question re corn in food

Did you try asking her about the corn? I.e. asking why she feels this stuff is fine but the Authority wasn't?

My understand is that UTI cats on dry food require a certain specific ingredient balance to help prevent crystals, but I've also heard that dry in general isn't very good for cats that are prone to UTIs, because lack of proper hydration can be one of the factors in the development of UTIs, since more dilute urine helps prevent the buildup of crystals.

You may want to talk to your vet about the possibility of putting your cat on some kind of wet food (without corn in it) that may suit his needs while alleviating your concerns about the ingredients.

I don't blame you for being concerned, I don't feed corn to my cats either. It's a high-glycemic grain and I feel the amount of corn (and other carbs) in most housecat diets probably contributes a great deal to the high rates of obesity and diabetes seen in housecats.

My boy was on that after the UTI. But I added in canned foods (chicken, lamb or beef) in high quality and added raw beef to his diet. He was fine.

However, he still wound up having another UTI but had a reaction to the meds and passed away in a few days. We suspect (as a few other breeders do too) that he had an underlying kidney/liver problem that just triggered the seizures and death.

Most vets will be against canned food claiming dry is better for teeth, etc. In reality the cat really is better off eating more canned and raw then dry.

Yeah, it does sound like you're facing a fairly complicated feeding system now with every cat needing a different type of food. :/

I generally believe that barring certain specific medical circumstances, most cats thrive best on diets deriving most of their nutrients from animal proteins, especially diets that are less processed, like raw diets. I have one cat who had digestive sensitivities causing frequent loose stool, and another who was overweight, and both improved a little when I switched them to a quality grain-free canned food (and eliminated kibble entirely) and then when I switched them to raw, both their issues disappeared entirely.

I now have two very healthy cats of proper weights, no stool issues, and extremely soft, healthy coats. I've heard similar stories from many other raw feeders.

The issue of course is that a lot of vets are not well-educated on cat nutrition, and react very negatively to raw diets (since the pet food companies that pour money into veterinary education make a strong effort to convince people that raw is unhealthy and dangerous). But I'd recommend researching it a bit and drawing your own conclusions. It may end up being a surprisingly simple solution that works for all your cats, without having to juggle three different special diets for all their individual needs, since they'll be getting the sort of food their bodies are naturally designed to eat.

I can recommend some good sites and books if you're interested.

I would also have questioned .... Corn can have its place in a UTI friendly diet if you are feeding dry... I agree canned is often better and MOST canned foods do NOT have corn ( the ones with corn are usually extremely poor quality)...

S/O is a Prescription food and I would wonder why it was prescribed as senior s and Uti RXs are not a normal combo...

Authority is a decent food for a very good price... realize many vets are like us .. they fall for marketing without further research...

Remember : The best food for your cat is one he/ she does well on!, two you can easily afford and three you are comfortable with feeding

Hopefully he will be ok. My biggest problem with any dry food is the fact that males tend to GET UTI's on an all dry diet, so I don't see how putting him on dry food only will stop him from getting more UTI's.

It is the moisture content, that is why wet food is better than dry for all cats. Before I knew this, I fed mostly dry with very little canned added in. I had two male cats then that had UTI's. As soon as I fed then ALL wet food, no more UTI's.

Yes .. see modern canned food is actually about 10-25% higher moisture than a cats natural prey ... the moisture makes for easier digestion and elimination of excess nutrients

Some very good information here! I second all of it. (And GoldenKitty, I don't know how long ago that happened, but I'm very sorry for your loss.)

Hi, Runnerup, and welcome to TCS!

First, I'd like to say how awesome of you to take in a 10yr abandoned cat like that - we need more people like you in the world!

Second, about the kibble.... cats are descended from desert animals and don't have the same "thirst-drive" as non-desert dwelling critters, such as ourselves. Although they will drink some water, it's rarely enough and cats on kibble are chronically dehydrated. This stresses their organs and can, among other things, cause UTIs.

And you're spot-on about feeding corn to cats - it's a cheap filler for the pet food manufacturer and does nothing good for our cats at all.

Hopefully I'm not stepping on Saitenyo's toes, but here are three websites you can peruse for more information. All are either completely or partially written by feline nutritionists and/or veterinarians:

feline-nutrition.org
catinfo.org
yourdiabeticcat.com

Best of luck to you and your fur-family!