Picky overweight kitty that is UTI prone.

lilkatie24

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
2
Purraise
0
My cat Littlebit is 9 years old in human years (not sure about cat years) around 2006 he had UTI and crystals and had to have surgery. Because of this our vet told us only Hills C/D dry for life and spoke against wet.

Well he ate the food but always wanted more his UTI went away but he just got bigger and bigger that went on for a few months until my mom found Purina for Urinary Tract health.

about 3 years ago I started buying his food at Petsmart he's never been big on wet food unless it was Friskies so its been trial and error. He seems to really like Simply Nourish wet food but hates the dry food. I know cats with former UTI problems need only wet food and so far this is the only good kind he likes he hates Wellness and Blue Buffalo so far that's all I've tried.

Can anyone recommend a good dry food to use as treats? I am trying to help him to lose some weight to and if someone can recommend another type of wet food I will throw that into his rotation.

I've heard different things about what to feed him from no grains to yes grains and high protein to low protein. It used to be just look for lower ash or magnesium basically i'm lost.
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,391
Purraise
7,130
Location
Arizona
Why do you need to give him treats?  But that being said, how is he doing on the  NON UTI foods?  I have never had a cat with a UTI, but my understanding is that it's nothing to mess around with, and those prescription diets ARE appropriate for cats with crystal problems.  Since you took him off, he hasn't had any issues? 

If you want to give him dry treats, why not give him the CD dry as treats? 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

lilkatie24

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Nov 21, 2012
Messages
2
Purraise
0
Hes been absolutely fine off of his Feline CD for about oh 6 years now. He just stopped eating it one day i'm guessing he got sick of it that's why we tried the Purina for urinary tract care but honestly that stuff is crap its full of fillers and no matter how much we regulated his calorie intake he just kept getting bigger.

I'm not a huge fan of Science diet even the treats they just are kind of like candy and I don't want to get him re addicted to candy he's finally eating healthier wet food that took us forever.

I give him treats on occasion he loves dry food but we are trying to give him just wet now because he will NOT touch CD wet food he will however eat dry and even the vet told me not to give him too much dry but that's the only way he would eat the Feline CD.
 

blueyedgirl5946

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
14,593
Purraise
1,695
I have read a lot of negative things in this forum about Hill's prescription foods. I want to say some positive things about it. I had a big yellow tabby who was a stray kitten. He came up on our carport and we adopted this boy. He was very young and soon he started having urinary issues. The vet put him on the prescription dry kibble for crystals and he ate it until he died. He ate it with no treats and he ate a certain amount a day. I was told by the vet to feed him 1/3 cup two times a day and nothing else, including table foods. He lost some weight and maintained a healthy weight until he died at age fourteen. He did not die from failing kidneys or crystals. I have another male cat who is twelve years old. He was also diagnosed with crystals very early in his life. He had much trouble including being totally blocked three times. Each time the vet put him to sleep and cleaned him out. He was put on the same diet and ate the dry only until May of this year. At that time, due to liver cancer and other issues, his appetite suffered. He was put on Purina UR wet food from the vet's office. Now he eats one meal a day of that and one of the dry. With the dry, I always put a little water over it with both cats. Nobody can convince me that my cats suffered from eating this food. On the contrary, I think that is why my yellow tabby, Speedboat lived to age fourteen and why my Muffin is still here. I would also like to add that I put a filter on my kitchen sink and only gave the two cats that filtered water to drink. After starting that, neither cat ever became blocked or had urinary problems again. So I sing the praises of this Hill's food. In the case of my cats, it has helped them. The secret is they need to eat that and that only.
 

ldg

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
41,310
Purraise
842
Location
Fighting for ferals in NW NJ!
blueyedgirl, I appreciate how you feel. When you've had a cat block repeatedly (and in our case, THREE of them: two with struvite crystals and one with calcium oxalate), it feels almost like a miracle when you switch the food, and no more problems. Some kitties are very sensitive to the littlest changes. When we switched to c/d (at the time, it was actually x/d and that was dropped and merged with c/d along the way.. ) our vet said "no more treats." So we stopped treats.

We put the dry food out for them to free feed, and none of them gained weight, they continued to self-regulate. The vet said the added moisture was good for them, so we worked to incorporate the prescription canned c/d. They weren't fans of any wet food, though they used to like the gravy from Whiskas pouches, so I turned the c/d pate style food into "all gravy" by adding water. Little by little, just from repeated exposure (with a lot of wasted food), they ate more and more of the wet food.

For a number of years, that's all ALL my cats ate. Dry c/d free-fed with one meal of canned c/d a day. And they certainly seemed healthy and happy. At some point, I did bump the number of wet meals a day from one to two.

From early 2004 to the end of 2010, that's all they ate.

But we'd rescued a kitty that wasn't self-regulating on kibble, and we'd rescued a kitty with allergies. So we couldn't continue with the same feeding plan.

We ended up finding a holistic vet, who gave us a basic education in feline nutrition, and we immediately stopped the kibble and switched to a species-appropriate wet food only diet. That is one that is high protein, low carbohydrate, and no grain. And the change in our cats was both rapid and visible. And when we finally followed her advice to switch them to raw, once again the change was both rapid and visible.

So yes. Cats with crystal problems do not have crystal problems on c/d. But c/d dry food is 42% carbohydrate. I speak from experience when I say that they do not thrive on this food. I would have argued back then that they were thriving. Yet here I am, two years into having taken them off c/d, and now I know the difference. :dk: I see it in their behavior. I see it in the litter box. I feel it in their fur. My vets see the difference. :dk:

lilkatie 24, I'm so glad your kitty likes SOME wet food! Other foods that you should consider trying are By Nature 95% wet foods, Nature's Variety Instinct (you can pick out the peas and carrots), and for treats - those can really pack on calories. But if you feel treats are a must, try freeze dried meat treats. When I was transitioning to new foods, I needed to use enticements sprinkled on top to get them to eat, and they LOVED freeze dried chicken liver and freeze dried chicken. They're easy to break up into very small pieces, and they also easily crush into powder.

With portion control, I've gotten our overweight 10 pound kitty down to the 8 pounds; with portion control and a feeding strategy designed to boost the metabolism of one of our kitties that wasn't losing weight even when we took the amount of food down to ridiculously small amounts (a 15.5 pound cat eating just 3 ounces of food a day!) I've been able to take 2 pounds off of him while increasing the total amount of food he eats (on average) daily. He's gone from 15.5 pounds down to 13.5 pounds. :) He's got another pound or two to lose - but this was a big effort, and at least he's got a waist again! :clap:

One thing that's quite clear in feline nutrition literature, based on published research, is that the best way to lose weight in a cat and keep it off is to feed a wet food, high protein, low carb, mid-range fat diet. :nod: Happy to provide links if you'd like.

Vibes for you and your kitty on his weight loss journey! :vibes: :vibes: :vibes: :vibes:
 
Last edited:

sevenwonders

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 8, 2012
Messages
411
Purraise
24
Location
North Carolina
I had a cat who was dying (literally) on Hills Prescription food (forget which one - he had CRF.)

The vet said he was so bad that all we could do is try to make him comfortable.

I researched and started cooking for him - he recovered and lived happily for 5 more years -

to well over 20 years old.

If nutrition is not a concern, and the Parent doesn't have the time or energy to feed a wet diet that is appropriate

for Kitty's medical condition, then I'd have to recommend looking into Royal Canin Prescription foods -

personally, I'd only consider Hills or Purina as an absolute last resort.

That being said, I'm glad that it helped your sick Kitties  
 
Last edited:

blueyedgirl5946

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
14,593
Purraise
1,695
LDG, if you don't mind my asking, what kind of difference did you see in the litterbox.
 

ldg

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
41,310
Purraise
842
Location
Fighting for ferals in NW NJ!
I don't mind at all. When we switched from the c/d mix of canned and kibble to only canned, the amount of pee went up a lot (I did mix water into their canned food). But keep in mind - they were eating two wet meals of canned c/d with water mixed in when we pulled the kibble. So I was surprised at the change in the volume of pee. I don't remember seeing a change in their poop.

That came with the switch to raw, though again, in the switch to raw, the volume of pee went up (which REALLY surprised me), despite the fact that most of them stopped drinking ANY water. I still put water out for them, of course, but only Tuxie and Spooky drink any water - and even that's infrequent. In fact they drink so little water that while I still have the same number of water dishes out, I only fill them half way. I provide them with bottled water, and it's just expensive to keep dumping and refilling all that water. From the level of water each day, I would have no idea anyone is drinking any unless I saw them taking a few laps here and there (and not daily).

In the switch to raw, the poop volume dropped dramatically. It is smaller, harder, and most of the cats poop every 2nd or 3rd day. Only Chumley continues to poop daily, and he just poops even less volume than the other kitties, because he produces a stool more frequently. The raw food is so bioavailable to them, there is simply less waste. In many cats, the issue of hairballs also alters. Some of mine still had hairball issues on raw (though the addition of egg yolk lecithin to their diet has fixed that), but others you can visibly see that they're passing the hair, as you can see it "twisting" out of the stool.

We actually discuss the change in stool rather in depth in this thread, and there are pictures, if you want to know more about the difference (we also address the volume of pee thing): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/250579/starting-cold-turkey/30#post_3269193 If you keep going, you'll find a picture of a dissected poop - with a "stool shell" over hair. Actually, it's in this post: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/250579/starting-cold-turkey/120#post_3271231. If discussion and pictures are TMI, don't click the links. :lol3:
 

mrsgreenjeens

Every Life Should Have Nine Cats
Staff Member
Advisor
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
16,391
Purraise
7,130
Location
Arizona
LDG forgot to mention the BEST benefit of all about the litter box when they are fed raw......there is NO SMELL! 
  Yep, you read correctly.  NO SMELL AT ALL (to the poop)
 

catwoman707

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Dec 16, 2011
Messages
7,689
Purraise
2,263
Location
Vallejo, CA
Adding my 2 cents, LDG is extremely knowledgable in diet and nutrition, it's a privelage to have her guidance!

I know she helped me as well as many, many others here. Love her! 


While Science Diet's C/D  does indeed work in preventing UTI's from recurring by the ingredients added to the food, and modifying other ingredients, it still contains the crap ingredients that their other foods do.

The fact that it is carried and recommended by vets is very deceptive and misleading to the public, just as I was at one time years ago before learning just what listed ingredient titles actually mean.

Then adding vitamins makes it all okay, promoting sales through vets profiting, which is deceiving as most would think that if their vet sell it and recommends it it must be great food. Slap a huge price on it and success.

More often than not cats get uti's from lack of water, this isn't because you don't provide enough, they just tend to not drink enough. Canned food contains approx 85% water, dry food absorbs water.

That being said there are some kitties who are prone to uti's as well. Just many cats overall it is the lack of water they are taking in that will trigger a uti.

I can also add that through my own personal experiences and observations over years, when kittens are given dry food and not canned regularly, they think they don't like it, it's not familiar, etc.

But over time and gradual exposure and tasting it now and then, a cat will be more and more willing to eat it. Eventually you can have them completely transformed if that is what you want.

Not saying you do but I definitely recommend getting your boy used to getting at least one meal a day of canned.

For instance you can try getting a can of BG 95% chicken, divide it in 1/8ths and freeze individual sections in baggies. That way you won't be wasting money on cans only a small bit eaten.

BG is Before Grain, and 95% chicken is exactly that, chicken.

I also know, although I still haven't 'taken the plunge' that raw diet is far superior than all else, canned is second. A good canned that is, although even friskies canned is good if that is all he will eat along with his dry food.

Good luck, I'm glad you are asking for advice on your kitty's food and what is best, etc :)
 

angels mommy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 5, 2011
Messages
6,899
Purraise
6,906
Location
Wilmington,NC
Adding my 2 cents, LDG is extremely knowledgable in diet and nutrition, it's a privelage to have her guidance!

I know she helped me as well as many, many others here. Love her! 


While Science Diet's C/D  does indeed work in preventing UTI's from recurring by the ingredients added to the food, and modifying other ingredients, it still contains the crap ingredients that their other foods do.

The fact that it is carried and recommended by vets is very deceptive and misleading to the public, just as I was at one time years ago before learning just what listed ingredient titles actually mean.

Then adding vitamins makes it all okay, promoting sales through vets profiting, which is deceiving as most would think that if their vet sell it and recommends it it must be great food. Slap a huge price on it and success.

More often than not cats get uti's from lack of water, this isn't because you don't provide enough, they just tend to not drink enough. Canned food contains approx 85% water, dry food absorbs water.

That being said there are some kitties who are prone to uti's as well. Just many cats overall it is the lack of water they are taking in that will trigger a uti.

I can also add that through my own personal experiences and observations over years, when kittens are given dry food and not canned regularly, they think they don't like it, it's not familiar, etc.

But over time and gradual exposure and tasting it now and then, a cat will be more and more willing to eat it. Eventually you can have them completely transformed if that is what you want.

Not saying you do but I definitely recommend getting your boy used to getting at least one meal a day of canned.

For instance you can try getting a can of BG 95% chicken, divide it in 1/8ths and freeze individual sections in baggies. That way you won't be wasting money on cans only a small bit eaten.

BG is Before Grain, and 95% chicken is exactly that, chicken.

I also know, although I still haven't 'taken the plunge' that raw diet is far superior than all else, canned is second. A good canned that is, although even friskies canned is good if that is all he will eat along with his dry food.

Good luck, I'm glad you are asking for advice on your kitty's food and what is best, etc :)
  All of that.
 & I told Laurie she is my "kitty Guru" she has helped me tremendously!!!!
 
 
Last edited:
Top