Is urinary tract special diet cat safe for healthy companion cat?

We would like to get a companion rescue cat for our sweet but sometimes lonely young adult orange tabby. Apart from finding a cat suitably laid back for her gentle personality, our biggest concern is that our tabby had urinary tract inflammation a couple times in her first two years as kitten, and is now indefinitely on a special diet (Royal Canin SO dry) which knock on wood has been associated with great and healthy bladder activity.

Would a healthy (normal diet) adult cat be endangered from eating the others' special SO diet? Alternatively, would it be safe to transition an adult Uriinary cat diet to a mostly wet normal diet? Unfortunately we would have to let them free feed at times when we just have a catsitter visit- we travel together or at the same time- which is a few times a year of 1-2 weeks, so what one eats the other will eat. Thanks!

Chat2008 said:

Would a healthy (normal diet) adult cat be endangered from eating the others' special SO diet?

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I actually think the health of both cats is at risk eating this food long-term. It has such poor quality ingredients that even if it truly does help with urinary tract issues (and the way it does isn't healthy, such as extra salt to encourage more drinking), the other problems it could cause might be worse (like diabetes, IBD, kidney disease, allergies, etc).
 

Chat2008 said:

Alternatively, would it be safe to transition an adult Uriinary cat diet to a mostly wet normal diet?

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Yes! Preferable, in fact, providing you stay away from too many fish-based foods and look for ones low in carbohydrates. Some info for you on diet and urinary tract health: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

Thanks sugarcatmom- sorry for tardy reply.. Excellent point about overall nutrition. Our tabby has become very attached to the SO dry, and is (what cat isn't, lol) finicky with wet foods in that she only likes fish based wets... However we are trying our best to gradually diversify her taste through experimentation. We certainly believe strongly in low carb, all natural food. Thanks also for the helpful links!

I would keep working on transitioning your kitty to a healthy wet diet. I am working on this with my boy right now and it is very tough at times when he refuses to eat. He is a dry food addict, but has gotten much better at eating wet.

Thanks Hobo08- looks like your boy is a beautiful Chartreux? Used to have one... anyway, what kinds of wet foods are you emphasizing? Our tabby only accepts seafood wets- we were using avoderm because it seems to be lower carb and with little junk- but getting her to try other favors is not going well yet. Is there any downside to just sticking with a fish-based wet food diet, health wise?

Chat2008 said:

Thanks Hobo08- looks like your boy is a beautiful Chartreux? Used to have one... anyway, what kinds of wet foods are you emphasizing? Our tabby only accepts seafood wets- we were using avoderm because it seems to be lower carb and with little junk- but getting her to try other favors is not going well yet. Is there any downside to just sticking with a fish-based wet food diet, health wise?

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Thank You and you are welcome. I am pretty sure Hobo is a domestic shorthair though LOL THese are a few of the canned foods I have fed.

Wellness Core

Nature's Variety

Before Grain

Evo Chicken and Turkey

Earthborn Holistic

Tase of the Wild

Those are all I can think of at the moment.

The problem with always feeding a fish food is the build up of mercury. I know there are a few other things that are bad about feeding fish, but can not remember. Hopefillu someone else will chime in. Or I might be able to find the post when a member made me aware of the health concerns.

ETA: Here is an article http://catnutrition.wordpress.com/2007/09/22/eight-strikes-against-fishy-feeding-for-cats/

Hi! This might seem obvious, but since no one has mentioned it yet --

You can take a can of the fish flavors that she likes of the brands Hobo08 listed above, and take another can of a different non-fish flavor and gradually mix it in over a period of days so she doesn't notice it doesn't taste 100% like fish anymore. Eventually she will probably eat just plain non-fish all by herself.

If you're interested, you can head over to the Raw Feeding board to see if that might be an option for your girl.

Good luck!