Special diet recommended... what's better long-term?

Garfunkel's at the e-vet again, for bloody urine. We were dumping the boxes and cleaning them out - brought them back in and he jumped in immediately without waiting for new litter. Thank goodness, because I was able to notice two dark red urine spots with overall orangeish color in most of the urine.

Good thing is he's still peeing - last year (June or July I think) I didn't notice until he was going in and out of the box multiple times without peeing.

We haven't seen the doctor yet but the tech told us we need to talk to the vet about a special diet. I think it's usually Hills that is recommended, correct? I'm worried about the overall quality of the food e.g. corn, wheat, etc. I think Hills is pretty gross when it comes to that stuff. They are still eating dry grain-free mostly. They do get wet occasionally. I've been meaning to transition them back over to wet for awhile.

Obviously his urinary health is of utmost importance and I know rx foods are effective but I'm worried about long term especially with weight - Garfunkel is the least fat of my fatties, but all of them need to lose a bit of weight according to their regular vet. Any insight or suggestions?

Definitely avoid the vet prescribed diets, they are LOADED with carbohydrates which actually aid in crystal formation.  Best thing is to get your kitty on canned food diet and increase water in the diet.  http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth  is an excellent source of information.  I have 3 bladder issue kitties, 2 of them are well controlled on canned food only diet, recently switched them to raw in January and no issues.  I had a lot of issues before I switched to canned food but canned REALLY helped them.  I also have a water fountain for my cats, water in several places in the house as well as add a tablespoon of water to their food.

Thank you! I appreciate it. We are back from the vet, the dr. recommended PURINA!!!!!!!!! Special Care as a generic for Science Diet CD... I think my eyes bugged out.  I asked about wet vs. dry and he said the idea of dry food causing crystals was "bull-hockey."  

We have not been able to get a urinalysis either time (last year or this time) since he's empty when he gets to the vet, so they are really treating based on symptoms only. Dr. did say other things can cause blood in urine but with last year's episode, plus an x-ray with no stones anywhere, he think it is probably urinary. So he is treating with an injection of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory, with a 10-day antibiotic course.

We have a water fountain which they like, and when they were on wet I mixed it with water. I guess I just got cheap and lazy   I'm so sorry Garfunkel   I have been wanting to start them on raw for a really long time, have even made several posts about it in the past, but unless you are buying commercial (which I don't think I can afford) it's pretty daunting to get started, so I keep putting it off.

Do you think it would be worth it to do a short-term course of an rx food? Maybe the wet version? And then transition back to GF wet? (I know Dr. Pierson says cheap wet is better than quality dry, but they can't eat cheap wet, for some reason, they had the world's worst food aggression and behavior problems when they ate Fancy Feast canned back in 2012. Every meal ended in tears for me and in my worst moments I would think about rehoming them. Thank god when we switched from FF to GF dry they went back to normal.) I think I may be able to afford wet food now. Well, I really HAVE to afford it, because I sure can't afford a blocked kitty. Poor baby.

I will definitely check out Dr. Pierson's link. Thank you again for your help!

parsleysage said:

Garfunkel's at the e-vet again, for bloody urine. We were dumping the boxes and cleaning them out - brought them back in and he jumped in immediately without waiting for new litter. Thank goodness, because I was able to notice two dark red urine spots with overall orangeish color in most of the urine.

Good thing is he's still peeing - last year (June or July I think) I didn't notice until he was going in and out of the box multiple times without peeing.

We haven't seen the doctor yet but the tech told us we need to talk to the vet about a special diet. I think it's usually Hills that is recommended, correct? I'm worried about the overall quality of the food e.g. corn, wheat, etc. I think Hills is pretty gross when it comes to that stuff. They are still eating dry grain-free mostly.

They do get wet occasionally. I've been meaning to transition them back over to wet for awhile.

Obviously his urinary health is of utmost importance and I know rx foods are effective but I'm worried about long term especially with weight - Garfunkel is the least fat of my fatties, but all of them need to lose a bit of weight according to their regular vet. Any insight or suggestions?

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Your best bet for urinary tract health and weight management is to go with wet canned food which is high in protein and low carb. There are wet canned equivalents of most if not all prescription food, so I would take a look at Royal Canin Urinary S/O canned wet food which is one of the better formulas. This doesn't have to be a long-term thing, just long enough to do the job of dissolving the crystals and then you should think about getting Garfunkel onto a good wet canned.

I would avoid the Royal Canin it uses excess salt to make them drink and pee more as the basis for their diet, over time that can damage kidneys, my dog was on that formula and ALWAYS had elevated kidney function test levels, once she got off that food her levels are now normal.  I feed her raw.  I just switched my cats over in January and it was scary, but I just follow the boneless recipe on Catinfo.org.  It is cheap (feeding 2 cats for roughly $15.00 every 2 weeks with liver and supplement costs added in, and it takes maybe an hour ever 2 weeks to make up for them.  I would try grain free or low carb canned food.  Fancy Feast Classics are great for that.  This talks about dry food and crystals:http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/09/09/struvite-stones.aspx  this is another source on dry food: http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-dry-food-is-bad-for-cats-and-dogs/   Cats are desert animals by nature, their natural prey (mice) is about 80-90% moisture, dry food is 10% moisture, canned food is about 70-80% moisture.  Cats need moisture in their diets.  As for the aggression issue, I have to feed all of my cats in separate areas due to issues at feeding time, my one girl Cedes thinks feeding time is kill everybody time, so it's an adventure.

Thank you oneandahalfcats and cprcheetah for the advice! There was none of the special food at Petsmart other than Purina Urinary Tract "Focus" wet food which had corn, wheat, and soy flour so I skipped that. I just got Wellness and Wellness Core which is what they eat when they eat wet food. We will make this wet food stuff work again I will go back into the raw forum and get inspired again - I think Laurie's cost comparison has raw coming out better than most high end canned food.

I hate when people are adamantly against the prescription food for urinary problems, especially right after a blockage. Urinary diets really do work. My Buddha had four blockages because first I fed him only dry food, second I learned about nutrition and only fed him high quality canned food, but he blocked TWO more times even though I was giving him the good stuff. It's been 18 months now since he last blocked and I've been feeding him half prescription, half high quality. Don't knock down the prescription diet, it could save a cats life! I also don't like the ingredients but it works. Adding water to the wet food is a good idea too, as well as the water fountains.

Oh and I use Royal Canin Urinary SO. It's the best of the urinary foods.

cprcheetah said:

 
I would avoid the Royal Canin it uses excess salt to make them drink and pee more as the basis for their diet, over time that can damage kidneys, my dog was on that formula and ALWAYS had elevated kidney function test levels, once she got off that food her levels are now normal.  I feed her raw.  I just switched my cats over in January and it was scary, but I just follow the boneless recipe on Catinfo.org.  It is cheap (feeding 2 cats for roughly $15.00 every 2 weeks with liver and supplement costs added in, and it takes maybe an hour ever 2 weeks to make up for them.  I would try grain free or low carb canned food.  Fancy Feast Classics are great for that.  This talks about dry food and crystals:http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/09/09/struvite-stones.aspx  this is another source on dry food: http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-dry-food-is-bad-for-cats-and-dogs/   Cats are desert animals by nature, their natural prey (mice) is about 80-90% moisture, dry food is 10% moisture, canned food is about 70-80% moisture.  Cats need moisture in their diets.  As for the aggression issue, I have to feed all of my cats in separate areas due to issues at feeding time, my one girl Cedes thinks feeding time is kill everybody time, so it's an adventure.

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Like I said, RC Urinary S/O doesn't need to (or should) be a long term thing. I am also aware of the elevated sodium content in S/O and would agree that too much sodium over time is not healthy for the kidneys. If the diet is not acidifying enough (sometimes meat isn't enough!), then the other method is to get a cat drinking more water to flush out the bladder and accumulated crystals. There is obviously more than one approach to dealing with crystals, but the most important requirement is that the diet has to be sufficiently acidifying to keep the PH where it should be, and there needs to be plenty of moisture to keep bladders flushed. Not all cats are going to take to wet canned let alone raw food so people need to use what will work most readily.

@parsleysage: You would need to get the Urinary S/O from your vet. I have seen the S/O advertised online at the Pet Smart website (in the states), so its odd that you didn't see it. Just a word of caution about the Wellness Grain-free. This is something I was feeding to my cats and I switched off of it as it contains a high carb content which can sometimes affect the PH balance of urine in some cats. Just something to consider. It might be a good idea if you could get some PH test strips so you can monitor Garfunkel's urine PH as you go through this process. Best of luck with everything

I'm glad to know I'm hurting my cats kidneys.

Sorry for being snarky. It's just very frustrating to deal with this situation. Buddha had four blockages in the past. I was feeding my cats Meow Mix before the first blockage because I didn't know any better. I thought cat food was just cat food. Then after he blocked, I read everything there was about urinary crystals and the best diets. So I switched to grain-free, high quality wet food like EVO, Nature's Variety, Go!, etc.) but he blocked again. The vet told me I shouldn't be feeding him anything but prescription or else he will block again. I ignored him because I knew from what I read everywhere that the prescription foods were crap. So I was stubborn and stuck with the high quality wet foods. After the third and fourth blockage (they were back to back) he got the surgery. Even though he had the surgery, I still wait in fear thinking he'll block again, and this time I won't be able to afford his treatment. So now I do incorporate the prescription Royal Canin Urinary SO wet food for half his meals. The vet said that food was okay to feed to any cat, so all three of my cats get the same meals.

It's so heartbreaking to watch your cat go through this situation, and even more heartbreaking feeling like you can't prevent it. I feel what's best for him is to stick to the wet prescription food for half his meals. I am very discouraged by everyone on the forums yelling at people to stop feeding prescription foods, when it could very well be saving the cats life. Yes, every cats situation is different, but I just hope someone who is feeding prescription food out there like me won't suddenly switch just because of the internet. My vet is a holistic vet (but does do traditional medicine too) and I trust him. After the second blockage, I should've went with what he said and just fed him the prescription for at least the first month or two and then switched to half and half. But no, I believed the internet and then he blocked again. How distressing.

molldee said:

 
I'm glad to know I'm hurting my cats kidneys.

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molldee said:

 
Sorry for being snarky. It's just very frustrating to deal with this situation. Buddha had four blockages in the past. I was feeding my cats Meow Mix before the first blockage because I didn't know any better. I thought cat food was just cat food. Then after he blocked, I read everything there was about urinary crystals and the best diets. So I switched to grain-free, high quality wet food like EVO, Nature's Variety, Go!, etc.) but he blocked again. The vet told me I shouldn't be feeding him anything but prescription or else he will block again. I ignored him because I knew from what I read everywhere that the prescription foods were crap. So I was stubborn and stuck with the high quality wet foods. After the third and fourth blockage (they were back to back) he got the surgery. Even though he had the surgery, I still wait in fear thinking he'll block again, and this time I won't be able to afford his treatment. So now I do incorporate the prescription Royal Canin Urinary SO wet food for half his meals. The vet said that food was okay to feed to any cat, so all three of my cats get the same meals.

It's so heartbreaking to watch your cat go through this situation, and even more heartbreaking feeling like you can't prevent it. I feel what's best for him is to stick to the wet prescription food for half his meals. I am very discouraged by everyone on the forums yelling at people to stop feeding prescription foods, when it could very well be saving the cats life. Yes, every cats situation is different, but I just hope someone who is feeding prescription food out there like me won't suddenly switch just because of the internet. My vet is a holistic vet (but does do traditional medicine too) and I trust him. After the second blockage, I should've went with what he said and just fed him the prescription for at least the first month or two and then switched to half and half. But no, I believed the internet and then he blocked again. How distressing.

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I hear what you are saying and totally understand your fears and concerns. What I said above was not a reflection or judgement of your situation but commenting on both sides of the equation. I had the same reservations about the suggestion to feed S/O canned, in response to finding crystals in one of my cats. He wasn't blocked. The crystals were found through a routine urinalysis. I agreed to do the S/O. As I said above, doing what works is what matters and this may be different for every cat.

As for sodium, it is a necessary mineral in the diet, but too much can cause blood pressure to rise and make kidneys work harder when fluid levels are unbalanced. As you say that you are only feeding a bit of S/O, then the risk is not as high as feeding this exclusively long-term and without the benefit of moisture in the diet. RC changed the formula in the S/O back in 2010. Before that time the formula used to contain Methionine which is an acidifier. I don't have any information as to why RC took this out in favor of increasing the sodium level, but methionine and vitamin c are two items that holistic practitioners have been using for years to acidify diets for the purpose of keeping urine acidic. I have looked at both but feel that between the two, vitamin c is a safer bet, any excess gets flushed out in the urine, and Vit C offers antioxidant benefits.

molldee said:

 
Sorry for being snarky. It's just very frustrating to deal with this situation. Buddha had four blockages in the past. I was feeding my cats Meow Mix before the first blockage because I didn't know any better. I thought cat food was just cat food. Then after he blocked, I read everything there was about urinary crystals and the best diets. So I switched to grain-free, high quality wet food like EVO, Nature's Variety, Go!, etc.) but he blocked again. The vet told me I shouldn't be feeding him anything but prescription or else he will block again. I ignored him because I knew from what I read everywhere that the prescription foods were crap. So I was stubborn and stuck with the high quality wet foods. After the third and fourth blockage (they were back to back) he got the surgery. Even though he had the surgery, I still wait in fear thinking he'll block again, and this time I won't be able to afford his treatment. So now I do incorporate the prescription Royal Canin Urinary SO wet food for half his meals. The vet said that food was okay to feed to any cat, so all three of my cats get the same meals.

It's so heartbreaking to watch your cat go through this situation, and even more heartbreaking feeling like you can't prevent it. I feel what's best for him is to stick to the wet prescription food for half his meals. I am very discouraged by everyone on the forums yelling at people to stop feeding prescription foods, when it could very well be saving the cats life. Yes, every cats situation is different, but I just hope someone who is feeding prescription food out there like me won't suddenly switch just because of the internet. My vet is a holistic vet (but does do traditional medicine too) and I trust him. After the second blockage, I should've went with what he said and just fed him the prescription for at least the first month or two and then switched to half and half. But no, I believed the internet and then he blocked again. How distressing.

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Is it possible that the kitty still had crystals in his bladder after you switched his diet?  I personally would rather find a solution other than commercial Rx diets, but I know that isn't the best option for everyone and am glad that these options exist.  I'm glad your cat is better.

Thank you for being understanding. It's very frustrating thinking that you're doing the best for your cat then come to find out that it didn't help anything. And I hate that painful look on his face when he was blocked... I'll never forget leaving him at the vets with him staring at me when I left... like I was leaving him there to die.

I used to give him Vet's Best Urinary supplement that contained Vitamin C. I think I may start giving him that and cutting back a little on the prescription food. I'm too scared to cut it out completely again.

peaches08 said:

 
Is it possible that the kitty still had crystals in his bladder after you switched his diet?  I personally would rather find a solution other than commercial Rx diets, but I know that isn't the best option for everyone and am glad that these options exist.  I'm glad your cat is better.

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I'm not sure because I fed him all high quality wet for about two years when he blocked two times.

How would you go about finding a solution though? He recently (in January) had a urinalysis and the vet said he had a ton of crystals present. I don't know why that's happening, maybe he's just prone to getting more crystals? I think I'm going to start giving him a urinary supplement with Vitamin C to be on the safe side.

molldee said:

 
I'm not sure because I fed him all high quality wet for about two years when he blocked two times.

How would you go about finding a solution though? He recently (in January) had a urinalysis and the vet said he had a ton of crystals present. I don't know why that's happening, maybe he's just prone to getting more crystals? I think I'm going to start giving him a urinary supplement with Vitamin C to be on the safe side.

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You were feeding Meow Mix when he blocked the first time right?  He could have had more crystals that just didn't move (yet).  And yes, just like with humans, some cats are more prone to crystals than others. 

There are different types of crystals, which means different types of treatments.  Some need acidifying diets, some need more alkaline.  I feed raw, so I would try to find which supplement I could add to treat the specific type of crystal I'm dealing with.

molldee said:

 
Thank you for being understanding. It's very frustrating thinking that you're doing the best for your cat then come to find out that it didn't help anything. And I hate that painful look on his face when he was blocked... I'll never forget leaving him at the vets with him staring at me when I left... like I was leaving him there to die.

I used to give him Vet's Best Urinary supplement that contained Vitamin C. I think I may start giving him that and cutting back a little on the prescription food. I'm too scared to cut it out completely again.

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Of course. And you shouldn't if it is helping to keep him free of crystals. The opinion of many vets is that once cats get crystals, they are very likely to get them again if nothing is done to change the urine PH and increase moisture. Some crystals in urine are normal, its the amount and type that are the concern. The diet can be great, but still some cats get crystals and the theory is that some cats are just predisposed. I think this is the case with my Thomas. My other male, Max, has never had a problem with crystals. Not to say that its not possible. 

oneandahalfcats said:

@parsleysage: You would need to get the Urinary S/O from your vet. I have seen the S/O advertised online at the Pet Smart website (in the states), so its odd that you didn't see it. Just a word of caution about the Wellness Grain-free. This is something I was feeding to my cats and I switched off of it as it contains a high carb content which can sometimes affect the PH balance of urine in some cats. Just something to consider. It might be a good idea if you could get some PH test strips so you can monitor Garfunkel's urine PH as you go through this process. Best of luck with everything

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High carb content? The Wellness canned foods generally have less than 10% of carbs on a dry matter basis according to Dr. Pierson: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf. Am I missing something? I'm not the best at this stuff, obviously. I will definitely look into the testing though... if he will ever let me near him in the litterbox! 

@molldee  I am so sorry for what you went through with your cat. Between last time and this time, I was in a huge heart-racing panic over Garfunkel and he wasn't even blocked - so knowing how much worse your kitty felt, I can understand the pain you felt as well. Please know that I am definitely not saying rx food is unnecessary. If I could have bought some canned rx food at Petsmart yesterday I would have, to give him for awhile. This post was asking about the longterm effects of feeding the rx foods since they are high in stuff that I believe makes cats sick. Especially in the dry food versions, which is why I was so adamant about not feeding it. Garfunkel was also not blocked, which may make a difference since we don't know if he has crystals. The frustrating thing is we have no urinalysis. I will try to take him to the vet on Tuesday to get one, and maybe to get some rx food. At that point I will know a lot more.

parsleysage said:

 
High carb content? The Wellness canned foods generally have less than 10% of carbs on a dry matter basis according to Dr. Pierson: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf. Am I missing something? I'm not the best at this stuff, obviously. I will definitely look into the testing though... if he will ever let me near him in the litterbox!

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I haven't looked at her charts in awhile, but I don't think they get updated regularly. Formulas change constantly it seems and it can be hard to determine just how much is carb content. I look at the types of carbs and where they are in the list.

Initially I didn't think the carb content in the Wellness was high, but have since changed my opinion of this based on the type of carb and where it is in the list of ingredients. I am trying not to feed my cats wet canned with things like sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, etc, and the Wellness Chicken ingredients below, feature these items early in the list which would suggest that the amounts of each may be considerable. Ideally, carb content should be no more than 3-4%. I haven't ruled out Wellness, but it is getting more expensive for what it is. Pet Valu here in Canada just upped the price on a 12.5 can to a little over $4.00, which is now more expensive than a can of Nature's Variety dog food which is exactly the same formula as the feline food. When I checked with Pet Smart and Global Pet Foods, their prices are still at $3.49/12.5 ounce can, so I may pick some up.

Chicken, Chicken Liver, Turkey, Chicken Broth, Carrots, Natural Chicken Flavor, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Zucchini, Cranberries, Blueberries, Guar Gum, Dicalcium Phosphate, Carrageenan, Ground Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Taurine, Iron Proteinate (a source of Chelated Iron), Beta-Carotene, Zinc Proteinate (a source of Chelated Zinc), Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Chloride, Cobalt Proteinate (a source of Chelated Cobalt), Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate (a source of Chelated Copper), Folic Acid, Manganese Proteinate (a source of Chelated Manganese), Niacin, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Biotin.

I work for a vet so have seen the urinary diets work however I have seen cats who have been on them who still blocked and still got crystals.  Diet is just a SMALL portion of what causes crystals in the bladder.  I have a chihuahua who is on a low oxalate diet (Raw) who still has EXTREME amounts of crystals in her urine, she just has a metabolic fault of building crystals so I have made some adjustments in her diet including a Calcium supplement that helps bind the calcium so it can't form into crystals, always has built crystals even on the Royal Canin Urinary SO which made her kidney functions elevated (I have the bloodwork to prove it).  Some cats build crystals in the urine due to stress, I have a cat who does that.  Even though she doesn't act stress that is the only explanation.  She has been on a grain free dry (she absolutely WILL NOT eat anything else, I've been trying for 3 years). 

Here are some things that helped me with my other 2 bladder cats (yes I have 3 of them and a dog so I have done extensive research on this), have had my other 2 on canned food only since 2010 with additional water added 1-2 tablespoons at meal time, and just switched them to raw in January of this year).

 A cat's normal prey is ~70% water.  Canned food is ~78% water. Dry food is ~5-10% water.  Cats have a low thirst drive and they do not make up the deficit at the water bowl.  They are designed to get water with their food.

Cats on canned food have been shown to consume at least double the amount of total water when compared to dry food-fed cats when all sources of water (food and water bowl) are considered.

This results in approximately double the amount of urine flowing through the bladder.

Generally speaking, the basic diet recommendation for the average cat with urinary tract issues is a high protein/low carbohydrate canned food with added water.

As mentioned below in the Crystal section, struvite crystals are more apt to form in an alkaline urine and calcium oxalate crystals are more apt to form in an acidic urine.  Many 'urinary tract' diets - including some of the prescription diets - overly acidify the diet past what would be normal for a cat eating a species-appropriate diet.  These diets can dissolve struvite stones but will lead to other problems, such as calcium oxalate stones, if they are fed past the therapeutic time frame.

Crystals are often erroneously diagnosed because they can form once the urine has been removed from the bladder.   Therefore, when urine is sent off to an outside laboratory, or a sample is brought from home, a report of "crystals" is somewhat meaningless since you have no idea if they were actually present within the patient.  This misdiagnosis - and overemphasis of the significance of urinary crystals if they are present in the bladder - leads to the client becoming alarmed and the patient needlessly being put on a low quality - and potentially dangerous - diet such as one of the prescription 'urinary tract' diets.

When a cat is on a diet of water-depleted dry food, they produce a more highly concentrated urine (higher urine specific gravity - USG) and they produce a lower volume of urine (often half of what a cat on canned food produces) which means that a higher concentration of crystals will be present in the urine.  This increases the chance of these crystals forming life-threatening stones.  It is also thought that the highly concentrated urine may be very irritating to the bladder wall in some cats, predisposing them to painful cystitis.

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This is the one thing that really stood out, as it can be a normal finding to find crystals in the urine:

 
Think of crystals in cat urine like leaves on your driveway.  Both are normal findings.  However, if you never hose (or sweep....during a water shortage :>)) down your driveway, the leaves will build up and then you won't be able to get your car out of the garage.

If crystals are allowed to build up, the urethra can become blocked leading to a life-threatening situation.  A blocked cat can end up with a ruptured bladder - resulting in death - within 12 -24 hours of complete obstruction.

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which is why it's important to feed canned food only or raw which have the correct moisture content in the foods.  My cat who is having the chronic issues is my dry food kibble addict, she needs more moisture in her diet, I am considering giving her subq fluids to keep her system flushed out, she has 'sludge' in her bladder. 

@molldee you didn't mention do you have your cat on dry or canned food?  Canned food is better for crystal kitties even the Urinary SO canned would be better than the dry.  Cats need moisture in their diets.  Do you know what type of crystals your cat has?  Struvite?  Oxalate?  Oxalate can't be dissolved by diet.  You can flush them out of the bladder with a lot of extra moisture (urohydropropulsion) but overall they can't be dissolved by diet.  Usually requires surgery to remove.  You can prevent them by making the diet more alkaline though instead of acidic.    In my opinion the Hill's c/d is the better choice of the prescriptions urinary diets as it doesn't use extra sodium like all the others to help the bladder.  They just came out with a new diet (dry only right now) that is called c/d Multicare Urinary Stress that is supposed to improve 89% of the cats who have idiopathic cystitis.  I am considering trying it for my one kitty even though I HATE the ingredients, but I also hate seeing her in pain.  They are supposed to be coming out with a canned version sometime in may.   Oh an one more thing, avoid fish based products, they help in crystal formation

One more thing as to why it's important to feed low carb diets, it's a study that shows that carbs contribute to crystal formation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14974568?dopt=Abstract.

parsleysage said:

 
High carb content? The Wellness canned foods generally have less than 10% of carbs on a dry matter basis according to Dr. Pierson: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf. Am I missing something? I'm not the best at this stuff, obviously. I will definitely look into the testing though... if he will ever let me near him in the litterbox! 

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Dr. Pierson's site also has formulas for calculating carb content, which are rather complicated but probably pretty accurate- she explains the steps better than I could. For quick comparisons, I estimate by subtracting all other percentages from 100 (moisture, protein, fat, fiber), then I convert to dry matter by dividing the remaining figure by the 100-moisture figure. It's not exact, but it helps me to compare brands and varieties. A more precise calculation would take into account ash, but not all food labels contain that figure.

I also want to suggest that you might want to stay away from the Wellness grain-free canned varieties that contain fish, or monitor your cat very carefully. My cat Tim ate dry food his entire life and never blocked or exhibited urinary crystals during routine urinalyses. After a terrible constipation episode, we transitioned him to wet food, mostly Wellness, and he was eating one of the varieties with fish every day. He did not block, but another routine urinalysis showed struvite crystals. We immediately stopped the fish varieties, and two subsequent urinalyses showed no crystals. Dr. Pierson mentions fish as possibly problematic, and it seems to have been true for Tim.