Feeding dry and wet food together

denise b

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
May 20, 2014
Messages
3
Purraise
1
I have been feeding my cat dry food for two years.  All of a sudden he developed cystitis and had blood in his pee.   The vet switched him to wet food.   Now he is vomiting up hairballs, never had this problem with dry food.   So now I am mixing wet and dry trying to cure the hairball problem.  This is my first cat and if anyone has any other suggestions or if I am harming him somehow, I would appreciate your input.
 

koolkatz

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
126
Purraise
15
Location
New York
Poor boy, he must be suffering.

There are a few causes or cystitis in cats.

He could have FIC, or Feline Idiopathic Cystitis, that is most common in cats years 10-

He could also have a bacterial infection, which is most common in cats years 10+.

However, I think that he has urinary crystals or stones (which can cause cystitis), based on him having blood in his urine. This is probably based on low water intake, caused by the dry food. If you can get him to drink more water, the cystitis might stop.

That is probably why the vet recommended wet food. Wet food cats are much less likely to develop these stones because they get their water from their food, which is much more compelling to them then the water bowl. 

About the hairballs, did he ever get hairballs before? I recommend that you start brushing him more, if you aren't already. It is probably because the wetness if the food is causing hair that falls off of him to stick to the food more. Also, it may cause his the hair to stick to his tounge more when he is cleaning himself because his food it wet.

Hope you fix your problem :)
 

raintyger

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Messages
1,690
Purraise
139
Location
Long Beach, CA
Wet food usually reduces the amount of hairballs. You are talking hairballs and not vomit, right?

Egg yolk lecithin reduces hairballs by breaking apart the fat that holds the hairball together. I've heard widely varying dosages like 1 capsule/day during shedding season or once or twice a week.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...i:aps,k:egg yolk lecithin&tag=&tag=thecatsite

Only buy the egg yolk lecithin and not lecithins made from other plant sources (like soy lecithin for example).

I would try to find out why there are hairballs on wet food, though.
 
Top