Switching my 8year old Male cat with crystal to wet food

misseyeris

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 14, 2013
Messages
1
Purraise
10
Hello

My 8 year old male cat recently had a blockage and had to be rushed to the vet to have a catheter inserted and after all that he seems like he's urinating fine but I've switched him over to Wellness Grain Free wet food and now he has had a bit of  diarrhea/loose stoold the last few days so I've tried scaling back the amount of wet. The vet also prescribed the prescription hills diet but does not seem to like the dry kibble which I guess I should be happy that he wants wet food because I've read alot of information about how wet is better then dry for cats with crystals. I've read the only ingredient in the prescription food is extra salt to make them more thirsty. I'm also concerned he's not getting enough calories because he's still on antibiotics and this seems to be effecting his appetite as well.  I'm also considering looking into probiotics for the diarrhea but for now I am trying a bit of probiotic yogurt in hopes that this will help. I'm at my wits end, do I feed him more wet food to ensure he is getting enough calories? Other then the loose stool he seems happy and energetic and I have no concerns about his behavior. I'm also in the process of switching vets as I had a horrible experience with the vet who did the work on him for his blockage.
 

aprilprey

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
May 14, 2013
Messages
327
Purraise
24
I am relatively new to this board, and only have dealt with one kibble addict.  But a cat eating wet food is getting water with their food, as they have evolved to do in their desert environment.  Many people on this board have lots of experience with using probiotics to deal with loose stools and other digestive issues...you might look at the raw/home made food forum and resources, as many people who feed raw add probiotics.  My older female cat had issues with constipation while eating kibble only - that cleared up when I began feeding her canned only, and her energy level has doubled!

I'd give you more details, but there are so many people here with a lot more experience than I.  You can check out www.catinfo.org for good information on the issue of dry kibble vs. canned or raw.  If raw doesn't interest you, just ignore that info...concentrate on the information regarding dry food.  The author of that site, Dr. Lisa Pierson, turned against dry kibble when her male cat developed crystals, so you should be able to relate to her story.

So - go through some of the raw/home made food resources, as there is great info on transitioning "kibble addicts" to canned or raw, in addition to dealing with loose stools and probiotics.

Good luck!
 
Last edited:

vball91

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 14, 2013
Messages
3,853
Purraise
252
Location
CO, USA
The antibiotics are much more likely to be the reason for the loose stool/diarrhea than the wet food. I would feed him what he wanted to eat until he's stabilized. The active ingredient in the Rx diet that works for crystals is methionine, an amino acid that lowers the urine pH. Crystals tend to form in alkaline (too high) urine. Meat is a natural urine acidifier. Foods high in carbs actually raise urine pH which is one of the reasons dry food is not recommended for crystal kitties. Salt is also added to encourage more water consumption because keeping the system well hydrated and flushed out is important.

For a crystal kitty, you need to either feed the Rx food (wet much preferred) until the urinalysis is normal OR feed the wet food of your choice that is high in animal protein nd supplement with methionine as necessary. If you choose the latter, you MUST test his urine pH at home regularly to ensure the pH does not become too acidic.

Regardless of what you food you feed, I would add probiotics the help restore his gut health after the antibiotics. On this site many prefer a good human grade multi-strain live culture probiotic like the Natural Factors Double Strength Acidophilus/Bifidus one over a pet probiotic.
 

raintyger

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
1,690
Purraise
139
Location
Long Beach, CA
I agree with vball91 that the cause of the diarrhea is most likely the antibiotics. Did you get Clavamox? Clavamox is famous for diarrhea. One woman who worked at a cat shelter said she had no idea why the vets keep giving Clavamox, as every single cat she gave it to got diarrhea.

With a crystal kitty you are WAY better off with wet food. My kitty had a stone and I never put her prescription food. It has too many carbs. I simply switched to 100% wet and monitor the urine pH. For a short while I added dl-methionine, but after a while I figured her urine naturally was at 6.5, with occasional fluctuations to 7.0. One year later I switched cat foods and now her urine is pretty always 6.5 without much fluctuation.

You can actually give probiotics while on antibiotics, but you need to give the probiotics a couple hours AFTER the antibiotics. If you feed before or with the antibiotics, the antibiotics just come in and kill off all the good flora that the probiotics supplied.
 
Top