Blue Buffalo Indoor Cat Food?

Blue Buffalo is a good food...but with struvite crystals, you likely need to feed mostly WET food as well as make sure not to feed fishy dishes.

Here's my understanding of the ash situation. Ash is basically burned trace minerals, and it is a by-product of the cooking of meat. This means that higher meat content means more ash - but lower quality meat or meat by-products have higher ash content than higher quality meat.

Fish (of any kind) generally has higher levels of trace minerals than chicken, turkey, beef, duck, rabbit, venison, etc.

Because dry food is more nutritionally concentrated than wet food, it will by definition have a higher ash content.

Ok - here's the Blue Buffalo site, where you can click on the cat products to see the analysis: http://www.bluebuffalo.com/healthy-cat-food

I started at the bottom. All of the Blue Spa Select canned foods have a maximum ash content of 2.1%. The Healthy Gourmet products seem to have a maximum ash content of 2.5%. The Blue Bistos only list the magnesium content.

They don't list the ash content of the dry foods.

But 2% ash is low - as is the 0.025% magnesium.

I compared it to Wellness canned (chicken). Its ash content is 1.95%, and its magnesium content is .025%.

Now... he developed the crystals on the Blue Buffalo. I don't know what that means. You can try simply increasing his water intake by mixing in a tablespoon (or two) of water with each serving of wet food.

If he has further problems, you can either try increasing the amount of wet food he gets vs. the amount of dry...

But some kitties are simply genetically prone to the problem. For them, even though the prescription diets are not very high quality, and are pricey, they do seem to solve the problem - and save a lot of money compared to treatment (and pain and distress for kitty!).

For now, I'd up his water intake, and see how it goes. If he has the problem again... you can experiment with various wet foods, or skip the hassle and go to a prescription diet that has saved many kitties from ongoing problems.

Just to let you know, indoor formulas usually contain more carbs than regular adult ones, but that is contradictory since cats need a high protein diet no matter whether they are inside or out.

I agree with BlueRexBear that you should switch to a wet only diet that avoids fish as much as possible.
Also, more vets are deciding that low ash doesn't really make a difference in urinary health, but you can research that yourself if you like.

Another recommendation for a canned-only only diet.

Both CatInfo.org and LittleBigCat.org have articles (Urinary Tract Health and Urinary Tract Disorders in Cats respectively) emphasizing that's it's more about water than it is about ph (as was once thought), especially when the issue is crystals. And Feline-Nutrition.org has several articles targeted to specific bladder and kidney issues.

I'm glad Abe is on the mend, Petguy!

AC

Blue Buffalo is a quality mainstream brand. A common misconception though is that diet is the main cause of UTIs, but dietary management is often the first response. I myself developed a bad UTI as a kid, and had quite health nut parents. With cats, stress, urine retention, sedentary lifestyle, genetics, or just the way they happened to squat on their litter as a fluke can cause a UTI. Infection raises urine PH, which can then create crystals, so it is not always crystals THEN infection but the other way around. In the majority of cases, the cause of the UTI is unknown:
http://www.catconnection.net/care/urinary.php
The meat is also typically a combination of pure muscle meat, fat, and bone, and the higher the bone relationship in that mix, the higher the ash as well. At least that is my understanding.

However, latest research indicates that more than the ash its magnesium/phos content (fish meal tends to be high, so its recommended to limit fish intake for prone cats) and urinary PH that affect UTIs/crystals more than other factors. Ideal according to research is 6.1 to 6.8, with only sufficient magnesium as required by their diet. This explains why prescription urinary diets usually have seemingly "poo" ingredients with grains combined w/ an acidifier, but they get the job done and dissolve the crystals. Luckily, many of the premium premium pet food providers either advertise the target urinary PH's of their regular wet and dry food, or at least make it available on their sites/hotlines.

Here's a list of target PH's for common cat foods: