UTI's and food

Hi, new here. I have joined to try to get an understanding on how UTI's and food relate.

We have just lost our second male cat to crystals. I have another female who has never had an issue. I feed a combination of wet and dry, they are on a schedule so the food does not sit out all day.

I feed twice a day, 1/8 cup of dry, right now Horizon grain free but I am switching it to Nature's Variety Instinct which is also grain free and more of a dry raw kibble. I feed 1/4 can (7.5 oz) BFF wet with an ash content of 2%.

With my first cat, he was licking the pans at night, of all the salt and seasonings. We controlled his diet and crystals by adding a homeopathic cranberry additive which kept his urine acidic the way it was supposed to be and put the pans in the oven. We can no longer get this additive.

With our new male, he came down with the crystals at less than 2 years old. We lost him when we didn't have the 3000.00 the emergency vet wanted.

is there something I'm doing wrong or did we just have bad luck with males? I'm looking into a new slightly older kitten for my female, but I don't want to go thru the male thing again.

Thank you in advance for your help

I'm so sorry. That's so very sad!

The main thing to help prevent the problem is moisture - no dry food. The other thing is a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Almost all kibble is rather high in carbs - which is offset with urine acidifiers, because carbs naturally raise the pH of the urine, which is the environment in which struvite crystals form. ANIMAL-based protein naturally creates a lower urine pH which reduces the amount of crystals being formed, when combined with a lot of water (moisture in the diet FROM the food), crystals (which naturally form) are flushed out before they become a problem.

This website is a great resource for understanding the relationship between diet and urine/bladder health: http://www.catinfo.org

I'm so sorry for your kitty losses.   How terrible! I hope that my story can be helpful to you.

We have two males. One got a serious case of struvite crystals (along with a UTI) when he was still less than a year old. Thanks to the advice of people here at TCS, we switched to all wet diet for both of them. We had my struvite kitty tested again two months after an all-wet diet, and he didn't have any crystals. He was on a prescription diet for a month to clear everything out. But since then, the only thing we've done is keep them to an all-canned diet - no supplements. They were also on a wet-dry combo, we cut out the dry, and they don't miss it.

Kinda like people, if cats are not flushing out their systems well, they're likely to get issues. Cats are desert creatures and designed to get water from their food. They don't have a thirst drive to drink water like a dog or a human would. So dry food makes them dehydrated. Male cats are more prone to issues resulting from dehydration (as you've so sadly discovered) due to their smaller urethras. 

Thanks for all you suggestions

So I guess the only answer is to switch them to all wet food. I thought the dry would be okay as long as they had more wet than dry, but I guess I blew that. So no dry at all? Maybe then I wouldn't restrict to just a female. I'm a little concerned about bringing a female in with my female, as she attacked the male kittens cage the first night he was here, but then I wonder if she sensed he would be a dominant male and beat her up, which he did.

So replacing 1/8c of dry with how much more wet? Any suggestions?

Well, our adult cats, ranging in size from 10 - 14 pounds, ate about one 5.5 ounce can of food a day each.

Foruicry, you didn't blow it, you just didn't know. Pet food companies prefer it that way, too, which makes it hard to learn the best way to feed a cat! Kitties are just different, too - some eat dry their whole lives and never have a urinary problem, while our cats have had problems at a young age.

For getting a second one, I think it's more about personality and a proper introduction than sex of the cat. As long as they are all spayed/neutered. I am no expert, but the folks here are great at giving advice on a good introduction. Most cats will at least learn to tolerate each other, even if they're not best buds.

I don't know if this would help, but my vet suggested to move the water bowl away from the food bowl. Cats don't like them next to each other for some reason. My friend put the water bowl across the room from the food, and he noticed his kitties started drinking much more water than they use to. Maybe give that a try?