Purina Special Kitty Urinary Tract Health vs C/D Health Diet

My male Maine Coon Cat has been in the vet for a blockage he had and the vet wants us to give him the C/D Health Diet to keep his urinary tract clear.  There's a couple problems 1) he doesn't seem to like the C/D food and 2) it's expensive.  Would the Purina Special Kitty Urinary Tract Health food work just as good?  The Purina lowers the PH level to help maintain urinary tract health.  We don't have a lot of money so we are looking for the cheapest way to keep our cat healthy.  Thanks for your help

Would your cat be open to a wet food diet? Or is the Purina, wet?

My understanding, is that by adding any wet food (also mixed with water), will help keep him hydrated and "flushed".

He loves wet food. The Purina food I mentioned is dry food

Wet food is way better than dry for UTI health.

Prescription food has lower magnesium and phosphorus, which are components of stones. It also targets an optimal pH. Unfortunately, it is also typically high in carbs, which contributes towards other health problems.

Many times it is possible to avoid UTI problems by feeding wet food with a little extra water mixed in (DON'T use tap, distilled or mineral). You can test your kitty's urine pH by holding a urine pH strip in urine stream, midstream. It's not as good as a lab test, but it does provide some feedback as to how the urine is reacting to different diets. The pH can fluctuate over the course of a day, so you have to measure several times to get valid data.

There are kitties who are sensitive, though, and they do need the prescription food. Unfortunately you have to feed it the non-prescription food and see what happens, there's no good way to tell beforehand. That's why I recommend testing the urine pH if you decide to go non-prescription. The results will be better if you choose high protein/low carb food with protein from animal sources. Meat contains an amino acid which naturally lowers the urine pH.

Good to know. Is there a specific wet food that we should give him. And how much? He weighs 18 pounds and according to the vet he isn't overweight by much maybe a pound or so.

bugsdaddy30 said:

Good to know. Is there a specific wet food that we should give him. And how much? He weighs 18 pounds and according to the vet he isn't overweight by much maybe a pound or so.

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In general pate-style foods will be better than sliced foods in gravy (gravy is made of carbs). Some cats will respond to different food textures though, so you have to be patient and try different things out.

Since you're on a budget I'd go for Friskies pate, Fancy Feast classic line (classic line is pate style), or Sheba. I think Friskies has a "Special Diet" line for urinary issues, but I don't know if it's pate.

You can read about cat nutrition here:

www.catinfo.org

You should also avoid fish flavors. Fish is high in phosphorus.