Preventing Crystals & FLUTD?

I just lost a cat this week to a bad case of FLUTD and large amounts of struvite crystals. Talking to the vet her only suggestion was the science diet ($80/bag) cat food to help lower the PH of their urine. 

My other male cat who I still have has no issues currently, but I want to see what I can do about prevention since they did consume the same food. We are switching him to wet food 2-3 times a week for now, and dry food the other times. He currently gets about 3/4c of food a day, is this an adequate amount for a 15lb 4 year old cat?

Can lower quality cat food cause FLUTD or crystals? We currently use Meow Mix Indoor Formula. 

Any suggestions would be very helpful, I couldn't imagine losing another cat to FLUTD. 

I'm so sorry for your loss of your beloved kitty, how devastating for you and your other boy.

Feed your male cat a canned diet. ALL canned, all the time, and avoid fish.

Here's a good link that explains why:

http://catinfo.org/

wow, i typed out a whole letter then it got lost in cyber space. dry food is no good for a cat with crystals and even can cause them. my vet is a cat only vet and said they should never eat dry because they are all carbs. they don't get enough moisture either this way. cats don't drink water the same way dogs do. whatever your vet wants to do? to aid the situation, then only feed wet food please. i'll look in one of my homeopathc cat books for more.

I did see your other thread, hun. Again, so sorry. I would absolutely get your other male cat on wet food. Any canned food for that matter. Will make all the difference in the world for him if you start now. I would look over the link that Otto submitted above. :nod:

oh, also  you are doing the switch gradually with the food which is what ya gotta do because cat's tummies can not handle harsh switchs. then just only feed wet forever.

more meals in smaller amounts is good. not twice a day feedings. daisy is ten pounds and three ounces. i give her about a whole five ounce can a day

but in small amounts. like a tablespoon a day. i wish i could load documents onto here. i don't have the full word program because when i got this new

laptop, it had a smaller version of word for free and not the temporairy one. so i use that one. it has a slightly different file name so it hasn't accepted

my documents to be loaded on here. wish it would. i have so many good cat advice pages.

Az Josh,My 2 and a half year old male cat is struggling with FLUTD currently. My vet said wet food is the way to go. I really like the minced science diet cans. The gravy stuff gives him very smelly litterboxes. Also, watch watch watch for any signs of pain in your cat, or your cat struggling to urinate. Also, be aware of things that can stress your cat out, new animals, moving, large new objects in the home, because stress is a huge factor in FLUTD. I use pheramone colllars, a pressure vest, and warm packs when my kitty gets stressed out.But, it can vary with cats. You may be able to feed this one dollar store food and he would be fine, or like my cat you may do all you can and still have troubles. I am sorry for your loss.Breyn