Cat - Looking for Struvite Crystals friendly natural diet - home boiled chicken breast?

Hi Everyone!

I recently relocated to Hong Kong from USA with my 19 month old Domestic Shorthair Cat, he's never been too big of a water drinker so I mainly kept him on Natural Choice wet food and very little Avoderm Indoor Weight Control dry food. When we arrived in HK they did not have Natural Choice anywhere, so I stuck him back on Weruva, which he had for a few months before I did the switch to Natural Choice last year. Sooo after 3 weeks of being in HK on Weruva, (I assume the stress of relocation and change of diet contributed), little kitty wasn't peeing (crap!). One day I decided to watch him pee after noticing that they were getting rather small; and a little white thing popped out, I took it the vet  to be tested and found out it was a plug and Struvite Crystals, luckily his bladder was somewhat empty. They did the whole flush out the bladder routine for 2 days and sent him home with tons of meds and Hills S/D. Naturally my spoiled cat absolutely hates Hills so I shove it down his throat and then follow up with syringed water.

Here's the question, I hate forcing my cat to eat grain filled questionable food and syringed water, for now it's ok while he gets better but what about after assuming that Weruva is probably not great? So I started boiling home cooked chicken breast and broth, and I've discovered after feeding him S/D, I can leave a bowl of submerged chicken bits in a ton of chicken flavoured water and he eats and drinks it up! My vet who returns my calls 9/10, wont address this chicken question... anyone have some thoughts on Struvite friendly diets to keep cat's healthy and hydrated after his S/D course is finished? It seems chicken is quite acidic and low in magnesium? I've also heard Wellness wet food is ok? But Weruva also states its great for urinary issues too... Vet wants me to keep him on Hills C/D after S/D, but after reading the ingredients, I don't think so, yikes. 

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read my thread and share your thoughts and yes I am in close contact with my vet and will of course clear everything with him before I go ahead with diet changes, just want to hear everyones experiences personally first. 

Just boiled chicken in broth is NOT completely  nutritional.  Not by a long shot!  He needs some liver, he needs calcium, he needs some taurine, etc.

Now, you can use Call of the Wild and add it to the chicken (I use it and add it to RAW meat alone, so I'm guessing you can add it to cooked meat), it's made by Wysong, so you could call them and discuss with them.  It has all the supplements, including calcium and powdered organs.  The only issue may be whether or not your cat likes it.  One of mine does, two don't. 

Weruva, BTW, is a pretty good food.  If he likes it, I would continue to feed it, but not the fish flavors, if he has a history of Sruvite Crystals.  I would think any grain free canned food would be ok...much better than just boiled chicken.  And since he isn't drinking much, add some water to the canned food.



Luckily, I have never had a cat with crystals, but plenty of members have, so hoping some of them will be along later to give you more advise.

As long as the boiled chicken you are feeding is less than 15% of his total diet, you don't need to worry about balancing it or supplementing it, but if you are/plan to make cooked food a larger portion of his diet, then yes, as mrsgreenjeens said, you absolutely need to balance it correctly. If he likes the chicken flavored water, I don't see an issue with feeding him that to get more water in him. Just make sure you're not using any spices when cooking.

As for struvite prevention, the most important things are achieving optimal urine pH and sufficient water intake. If you are not already, you should be testing urine pH at home. Struvite crystals form when urine pH is too high. You want urine pH to be 6.0-6.5. The s/d works because of methionine, which acidifies the urine. However you can also add methionine to any food you choose to feed and achieve the same effect. Again, you need to test urine pH to ensure it's working, but not too much and overly acidifying the urine which can cause other problems. Most wet meaty foods will work, but I would avoid all grains and fish if possible. However, I would avoid Wellness for a struvite prone kitty as many members on the Yahoo FLUTD group report that it raises urine pH in a lot of kitties.

Meat in general is good for naturally acidifying the urine. Wet meaty food is good for acidification and water intake. Some of us feed raw for both of those reasons plus others.

Thank you Vball and MrsGreen, very helpful. I've bought some scientific litter which apparently lets you know the PH level of your cats urine and I've also bought this herbal supplement called "UTI-Clear" by Natural Remedies. I'm just keeping that on the side for when/if he starts straining again in the box after he's off the meds next week. Have you guys heard of this supplement? What about this whole feeding your cats cranberry supplements? Seems a little odd for a cat. Any other natural preventative care? Cheers

l would like to second mrsgreenjeens' suggestion of Wysong's Call of the Wild, or the other complete supplement that gets mentioned on this forum a lot: Alnutrin (with Calcium).

They contain everything needed to supplement meat and make it a balanced meal. So if you would like to keep the meat and broth as a part of his daily diet, one of these products might be a good option.

Good luck 

Here are some recipes for a homecooked diet, in case you are feeding him more than 15%: http://www.dogcathomeprepareddiet.com/index.htm I don't know if you can get Alnutrin or Call of the Wild in Hong Kong, and if you had to order it in the shipping would probably be astronomical. But you can probably get all the ingredients in those recipes.

But if it's just a few chunks in the water you boiled the chicken in, just to get more water into him, no problem!

I have not heard of UTI Clear being used on cats, nor do I recognize the ingredients, so I will have to look those up. Was it recommended by your vet? Actual cranberry juice or supplement is not recommended because of the benzoic acid which is toxic to cats. What is known to work is d-mannose which is derived from cranberries. However d-mannose only works for actuals bacterial infections, namely e.coli and klebsiella. Since your cat has struvites not an infection, this wouldn't help. An herbal supplement that may help is corn silk. It helps reduce bladder inflammation which is generally an issue with all FLUTD cases.

You all are awesome and really helpful, thank you so much for your informative posts   Cheers

VERY strange, I heard that Weruva is good for UTI diets! I came across a comparison chart once that showed the levels of magnsium and phosphorus in the Weruva were comparable to the prescription foods. Wellness is a good food, but in the past I've heard that there's a higher incidence of struvite stones developing with that food. My kitty eats Wellness and did have a struvite stone. Her urine pH tests a little high when eating Wellness. I add dl-methionine to her food and that gets it in range. Dl-methionine is available without prescription in the U.S. since it just a protein based supplement. You need to test urine when using it, though, since going too low could cause calcium oxalate stones which require surgical removal. (Amazing luck, BTW, in kitty passing a stone.) Another brand that is good for UTI is Fussie Cat, but it hard to find.