flavor for long.

So Madison is on Royal Canin SO feline, and your dog is on Royal Canin SO canine. Have you had any weight problems with them, or do you schedule feed? What does Maybelle eat?

Unfortunately Sassy is a Schnauzer, so she's also prone to weight problems, (and of course urinary issues ) So with her, I started feeding her twice a day, and lessened the amount of food she was getting per feeding, so she's kind of getting more quantity to make up for the lack of nutrition from her prior food, but its broken up into two meals and spaced so we have time to burn off some of the nasties, she's at a perfect weight of 15lbs.

Madisons meals just ended up being a more regulated size, I always threw him a little in the evening, but now he has feeding time scheduled with Sassy and no wet food, because he refuses canned food period (the vet receptionists thought I was insane, even tried to argue with me) and the closest I've found to be okay with giving him is Wellness, and I haven't ventured to petco in quite some time.

Maybelle eats Innova Low fat cat kibble. She hates wet, and she needs low fat, because she at one point was a fatty, her body is formed to be a fat cat, not to mention her seniorly lack of enthusiasm most of the time, so I do it to keep her trim. (and she's looking far more stunning than I've ever known her to look let me tell you!)

We actually had a huge problem with sassy after having to switch from the Innova low fat (avoiding weight problems lol) dry dog food to the royal canin, she started getting into and eating EVERYTHING she ate litterally 4 years worth of goldfish flakes out of nowhere, that she'd never even sniffed in the entire time I've had her. she tore through garbages everything it was insane, and the only change was the food.

I have a closet full of food bags lol!

Don't fall for the Wellness claims, they are false. I tried switching Mazy to canned Wellness (against my vets doubts) because of their claims about "healthy urinary tract". Within two months her pH had shot up to 7.5 and her urine was full of both struvite AND phosphorous crystals.

If Madison likes the RC SO kibble and it is controlling his FLUTD, and he drinks plenty of water, I see no reason to switch. If it works don't fix it, you know?

I wouldn't fully switch over, I was considering adding in the pouches in the morning like I did previously before his diagnosis, half a pouch in the morning on the kibble and then the other half the next morning

I don't even think the kind I found was specified for urinary health.

I honestly wouldn't switch him, I considered raw momentarily too, but if his crystals stay under control on RC I'd rather not play with his main diet, even when he had his blockage, he had very very very few crystals upon urine examination, and thats not a heart attack and another 3 days without my kitty or $300 I'm willing to put at risk, that was far too difficult for me.

Originally Posted by CLucas976

I wouldn't fully switch over, I was considering adding in the pouches in the morning like I did previously before his diagnosis, half a pouch in the morning on the kibble and then the other half the next morning

I don't even think the kind I found was specified for urinary health.

I honestly wouldn't switch him, I considered raw momentarily too, but if his crystals stay under control on RC I'd rather not play with his main diet, even when he had his blockage, he had very very very few crystals upon urine examination, and thats not a heart attack and another 3 days without my kitty or $300 I'm willing to put at risk, that was far too difficult for me.

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Check with your vet, but I would not recommend doing this. The prescription foods are made to work the way they do as the only food source.

Adding in other foods detracts from the benefits of the special formula of the SO.

For a male cat prone to blockage, I would make sure he never got anything other that his SO, ever.

I really really dislike the Wellness pouches. They give me a very bad vibe and Tolly's liver problems started after I switched him to those. Possibly unrelated, but I was very unhappy with the results I saw in him while he was eating those pouches.

In fact I would take Jennie off the Wellness grain free canned chicken if I could find anything else that she could eat that would control her constipation problems. However I have not found anything else, so Wellness continues to get my money, for one of my cats, as much as I begrudge them for it!

(Tolly eats two flavors of canned Innova stew, and Mazy eats Hills prescription c/d)

Originally Posted by otto

Check with your vet, but I would not recommend doing this. The prescription foods are made to work the way they do as the only food source.

Adding in other foods detracts from the benefits of the special formula of the SO.

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100% agree...

How about feeding the RC SO canned food? Even better than the kibble??

Originally Posted by SweetPea24

How about feeding the RC SO canned food? Even better than the kibble??

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IMHO, yes canned over dry... mainly for the easier to digest protein and fats plus the moisture to aid in hydration... But some cats will not eat enough canned to sustain themselves