Food suggestions for cat with urinary and constipation issues?

Hello!

My neutered, male cat (about 9 years old) has the wonderful combination of both urinary and constipation issues. He is VERY prone to urinary irritation, UTIs and crystals in his urine so we have always had him on a prescription urinary diet. 

When we adopted him at the shelter they let us know about his urinary issues and suggested that he stay on prescription food. He was already on Hill's prescription C/D food, so that's what we chose to keep him on. Unfortunately his food made him very constipated. You could tell he was stressing out using the litter box and his bowel movements were very hard and dry (despite regularly drinking water). Occasionally he would poop outside the litter box - usually on something soft such as laundry, so that made it even more obvious to me that it was painful for him.

I tried mixing a fiber powder in his water (something like metamucil but without any flavor - I can't remember the name of it). This didn't help. I tried putting some fish oil on his food in the hopes that the oil would help, but it didn't. He won't eat soft food, so even the prescription diet soft food is out of the question. We tried giving him Lactulose at the recommendation of the vet, but this didn't help much either and he can get pretty aggressive, so giving him medicine is not easy.

My sister, who is a vet tech, told me about Royal Canin's Gastrointestinal Fiber Response food, which is high fiber and helps with constipation, but is also formulated for urinary issues. Hurrah!! He's been using this for about 2 years and he has had NO constipation or urinary issues during this time. I was so relieved! 

However, I have found that since we switched to the Royal Canin food he is less energetic. Maybe I'm imagining things, or maybe because he's a "senior" now, but I really feel like he should be more playful than he is. I'm not thrilled about the ingredients of Royal Canin, but that's what I feel like we're stuck with at the moment.

He's had a full blood panel at the vet and regular checkups and they don't see anything medically wrong with him.

I'm wondering if there are any high quality foods on the market that will help with both his constipation and urinary problems? 

Any help is appreciated! He is my baby so I want to have him be as healthy and comfortable as possible!

Are you giving him wet food?  The wet version of the prescription food would help with both the urinary and constipation issues.  Was the powder you tried Miralax?   Miralax works by drawing water into the colon rather than working like a traditional laxative.  You can also try using plain canned pumpkin for fiber.  You need to get the plain pumpkin not the pumpkin pie filling.

At age nine he may be slowing down a little because of age but I like to exhaust the other possibilities rather than just chaulking it up to age.  My cats are 10 and they have begun to slow down a little but they both still get their occasional kitten crazies.

Unfortunately he refuses to eat any canned food.

I asked 2 different vets about supplementing with pumpkin and they both advised against it because of his urinary issues. Basically, if the pH is not right in his food his urinary problems will flare up. One time I decided I was going to mix our other cat's Blue Buffalo food with his prescription food because I felt like the Blue Buffalo was a better quality food and he'd have better nutrition. Within 2 days he was peeing all over the place.  Needless to say we can't mess around with giving him things that aren't specially formulated for urinary trouble. 

Oh, the fiber stuff was Benefiber....I just remembered the name of it. 

If I have to keep him on the Royal Canin, so be it. I just don't feel like the nutrition is there.

ChloeKitty98 said:

He is my baby so I want to have him be as healthy and comfortable as possible!

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IMHO, an all dry food diet is the worst thing to feed for both urinary and constipation issues, so odds are the issues will continue no matter what supplements are added. Cats have a very low thirst drive, so moisture in what they eat is very important.

Most kibble addicts will refuse wet food. The idea is to introduce it, try various brands and flavors, and be determined to make it at least 50% of his diet, preferably more.

You have got to get more water into your kitty! The best way is to get her on wet or raw food. This may test your patience, but hydration is key in both UTIs and constipation. Go to catinfo.org and read up on how to convert kibble addicts. In the meantime, try a water fountain.

At this point I hesitate to recommend Miralax because Miralax draws water from other parts of the body into the bowel, and it could set off his UTI problems.

Does he have struvite stones or calcium oxalate? Have you tried testing his urine pH at home with urine testing strips?

You should also know that feeding high fiber for constipation/megacolon issues is controversial. Some feel this stretches the colon and pushes cats into megacolon. I was on the Yahoo! feline constipation/megacolon board, and most there went with a low fiber, canned food diet.

Hey

If he won't eat any canned food, will he eat human food? I was thinking perhaps make something like a chicken broth - but with more broth if you know what I mean. I did some for our cat that has a stubborn UTI and fed him some every other day and he lapped it up. Just an idea... and it may get him more used to the idea of wet food. Also, will he eat dry food if it's mixed with liquid? Was wondering if you could make his dry food wet at all.

Good luck, hope you find something that works soon.

Fleabags Mom said:

 
Hey

If he won't eat any canned food, will he eat human food? I was thinking perhaps make something like a chicken broth - but with more broth if you know what I mean. I did some for our cat that has a stubborn UTI and fed him some every other day and he lapped it up. Just an idea... and it may get him more used to the idea of wet food. Also, will he eat dry food if it's mixed with liquid? Was wondering if you could make his dry food wet at all.

Good luck, hope you find something that works soon.

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If you try this, please remember to use homemade chicken broth, as most of the store bought broths will contain onion.

Adding water to dry food is not recommended. The dry food has a higher bacterial load than wet; watering can cause the bacteria to multiply.

Another thought: Try FortiFlora. It is a probiotic, but it is made with animal digest. Animal digest is sprayed on dry cat food to make it appealing.

I have to feed my cat Royal Canin Urinary SO because he's had multiple blockages. I tried switching to an all high quality wet food diet but he blocked again. So I'm sticking to the Royal Canin wet food. For urinary issues, it's especially important to get them to eat wet food. There are a ton of articles that tell you how to do it.. It is possible! It just takes time and patience.

Raintyger said:

 
If you try this, please remember to use homemade chicken broth, as most of the store bought broths will contain onion.

Adding water to dry food is not recommended. The dry food has a higher bacterial load than wet; watering can cause the bacteria to multiply.

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Yeah, that's why I said make some. I'd not give a cat shop bought processed human food anyway, too much salt etc too.

I thought you could add liquid to dry food - and take it away as soon as the cat's finished eating? Treat it like wet food, ie, you'd not leave wet out for hours either.

You can add liquid to dry food but take it away after 30 minutes because bacteria grows really fast on wet dry food.

The weird thing is that he actually drinks a decent amount of water. I see him drinking at least a couple times a day. 

I agree that canned food would be best, but I really think it would have to be one formulated for urinary issues. His bladder seems to be very sensitive. Does anyone know of a good canned food for urinary issues (that isn't Hill's or Royal Canin)? I don't feel like either of those are nutritionally that great. In a perfect world I could feed him some higher quality food like Nutro or Blue Buffalo.

Cats who are on an all dry diet will drink more because it is making them dehydrated. It would be like a human eating Cheerios all day every day. I sure would be thirsty!

You could start by looking at the nutrient analysis of the C/D on a dry matter basis and looking for some canned foods that are similar. There was another TCS member who was specifically looking for phosphorus levels that matched a prescription food and decided on some of the flavors in the By Nature Organics line because they are pretty low in phosphorus. There may be other factors, such as protein and fat, that need to be taken into consideration.

There are a few sections on Tanya's CRF website that describe the nutritional needs of CRF kitties (http://www.felinecrf.org/nutritional_requirements.htm) and what foods to feed (http://www.felinecrf.org/which_foods.htm).

I think the food depends on the type of crystals he has.  Unfortunately, some cats need to stay on the prescription food.  I know for the more common type of crystals the goal is to lower the ph of the urine which can be done with a diet that is mostly meat.  With the canned food that would be the 95 to 98 percent meat and no grain foods.  That would be foods like Wellness Core, EVO 95% and Hounds and Gatos.  Like I said though some cats need the prescription food.  You could get the canned prescription food and then transition him to the wet food.  You may not be able to get to 100 per cent wet, my two kibble addicts are on about 50% wet and 50% kibble.  I don't know if you are free feeding the kibble but getting them used to the food not always being there is a good place to start.  You can also try using crushed kibble as a topper for the wet.  Initially he will probably eat just the kibble but bit by bit he will eat some of the wet.  The fortiflora sprinkled on the wet may help him get started eating the wet.

If you try something other than the prescription food I would get some ph test strips and keep an eye on his urine ph.  That would tell you that a food isn't working before he has symptoms.

Oops...you're right, @Denice! I'm getting urinary crystals mixed up with CRF!     

ETA: So, forget what I said about the phosphorus and CRF website. Cats with crystals have different needs than CRF cats (pH vs. phosphorus, etc.). But both need lots of water!

Denice said:

 
I think the food depends on the type of crystals he has.  Unfortunately, some cats need to stay on the prescription food.  I know for the more common type of crystals the goal is to lower the ph of the urine which can be done with a diet that is mostly meat.  With the canned food that would be the 95 to 98 percent meat and no grain foods.  That would be foods like Wellness Core, EVO 95% and Hounds and Gatos.  Like I said though some cats need the prescription food.  You could get the canned prescription food and then transition him to the wet food.  You may not be able to get to 100 per cent wet, my two kibble addicts are on about 50% wet and 50% kibble.  I don't know if you are free feeding the kibble but getting them used to the food not always being there is a good place to start.  You can also try using crushed kibble as a topper for the wet.  Initially he will probably eat just the kibble but bit by bit he will eat some of the wet.  The fortiflora sprinkled on the wet may help him get started eating the wet.

If you try something other than the prescription food I would get some ph test strips and keep an eye on his urine ph.  That would tell you that a food isn't working before he has symptoms.

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Thanks, these are great ideas. I can test and see if he can tolerate the low or no grain foods. Do i have to get pH test strips at the vet, or can I find them at a pet store? I'm not even sure what his pH should be.

I think you should be able to get them at a pet store that sells aquarium supplies.  We used to have a salt water tank and we were always checking the ph level of the water in the tank.  Normally the range should be between 6 and 6.5.  You can check the ph while he is still on the prescription food to know where that food has it.

The urine pH strips may be cheaper on amazon. You want strips that measure .25 increments.

I got my pH test strips on Amazon. Whenever he starts to pee I quietly sneak up and put a little glass bowl under his stream and then I dip the test strip in. He's usually around 6.5 but I'd like it to be 6.

Is your cat drinking tap water? Along with food, water supply is important. Tap water often has a lot of additives, what is not so good for humans.. could be more intense for a smaller animal?!? Look into a real-food diet, see if you like it!