Whats the best cat food for cat that just had a blocked bladder?

Hi, I'm new here, my 5 yo cat is in the hospital with a blocked bladder (actually took him in on Tueday) He is doing better, hopefully will come home tomorrow. I did not realize this was a HUGE problem especially in male cats. I have had cats in the past & never come across this before. Anyway, I'm looking for some advice on the best food (i understand wet is better now)
to give him to prevent future blockage. I am sure my vet will give me advise as well but want to hear other experiences and what they are feeding their cat now. Thanks so much!

A friend of mine had a cat with this problem and she kept him on a prescription food that the vet recommended. This was years ago and it was dry kibble, they probably also had it in wet food but she used the kibble. She had another cat, a female, and she went ahead and fed the same food to both. Her little girl cat gained a lot of weight on it. The cat that it was prescribed for didn't gain weight on it. I know the ingredient lists on prescription food don't look very good but I think sometimes they are necessary. One of my cats was on a prescription food for a few weeks the end of last year. I told myself not to look at the ingredients but of course I did and they looked really bad but it kept him alive when he was very sick and gave his liver a chance to heal from hepatitis.

My boy had struvite crystals and luckily we caught it fairly early so he never blocked.

IMO - this is a situation where you do work with your vet, and always keep her in the loop regarding any diet changes you may think about.

My own vet recommended Hills C/D (there are a few different prescription lines out there). C/D is a maintenance food designed for bladder health and comes in both wet and dry forms. My boy really doesn't like wet food, no matter what I do, so I use both (he gets about a tablespoon of wet per day, and about half a cup of dry food). It's a calorie dense food, so I did work with the vet on portion size - it's easy to overfeed and for the cat to gain weight.

Thank goodness, he's been fine for over two years on this diet. Pricewise - I think it works out to about the same as any premium or near premium food.

While to a lay person the ingredients may look iffy, my view is if it works, that's all that counts.

Also, you might want to consider adding a water fountain if you don't already have one. I did notice both my cats drank more once I got a Drinkwell.

Good luck to both of you - I know what a scary experience this has been for you.

Thank-you so much. I plan on getting a water fountain by the weekend.
This is def. scary...I knew something was wrong Sun morning but actually did not get him to the vet til Tuesday morning. I feel so bad that I wasted those few days on thinking it was not too serious. I now know better for sure!
Again Thank-you.

Originally Posted by darlili

My boy had struvite crystals and luckily we caught it fairly early so he never blocked.

IMO - this is a situation where you do work with your vet, and always keep her in the loop regarding any diet changes you may think about.

My own vet recommended Hills C/D (there are a few different prescription lines out there). C/D is a maintenance food designed for bladder health and comes in both wet and dry forms. My boy really doesn't like wet food, no matter what I do, so I use both (he gets about a tablespoon of wet per day, and about half a cup of dry food). It's a calorie dense food, so I did work with the vet on portion size - it's easy to overfeed and for the cat to gain weight.

Thank goodness, he's been fine for over two years on this diet. Pricewise - I think it works out to about the same as any premium or near premium food.

While to a lay person the ingredients may look iffy, my view is if it works, that's all that counts.

Also, you might want to consider adding a water fountain if you don't already have one. I did notice both my cats drank more once I got a Drinkwell.

Good luck to both of you - I know what a scary experience this has been for you.

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The thing that counts is that you did get to the vet - and cats are awfully good at hiding discomfort. I was just fortunate in that I happened to be at home (Labor day weekend, of course - so an e-vet visit!) and I saw my boy going in and out of the box more often; if it had been a workday Monday, I probably wouldn't have noticed anything amiss, as he never cried or anything when he was in the box.

Again, hoping he gets well very quickly and that you and your vet can work out a good plan together to keep him in good health.

Originally Posted by darlili

My boy had struvite crystals and luckily we caught it fairly early so he never blocked.

IMO - this is a situation where you do work with your vet, and always keep her in the loop regarding any diet changes you may think about.

My own vet recommended Hills C/D (there are a few different prescription lines out there). C/D is a maintenance food designed for bladder health and comes in both wet and dry forms. My boy really doesn't like wet food, no matter what I do, so I use both (he gets about a tablespoon of wet per day, and about half a cup of dry food). It's a calorie dense food, so I did work with the vet on portion size - it's easy to overfeed and for the cat to gain weight.

Thank goodness, he's been fine for over two years on this diet. Pricewise - I think it works out to about the same as any premium or near premium food.

While to a lay person the ingredients may look iffy, my view is if it works, that's all that counts.

Also, you might want to consider adding a water fountain if you don't already have one. I did notice both my cats drank more once I got a Drinkwell.

Good luck to both of you - I know what a scary experience this has been for you.

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Follow up and keep talking with your vet ....

I have two prone to UTI s ,no crystals but diet and working with vet is key... Oh and mine dont eat rx but they have not had issue since I switched to a WITH grain food and use no grain as treats... plus extra wet and re hydrating the FD raw

Although diet is not always the solution for crystals, there are certain ingredients to watch for. You don't want a high protein, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium levels. I used to know the max. Amounts but magnesium should be under 0.1. Rx diets for crystals contain salt which is supposed to encourage drinking but can lead it aggravate kidney issues. You don't necessarily have to feed the Rx foods but you should keep your vet informed. Your cat could get blocked again. It also depends on the type of crystals. Those other.than struvite, usually cannot ve dissolved by diet.

It depends on what caused the blockage, and you need to work with your vet. There are different types of crystals, and also other things. My Wellington had to be operated on for calcium stones that blocked him a couple of years ago, and it was touch and go for a few hours. Very scary. We live in a very hard water area and my vet advised me to do two things - feed him a urinary health kibble along with his wet food, and to only use a low calcium bottled water in the cat fountain. So I now give the cats mineral water and I make tea with tap water! But it has all worked - he has had no problems since. If your vet advises a special food do not necessarily buy it from the vet - I found I could get a much better value by buying online.

Originally Posted by jennyranson

We live in a very hard water area and my vet advised me to do two things - feed him a urinary health kibble along with his wet food, and to only use a low calcium bottled water in the cat fountain.

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I'm surprised the vet gave that recommendation, as even the hardest water is a very poor source of calcium compared to dietary intake and kitties don't drink a all THAT much. Water is considered "hard" for example if it has 100mg of calcium per liter, so about 20mg in a whole glass (which I believe is more than a cat drinks in a day), compared to say the 280mg of calcium in a 5.5oz can of Evolve chicken can food (which a cat can usually eat about two cans a day of so probably 10mg from water and 560mg from the food).

Also, if you have filtered water on say your fridge for example, those usually cut down the mineral content about in half. If you did still want mineral free water, you can save yourself a lot compared to bottled (which half the time is just some county's municipal water anyway) and get a RO filter. Saves money and better for the environment, buuuut that's all kind of moot IMO.

I would get a second opinion about the treatment of calcium *?* stones being reduced calcium intake, as that is different than what I've read is usually prescribed. If the stones are calcium oxalate, then its dietary oxalate intake that if anything is typically reduced for example. In fact, low levels of dietary calcium intake can alter the calcium-oxalate balance and increase the risk for stones. The latest research indicates its really all about the urine PH. Too acidic and you get calcium oxalate; and too alkaline and you get calcium phosphate. Well, and better hydration and lots of clean litterboxes so the kitty doesn't hold it of course as the urine is less concentrated.

Just a point of clarification - IMO when someone says they can buy prescription food online for much less than a vet's office, please make sure the online source is both totally impeccable, and that the online vendor requires your vet's prescription before selling the food. Otherwise, RUN AWAY -anyone selling prescription lines without requiring your vet's prescription cannot be legitimate.

I'm sure there are some reputable online vendors (Dr. Foster's comes to mind) - but there are way too many scammers out there (both for human and pet meds) - please verify your vendor before ordering.

Hi, My2catsabc! Welcome to TCS!

As it looks like you've already become aware of - the most important step you can take for urinary tract health is to remove kibble from your cat's diet. After that, providing foods that don't contain grains, fruits and veggies will help ensure the health of the entire digestive tract. There are many canned foods out there to choose from (you can conduct a "grain-free" search on petfooddirect.com to begin researching the various brands and flavors available) and there are both commercial and home-prepared raw diets to consider. (I feed a raw home-prepared prey-modeled diet.)

CatInfo.org has a detailed article titled "Feline Urinary Tract Health: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection" that you will likely find very interesting.

Little Big Cat (Dr. Hofve) has several articles on this and related topics: "Urinary Tract Disorders in Cats" and "Kidney Disease in Older Cats" are just a couple of them (the former includes a discussion on veterinarian prescription diets).

Little Big Cat has another article titled "Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food" that you might find helpful, and Feline-nutrition.org has a nice article in their Nutrition section dissecting pet food labels to get to a real understanding of the product's ingredients called "Reading a Pet Food Ingredient Label".

Good luck with your boy!

AC

Originally Posted by darlili

Just a point of clarification - IMO when someone says they can buy prescription food online for much less than a vet's office, please make sure the online source is both totally impeccable, and that the online vendor requires your vet's prescription before selling the food. Otherwise, RUN AWAY -anyone selling prescription lines without requiring your vet's prescription cannot be legitimate.

I'm sure there are some reputable online vendors (Dr. Foster's comes to mind) - but there are way too many scammers out there (both for human and pet meds) - please verify your vendor before ordering.

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Good reminder ...

Just wanted to say I lost my Snicker's who had the blocked badder earlier last week sometime early Sat. morning. I was able to bring him home for the weekend. Thanks all for all your input.

My2catsabc, I am so very, very sorry. My heart goes out to you, my friend. God bless and keep you.

AC

I am so sorry at this outcome. You did all you could.

Thank-you for your kinds words. It has been hard these past 56 hours. I can't stop crying. He was so wonderful & gave us such Joy!

Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy

My2catsabc, I am so very, very sorry. My heart goes out to you, my friend.

God bless and keep you.

AC

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THank you. I do appreciate that. He's now at Peace

Originally Posted by jennyranson

I am so sorry at this outcome. You did all you could.

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I am so, so sorry for your loss.

Thank-you

Originally Posted by darlili

I am so, so sorry for your loss.

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Originally Posted by PatrickCampbell

Yes, he will need a special food. You can get a good quality wet food for him but that will depend on the severity of the problem. If your cat like you can also mix dry and wet food together. If it is bad then it would be best to stick to just the prescription diet as feeding anything else.

Pet Insurance

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Mycatsabc, I am so sorry for your loss. I know it's hard, but Snickers will always live in your heart. Cats have a way of stealing your heart.