So Confused About Foods

About six months ago, my oldest girl, Bitsy developed a UTI and pancreatis. After she had recovered from this, the vet suggested I switch to a healthier food for my cats. Purina Indoor Complete or Purina Urinary both are dry foods was recommended. I started buying one bag of each and mixing them.

In December, 2013, I rescued another of the strays from outside. Dusty went to the vet for shots, worming and neutering. At this time he weighed 9#.  Since then he has slowly gotten bigger. I took him to the vet about two weeks ago. He weighted 13#  and now has a low thyroid. He has been on daily medication for over a week. His activity level has improved a lot. I used to free feed but no longer. Dusty is not an overly big cat but is muscular.  I'm concerned about his weight and wonder if I am still not feeding the right food. I can not afford to buy five different kinds of food and the last thing in the world I want is for my babies to be sick. There has to be something that is better for ALL of them to eat. Can anyone suggest a better choice of food? Thanks everyone!

Canned food is better for cats, in general. Especially for UTI cats, it's important for them to get enough moisture in their diets, and that's way easier with canned food. It's usually higher in meat protein and lower in carbs, which is also better for weight loss. Here's a good website: www.catinfo.org

If higher-quality foods aren't an option, either because of finances or cat preference, Friskies classic pate and Fancy Feast classics are decent options. Stay away from the gravy/chunky foods because they're higher in carbs. Friskies has a urinary food (Special Diet) that I hear works pretty well (but maybe that's just because of the extra moisture, not anything special in the food).

Thanks Willowy, but the cost of canned food for five adult cats is beyond my budget. I have to stick to dry. Thanks for the suggestion.

What about offering one meal of dry and one meal of wet, or X number of wet meals for each cat a week? If you have a bulk store nearby, they more often than not have a pet section. I was able to get a 48 pack of Friskies for $25 at CostCo (vs individually buying them at $0.69 here, which would have come to ~$33 before taxes). If you have a Trader Joe's, apparently their wet food is great, especially for the low price but I'm but a lowly Canadian and have not had the pleasure to find their foods or stores here.

I also buy store brands of wet - they're hidden gems. Performatrin (grain free, fish free, byproduct free), which is a Pet Valu store brand, sells 13oz cans for $2.60 and when I mix that with Friskies, my wallet can take a sigh of relief - as opposed to another brand I feed, Wellness for $3.60 a can. If your cats have a preference for a wet food and you know it, buying the big cans can save some money too.

Do you buy retail or are you willing to shop online too? Lots of big depots will offer free shipping, and their prices (especially if you need bulk for several cats) is very competitive. Lots of US members love Chewy. I turn down any food that contains corn, especially since many diets will list them very high either as a main protein source or supplementing a single meat-protein source, which to me isn't a very good food. When I was looking at budget for our cat food, I found Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul dry relatively good, especially for the price. It does contain grains though.

How are you calculating this? Money used to be a big concern for me when I was just handing money left and right for rent and tuition and groceries, so the cats were stretching me thin for a few months as I was transitioning away from dry and towards wet.

- I would check the ingredients of each food that was readily available to me, in store or online. Eliminate as many as possible by getting strict about what ingredients I didn't want to see - so for me, like I said, that's corn. Cutting out all the corn-based foods or even foods that contained lower concentrations of corn left me with a pretty short list already!

- Once my options were dwindled down, I went for only foods that contained 2 meat-based protein sources first (I've since become pickier and increased it to 3 meat-based proteins at the top of the list).

- Then I took the price of the smallest of each bag I could buy and divided it by the weight that came in it - price per pound.

- I ranked them from cheapest per pound to most expensive per pound. Looked at the ingredients of each one, and the guaranteed analysis. High protein is a must, and since I tossed all the brands with a bunch of soy or corn protein, I knew it was mostly meat protein. Calculate the carbs in each food. Cats thrive on high protein, so adding carbs can increase bulk and just go right through their system, leaving them hungry again, or they can contribute to weight gain and obesity. Could work very for or very against thyroid conditions.

Have you considered reaching out to pet food companies about receiving, or purchasing small sample sizes? This works amazingly well for small pets, as those companies are so happy to send out free samples and potentially get new customers, and it's great to establish rapport. With cat food companies, I've noticed some are willing to send small samples out or offer you a coupon (though since I'm in Canada, all I've gotten are coupons or samples of dried "raw" food). The brand I currently feed my cats, Petcurean, has a 1.5lb bag size so you don't have to take a 4lb plunge, which would be $30, only to have your cats not take to it.

edit; for clarification

Or look for the canned food in the 13 oz cans.  Those are usually quite a bit less expensive, even for the "good" brands.  And it is my understanding (verified by someone who worked for the company back in May of 2012), that the DOG version of Nature's Variety Instinct is identical to the cat version, but is less expensive, mainly because the cans are so much bigger.  You can verify yourself simply by checking the ingredients, or calling the company. 

But I wholeheartedly agree the it would be much better for your cats' health to feed them canned, at least partially.   Cats prone to UTI's need as much moisture as they can possibly get, so even adding extra water to canned food is a good idea. 

I have. . .way more than 5 cats :tongue2:, so I understand the cost issue. But 13-ounce cans of Friskies are only 98 cents for a 13-ounce can (at Walmart, TSC, and the grocery store), and Evo and Dave's are less than $2 for that size (from www.chewy.com). So it's not too bad. You could get by with 2 13-oz cans per day with a little kibble to fill in the extra calories. Or one can a day and the rest kibble, which would be approximately 50/50. Well maybe more like 60/40 high on the kibble side. Or you could just feed the UTI cat on canned and let the others stay on dry, if they don't have any issues with that.

I figure it's cheaper than constant vet bills for urinary issues .

The others have given you great advice, so I only want to point out that the carbs in dry food will cause weight gain, which seems to be an issue with Dusty.

BTW, it is rare for cats to have a low thyroid. Typically this happens because they were hyperthyroid and are getting treatments which are too intense.

iacatlover said:

 
Thanks Willowy, but the cost of canned food for five adult cats is beyond my budget. I have to stick to dry. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Are repeat trips to the vet in your budget? Because one of your cats has already had one UTI, are you trying for another??

http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

If I could have the reader of my website leave with one word firmly imprinted in their mind it would be "water".  If your cat is on a properly hydrated diet of 100% canned food - and no dry food - you stand a very good chance of never needing to read this webpage.

Note that I said "water" - not "crystals" or "urine pH" - or any of the expensive, low-quality, "prescription diets" often recommended by veterinarians.

Always keep in mind that water flowing through the urinary tract system is the most important factor in keeping it healthy.  That said, please do not make the mistake that so many people make when they state "but my cat drinks plenty of water!"

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.

I receive hundreds of emails every year from people asking me what diet to feed their cat after urinary tract problems have been noted.  Unfortunately, many of these people and their veterinarians have missed the point of water...water...water and have continued to put the cat in danger by feeding/prescribing a dry food diet - including any and all of the prescription dry diets.

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Another thought for reducing canned food costs is to look at some of the store brands.  I had a cat that actually preferred the grocery store brand of Fancy Feast over the name brand.  I stocked up during sales!

Willowy said:

I have. . .way more than 5 cats

, so I understand the cost issue. But 13-ounce cans of Friskies are only 98 cents for a 13-ounce can (at Walmart, TSC, and the grocery store), and Evo and Dave's are less than $2 for that size (from www.chewy.com). So it's not too bad. You could get by with 2 13-oz cans per day with a little kibble to fill in the extra calories. Or one can a day and the rest kibble, which would be approximately 50/50. Well maybe more like 60/40 high on the kibble side. Or you could just feed the UTI cat on canned and let the others stay on dry, if they don't have any issues with that.

I figure it's cheaper than constant vet bills for urinary issues

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i was looking for the emoticons, but couldn't find them. i wanted to use the "yeah, that!" character.  HA! found the emoticons!..........

that's exactly why i have absolutely no problem serving my snick high quality canned foods with just a miniscule amount of dry cat food that's mixed into protein treats (like halo's protein treats, or pure bites protein treats -- snick's borderline diabetic, so replacing 2/3-3/4 of her very small daily amount of dry cat food with the protein treats is to cut down on carbs even more).

i'm considered low income, but i budget and am very careful to make sure my snick's needs are met (and some of her "wants" too) by cutting costs in other areas. i consider it a preventative measure to serve my snick foods that will keep her strong and healthy, and i'm sure this has kept the vet bills lower.

Thanks for the thought. I have fed Fancy Feast Classic in the past and know they like it. I switched to dry not only for cost but also convenience when I was working and it just stuck. It is only the past six months that we have had a UTI and it was an infection issue. She has been fine since then. However,  I'm going to get a couple of cans of Friskies and fill in with the dry starting tomorrow. Hopefully it will all go well. How much of the canned food do you let them eat and what dry brand of food do you buy?