Grain Free bad for male cats?

I'm going to join the few (or am I the only one) who has fed grain free dry + grain free wet to my boys for their whole lives and they haven't had problems (yet). They are 2,5-4 years old.
However my now already deceased Casper who I got when he was 1,5 years old had been eating grain dry + randomly grain free/not grain free wet foods before I got him and he had struvite crystals and UTI. He was treated for it and put on vet food and was fine after that until his death (which was unrelated to food/UTIs).

Is there a difference between neuters and studs with this 'no grain free' thing? Casper wasn't neutered, neither is Kuura. Utu and Tomu are.

Boy, now I am really confused. I had Woody on SD and wanted a better dry food for him so I switched him to TOTW. I thought I was doing the right thing. I mix it with Blue Buffalo because I already had a bag of it. I always thought grain free is better. Now what do I do? I was going to put him on Nutro Max but after reading posts on this site I decided on Blue and TOTW. So, since he is a male cat, should I go to a dry with grains, and if so, which brand. I want him on a good food and am going to try wet food again. I will probably try either TOTW or Blue Buffalo wet.

Ok just to be clear and repeat what's already been said, people have had issues with their cats if fed grain free dry only. So if fed some sort of wet diet (canned or raw) with or without the dry, people have seen little to no issue?

In my experience, like as a licensed Veterinarian Technician I have seen problems with male cats and a grain free diet. Again this is not from personal experience, but "professional" experience. If any of you want to know what "medical issues" I have seen in male cats just let me know.

The reason I have not seen it from personal experience I feel is two fold, the first is all my domestic cats (three) are female. The second is that my male cat is an F3 Savannah and he eats dry Evo and TOTW and I would assume has a different metabolism/metabolic needs then a pure domestic cat. He sure acts different then a "normal" domestic . But I do give him about twenty pieces (literally counted) of Purina dry food a day. Just to be on the safe side .

Originally Posted by odiakkoh

Ok just to be clear and repeat what's already been said, people have had issues with their cats if fed grain free dry only. So if fed some sort of wet diet (canned or raw) with or without the dry, people have seen little to no issue?

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No, that's not the case... My cat was on Grain Free Dry and grain free wet when he had his UTI.

Grain dry + grain free wet = no problems so far.

Other cats on this thread had the same experience for what I can see....
The grain free dry seems to be the problem, even when fed wet.

Originally Posted by Carolina

No, that's not the case... My cat was on Grain Free Dry and grain free wet when he had his UTI.

Grain dry + grain free wet = no problems so far.

Other cats on this thread had the same experience for what I can see....
The grain free dry seems to be the problem, even when fed wet.

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Ah well then I guess I got confused somewhere in there lol.

Originally Posted by odiakkoh

Ah well then I guess I got confused somewhere in there lol.

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BTW, my cats never had a problem with grain free wet.... If you choose to go grain free, I would say go wet only, otherwise I rather be on the safe side

Originally Posted by Carolina

BTW, my cats never had a problem with grain free wet.... If you choose to go grain free, I would say go wet only, otherwise I rather be on the safe side

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Mine has been on grain free on and off for about 4 years now. On and off because we've had some financial hiccups where we resort back to grain. I'd love to feed raw but he doesn't want anything to do with it. My future cats will be fed raw though.

Ok, so if I decide to change my male cat's dry food from a grain free to one with grain, which one would be the best? I really don't want him to eat junk.

I will do that too and I will feed him wet also. Since my cat is eating blue Wilderness duck and he loves it, I was thinking changing it to Blue buffalo with grain to see how he does on it.

Originally Posted by Momto4kitties

I will do that too and I will feed him wet also. Since my cat is eating blue Wilderness duck and he loves it, I was thinking changing it to Blue buffalo with grain to see how he does on it.

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At least with Blue Buffalo, we know our kitties will be getting a good food, even with grain. I checked the bag of Blue Buffalo Indoor and it has, brown rice, barley and oats. It is good for urinary health and hairballs.

Originally Posted by buckeye204

Ok, so if I decide to change my male cat's dry food from a grain free to one with grain, which one would be the best? I really don't want him to eat junk.

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Hiya,
This is a pretty heated topic! I think it all comes down to what works for each cat. We all want to give a perfect diet and hope that we can avoid health issues in the long run but sometimes what works for one cat, will cause another to get a massive UTI. It really sucks and shouldn't be that hard.
As to Buckeye, I remember posting on your posts and know that you settled on TOTW which in my experience is a good food. I have a male and female cat. No UTI history so far but I make sure they get canned food twice a day even if it is the cheaper fancy feast or friskies. They get the moisture from it which is important. I also feed a mixture of grain free and grain inclusive food for that exact fear of uti with my male. I use a mix of TOTW, Blue Wilderness, BG, Acana ect with a grain inclusive. For that I use Blue Spa Select, Felidae, Natural Balance, Chicken Soup ect. One grain Free and One Grain in and so far no issues. I also have a Drinkwell cat Fountain and several water bowls around the house that they both drink from so I know they are getting moisture from other places too.
In my work experience as a vet tech for the past 12 years, some of the worst chronic UTI's weren't even from grain free foods. They were usually fed dry only and something low quality like Friskies, Purina Cat Chow ect. We also had a disproportinate amount of Orange tabbys be UTI cats. Probably because most orangies are male I guess.I have and orange and white tabby so that stays at the back of my mind.
Here is an interesting fact though. One of the worst UTI's we had was a 7 yo female Siamese. She would get them like clockwork every few months. It was terrible and what made it worse was that she was a lion in cat's clothing. She hated the vet and even bit her owner while there because she insisted on holding her for vaccines . She never did that again. YEah Selene, that was her name was ther worst chronic UTI cat. Even on Hills CD she would get stones. They never became life threatening as they didn't get big and could be managed but still. The worst acute case I've seen was a cute little 2 yo tabby male. He came in for not peeing for a day and a half (stupid owners). They actually thought he was sick for something else but we felt the softball sized bladder on palpation and knew he was blocked. When we put him under he had so much grit and stones blocking his urethra that we couldn't pass a catheter the usual way. We tried for about 2 hours of flushing to get a little farther and then get blocked again. We called the owner and they couldn't afford the stone surgery so elected for euthanasia unfortunately. On necropsy we found a huge stone stuck half way in the narrow part of the urethra. His bladder was filled with sand debris as well as several larger stones. I also remember that his diet was Friskies Seafood medley or something to that effect as the owner brought a bag of it with her because we were keeping him. Very sad.
I guess this shows that while females get UTI's too and can get really bad, the males are what become critical if not taken care of promptly. Both these cats were fed the crappy stuff. No cat so far that is a chronic UTI kitty has been grainfree that we've seen. Most of the owners here don't even know what grain free is.

sorry for reviving the topic again after a whole year. I'm wondering if anyone has any new input on this issue after all this time

Anyway here's my story:

I have two male cats, both are a little over 2 years old. 

they were mostly on Blackwood and ANF since they were kittens. Then some time in June they had California Natural herring and sweet potato for a month, then after that they had Now! Grain Free senior/weight management formula for about a month, too. Tiger was a bit overweight but is now fine at 4 kilos. They get some raw chicken once or twice a week. And recently i started mixing in wet food sometimes.

Today Tiger was diagnosed with FLUTD after my mother noticed his frequent urination. He had bloody pee with struvite crystals. I got a bag of Royal Canin Urinary S/O, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory meds and some other med to strengthen the bladder walls. I am seriously not happy with the ingredients list of the RC kibble, but I'll keep Tiger on it for the 2 months needed to dissolve the crystals. I'm also looking into getting the wet version of S/O to mix in, and maybe mixing some plain chicken broth/tuna water into his water to encourage more drinking.

after that...well the vet said if the crystals do recur he'll have to be on some other special RC food for the rest of his life. no way! 

Feeding 100% raw or 100% wet is difficult, the former because I don't have time in the mornings to clean up the raw and the latter because of the cost. What I'm thinking of is dry+wet+water mixed in for every meal. I don't free feed so bacteria buildup in soggy dry kibble is not an issue, and my boys act like they've been starved their whole lives during each meal

fingers crossed and I'll update on this after the next urine analysis in a month's time.

some extra info: Tiger was born blind and his balls didn't descend, but he's neutered already.

lapislazuli said:

sorry for reviving the topic again after a whole year. I'm wondering if anyone has any new input on this issue after all this time

Anyway here's my story:

I have two male cats, both are a little over 2 years old. 

they were mostly on Blackwood and ANF since they were kittens. Then some time in June they had California Natural herring and sweet potato for a month, then after that they had Now! Grain Free senior/weight management formula for about a month, too. Tiger was a bit overweight but is now fine at 4 kilos. They get some raw chicken once or twice a week. And recently i started mixing in wet food sometimes.

Today Tiger was diagnosed with FLUTD after my mother noticed his frequent urination. He had bloody pee with struvite crystals. I got a bag of Royal Canin Urinary S/O, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory meds and some other med to strengthen the bladder walls. I am seriously not happy with the ingredients list of the RC kibble, but I'll keep Tiger on it for the 2 months needed to dissolve the crystals. I'm also looking into getting the wet version of S/O to mix in, and maybe mixing some plain chicken broth/tuna water into his water to encourage more drinking.

after that...well the vet said if the crystals do recur he'll have to be on some other special RC food for the rest of his life. no way! 

Feeding 100% raw or 100% wet is difficult, the former because I don't have time in the mornings to clean up the raw and the latter because of the cost. What I'm thinking of is dry+wet+water mixed in for every meal. I don't free feed so bacteria buildup in soggy dry kibble is not an issue, and my boys act like they've been starved their whole lives during each meal

fingers crossed and I'll update on this after the next urine analysis in a month's time.

some extra info: Tiger was born blind and his balls didn't descend, but he's neutered already.

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I wanted to thank you for renewing this thread, because I had no idea that grain-free foods were bad for male cats.

I've beenn following this thread. Good to see some updates from this year. Now, here's my story.

I have a 15 year old totally indoor neutered male Manx breed cat. When he was still a kitten, I tried feeding him raw food. He wouldn't touch it. Canned food, again, no go. Did I try to force feed him to get him to eat these foods? I sure did. Did the transition thing, but It didn't work. He always picked out the dry kibble. He's been eating kibble all his life. He's never had a UTI infection. All through his life, he's always liked to drink lots of water. He drinks water after every kibble meal. During the day, he'll drink a good deal of water too. Run the faucet in the kitchen and/or in the sink in the bathrooms and if he hears the water running, he comes running. He'll play with the running water and will drink it too. He doesn't mind getting sopping wet either. I found this out with him on three different ocassions with him jumping into the running shower with me. When I take a shower and/or bath, I keep the door shut.

Fast forward to the present. I tried feeding him some canned wet Natural Instinct Chicken grain free food. He liked it for about two weeks and then all of a sudden, he wouldn't touch it. Switched to the canned wet Blue Buffalo Wild Delights Chicken and he liked that.....for about two weeks and then wouldn't touch it anymore. Since he's now 15 years old, I don't try to get him to like canned wet food since I don't want to put any undo stress on him. Tried raw food again and he still won't touch it. Just sniffs at it and then walks away.

What does my cat like? He absolutely loves dry Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken grain free kibble and his second favorite is dry Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck grain free kibble. He does have an oddity. He doesn't like dry Nature's Variety Instinct Duck grain free kibble. Put BBWD on one plate and NVID on another plate and he'll sniff both and then chows down on the BBWD, but won't touch the NVID.

I rotate with 1/4 cup of dry NVI Chicken in the morning and 1/4 cup of dry BBW Duck in the evening. I watch his weight and 1/2 cup of dry kibble a day is plenty since he looks "solid". Not fat, not skinny, but he does look great just liked he looked when he was in his prime. There is always a big bowl of water available for him which I change every morning. BTW, he weighs around 11 1/2 pounds.

My take on cat food. Long story short. He's never had a UTI infection. No loss of hair issues. No itching problems. No bowl problems. This past July his blood workup was great for his kidneys, liver and anything else the vet did. Conclusion, every cat is different when it comes to food.

Oh, for those who say my male Manx cat is an oddity, my wife's female LynxPoint Siamese lived for 19 1/2 years.....all on dry grain free kibble. She, like my male cat, never liked raw or canned wet food either.

BryanV21 said:

I wanted to thank you for renewing this thread, because I had no idea that grain-free foods were bad for male cats.

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Grain-free foods are NOT bad for male cats.

It has been the experience of some people that their crystal-prone kitties had problems - some with grains, some with grain-free foods. But the issue isn't the lack of grain - the issue is the MAGNESIUM content and the genetic proclivity of each individual cat. I haven't seen this discussed anywhere in this thread, but it is the MINERAL content of the food that is the issue and its impact on urine pH.

Many grain-free foods contain fish - and this is a problem for many cats with crystal problems. So the ingredient issue for some cats may have nothing to do with the fact that a food is grain-free, but that it has fish in it. !!!

Of course, genetics and tendencies also play a role in what happens.

I have a highly strung kitty, and she can be on the most acidifying diet in the world, but when her stress levels rise, the pH of her urine rises, and she then has problems with crystals.

Night Wing said:

Oh, for those who say my male Manx cat is an oddity, my wife's female LynxPoint Siamese lived for 19 1/2 years.....all on dry grain free kibble. She, like my male cat, never liked raw or canned wet food either.

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And my Uncle lived to be 101, and he drank, smoke, and ate bacon and eggs daily and heaps of fried foods his entire life. Again, many kitties have lived long, healthy lives on kibble. But this doesn't mean it's GOOD for cats. It means they lived long healthy lives despite the food.

LDG said:

Grain-free foods are NOT bad for male cats.
It has been the experience of some people that their crystal-prone kitties had problems - some with grains, some with grain-free foods. But the issue isn't the lack of grain - the issue is the MAGNESIUM content and the genetic proclivity of each individual cat. I haven't seen this discussed anywhere in this thread, but it is the MINERAL content of the food that is the issue and its impact on urine pH.
Many grain-free foods contain fish - and this is a problem for many cats with crystal problems. So the ingredient issue for some cats may have nothing to do with the fact that a food is grain-free, but that it has fish in it. !!!
Of course, genetics and tendencies also play a role in what happens.
I have a highly strung kitty, and she can be on the most acidifying diet in the world, but when her stress levels rise, the pH of her urine rises, and she then has problems with crystals.
And my Uncle lived to be 101, and he drank, smoke, and ate bacon and eggs daily and heaps of fried foods his entire life. Again, many kitties have lived long, healthy lives on kibble. But this doesn't mean it's GOOD for cats. It means they lived long healthy lives despite the food.

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I hear the "but my dog likes it, and he's old" or "I had a dog that lived really long eating this 'crappy' food" all the time, and I too get tired of it. My analogy involves me loving ice cream, but not eating it for every meal. Not to mention that quality of life is as important, if not moreso, than quantity of life.

Anyway, I was looking around at grain-inclusive foods, and decided on California Natural Chicken & Rice to use between serving wet/canned food (Evo). I liked that it's about $5 cheaper for a 5lb bag of that (approximately 5#), instead of the Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken I was going to get. Would I be good with the Cal Natural, or should I just suck it up and pay a bit more for the Instinct... regardless of it being a male or female?

Bryan, you'll get as many opinions as there are people feeding cats as the answer to your question. :lol3:

I fed my cats a prescription kibble and wet food diet for years (Hill's c/d) because three of my males had issues with crystals (two had struvite, one had calcium oxalate), and one of my females has issues with idiopathic cystitis - she stresses easily. I swore by this diet.

Then we rescued an FIV+ kitty who had a host of health issues, among them allergies and other inflammation-related problems. We saw a holistic vet, who was the first vet I'd ever encountered that discussed nutrition with us.

At that point I put a lot of effort into learning - not so much about cat nutrition per se, that came later - but what a species-appropriate diet means for a domestic cat. The first thing I did was remove kibble from their diet. Then I moved to a grain-free wet food. Then I fed them grain-free wet foods that had very simple ingredient lists, and I tried to avoid veggies and things that cats do not naturally eat. Now I feed them home-made raw. I saw improvements in their coats, energy, and behavior at each change in their diet. I thought they were thriving on the Hill's c/d. And compared to being blocked and having problems with crystals, they were. But compared to what they eat now - it's almost night and day. :dk: On the other hand... I enjoy ice cream and cheetos and have a meal of Mac N Cheese. :lol3: My cats don't get that equivalent. Are they deprived? Given how much they love their freeze dried meat treats - at this point, I don't think so. But eight months ago they definitely felt otherwise. :lol3:

My advice is .... keep learning. Do what works for you, your kitties, your lifestyle, your budget... and just understand that you are making choices.

Wow! I have never once heard about grain free being bad for boy cats. I will never feed my cats kibble ever again. I believe grains do not belong in a cat's diet though. At all.

BryanV21 said:

I wanted to thank you for renewing this thread, because I had no idea that grain-free foods were bad for male cats.

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no no, grain-free is great for cats, regardless of their sex. It's the kibble version with the low moisture content that's bad, and also what LGD said earlier about the minerals. 

oh and you're welcome