UTI problems and ProPlan

I am new to the cat world (got my first cat this past year).  I am an experienced dog owner and undestand the importance of healthy pet food, etc. so have always fed my guys high quality stuff (TOTW, Merrick, Canidae--depending on their needs) A friend's cat recently almost died after a UTI and blockage so I researched special diets for cats prone to this problem .  Her finances are VERY limited but she has 3 cats (dumped on her by an adult daughter who needed to move, etc). The daughter decided Purina ProPlan for UTI's was the best choice due to its cost and availability (supposedly daughter pays for food and litter but---well another story).. I checked it out and indeed ProPlan is well rated for UTI's...except the first ingredient is corn!  How can a food rated well for UTI's have corn, grain, etc.?  We both now understand the importance of wet food in a cat's diet (especially one who almost died from a UTI blockage). I just do not understand how Proplan for UTI can be rated well despite corn being the #1 ingredient.  I've been trying to help out my friend by passing along extra Merrick dry food as well as a case of canned Canidae, or even single cans of cheap stuff since I heard these are usually OK too. Is Purina ProPlan for UTI's a decent choice for a cat with a definite special medical need if paired with some canned (any brand).  Meanwhile, my cat is now eating Merrick Grain Free PLUS canned Canidae or whatever good grain free wet food is on sale.  I NEVER want to face such a health crisis not to mention the outrageous vet bill that went with this near tragedy.

I guess my question (somewhat retorical) is: who rated Purina Pro Plan as best for UTIs? Purina? the American Vet Medical Association? And, maybe it was rate best principally based on cost. I looked at the ingredients and I don't see the common additive, L-methonine. Am I missing something?! L-lysine (I thought that was more for herpes simplex.)
I agree with you: dry food is out; wet food is in. I'm rabidly opposed to feeding a cat who has had UTIs any kind of dry food, but I do intellectually understand why Rx food for UTIs is necessary. Each cat is different; some cats can tolerate prescription Rx dry food.
Were I you/your friend, I'd feed Fancy Feast Classic (avoid fish). It has a relatively low amount of carbohydrates. Friskies Pate would be my second choice; it is cheaper than FF especially if bought in the big can size. Again, avoid fish. I've read that PetSmart's Authority is a decent brand too. I would avoid dry food.
Ritz is prone to UTIs (stress induced). I fed prey model raw.
Good luck--and thank you for helping out your friend.

Yeah, I agree. When my cat 1st had this episode of crystals & blockage, the vet flushed him & told me to get him food for urinary issues. This was 5 years ago, so I was clueless & I just went to petsmart & picked out the best looking food that said 'urinary' on it! He blocked again a week later & the vet then clarified that she meant Rx urinary food! I felt like a dummy, but if you don't know any better & haven't been given good instructions, it happens. I've since learned that I really need to do my own research & understand for myself what the best food is & not go by the reviews on amazon...

I googled cat food for uti's and cat food ratings...found a few sites as well as people raving about Proplan for UTI's. Then I read the ingredients and knew somethng was not right. Its amazing what marketting can do. Just SAY its for UTI's even if its not whats best for a potentially life threatening condition (this cat ALMOST died). I think my friend's daughter and a neighbor saw some kind of veterinary endorsement on ProPlan and went that way..and of course it said UTI on the package as do a few other lesser Purina lines.  Nobody likes someone butting into their choices but I was there the night the cat almost died. I think my friend is just learning that when I put my mind to researching something, I get totally compulsive and am almost always right., even though I am new to the cat world myself. Thank you for for your input. Funny thing is, the friend's daughter is all up on organic non GMO healthy food for people.,..but would pick a cat food with corn (likely GMO corn) as the first ingredient. for pets UGH.

Then again, my 2 dogs and 1 cat probably eat hea;thier than me!

My guess is that by increasing the carbohydrates you lower the amount of protein. Prescription foods typically try to lower magnesium and phosphorus content because they are components of UTI stones. Since meat has phosphorus in it, if you lower the amount of meat then there's less phosphorus. So that is how it is branded as a UTI diet food.

I've noticed a lot of people rate vets and pet supplies a lot by price. So the high ratings are probably from people who are pleased with the price and have not had a recurrence of UTI, at least yet.

Tell your friend to go to www.catinfo.org and start feeding a 100% wet food diet. Fancy Feast classics or Friskies pate will do. You can buy either brand at Costco, although both do have fish flavors in their bulk packaging, another UTI no-no.

She has 3 cats, one female. It's so hard to tell people they really aren't doing the right thing.I do know that she is making sure the cat that had the serious problem is getting mostly wet food. I sent her daughter all kinds of information and the adult daughter still chose Pro Plan. Its not even cost effective when compared to other good brands but I think my friend is starting to catch on. The daughter also has a wonderful American Bulldog who eats Pro Plan. He has a weight problem. Maybe one day she will read that label also.

I think her cats "might" do well on Purina Proplan.

One of my cats is 10 years old. When I first got him, I fed whatever food was cheapest. He had several urinary tract infections.

He would have bloody accidents on my bed. I found a female cat and she had urinary issues as well. I finally switched them to Purina One Urinary. I have not had another problem in the last 6 years or so!

Last year, I thought I would do the right thing and switch him to a higher quality cat food. Higher protein, less carbs, no corn... Guess what? He blocked and ran up a $600 vet bill. I spent the night at the emergency vet's office. Scared the daylights out of me!  If he had to be hospitalized longer than one night, I would not have been able to afford it... My parents told me I should put him down which I refused to do.

I put him on the prescription diet for one month, than switched him back to Purina One Urinary. So far so good.

There is something that every website on urinary health fails to mention. It is not the corn or meat in the food that is an issue.  It is an ingredient found in meat called methionine.  People think a high protein diet will automatically mean more methionine is in the food.  This is not the case!

When a company uses different types of meat guess what that does to the methionine levels in the product? Compare chicken breast vs chicken thigh vs chicken byproduct vs lamb meal. Well every single one has a different amount of methionine.  This means that every formula of cat food out there has a different amount of methionine in their finished product!

Let's compare two cat foods. I've picked Avoderm Salmon and Brown Rice Dry  and Innova Dry Cat food as they are the only companies that publish their methionine levels.

Avoderm            vs              Innova Cat food

Magnesium     0.09%           0.1 %

Phosphorous   1.00              0.96 %

Methionine       0.71%          1.31 %

What is the main difference between these foods?   Obvious the main difference is the amount of methionine in the product!   For a cat with struvite crystals, Innova would be a better choice than Avoderm.  If the cat had Calcium Oxalate crystals Avoderm would be a better choice. 

Unfortunately even 1.31% methionine is not high enough for my cat that is prone to struvite crystals! He needs a food higher in methionine than Innova. I believe Purina is higher in methionine but they consider methionine levels "a trade secret" and will not tell me what their levels are.  Royal Canin and Science diet refuse to give me their methionine levels as well.

Cat food owners need to start emailing companies and asking for this information to be made public. Only then will consumers be able to pick the right food for their cat! 

With the current system, the only way to prevent urinary issues is to 1) test your cat's urinary ph anytime you switch to a new food  2) Keep trying new foods until your cats urinary ph falls within the ideal range.  My cat's urinary ph is usually around 8.0! That is way outside the normal range!  On the Urinary tract diet, it is about 6.0 to 6.3.

Only by measuring urine ph can you determine if a food will work for your cat... Keep in mind this is very individual. One cat in a group might need a food higher in methionine than the others!  I have 2 cats out of 6 who both need high levels of methionine in their food!

This is probably the best article I've found:

http://www.2ndchance.info/fus.htm

I encourage all cat owners to get a urinalysis done, or check urine ph themselves!  Wet food is preferable to dry food, but the urinary ph level is crucial!  If your cat has a urinary ph of 8.0 on grain free canned food, than your cat is going to get crystals! 

I would love to find out the amount of methionine in a mouse but it seems no one has studied that...

FYI:  ph strips are only about $10 and last almost a year.  Much much cheaper than a $600 vet bill for a blocked cat.

This is the one I use:

I'm pretty sure that in order to put on a label that a food is good for preventing urinary problems, the company has to have had specific trials to make sure the claims are true. So, it is very likely the Pro Plan works wonderfully for preventing urinary problems. Rx urinary diets also have corn as the main ingredient. These diets are obviously not ideal for a healthy cat, but for seriously sick cats they can be necessary. You just have to choose what is most important for your situation. 

Sarah Ann said:

FYI:  ph strips are only about $10 and last almost a year.  Much much cheaper than a $600 vet bill for a blocked cat.

This is the one I use: http://www.amazon.com/Micro-Essential-Hydrion-Saliva-Dispenser/dp/B00DIEPE7O/ref=sr_1_3?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1415166925&sr=1-3&keywords=hydrion+ph

Click to expand...

Do you stick it in his mouth or do you have to put it in urine stream which is impossible?

Maybe I'm missing something (or need better glasses) but I did not see methionine on the list of ingredients of Purina ProPlus, at least, not their web site. Of course, the formula may have changed which may be reflected on the bag itself.
The ingredients for chicken UTI wet food also does not list as an additive methionine.
Interesting about increasing carbs and thereby lowering protein (magnesium/phosphorous) which are components of stone.
Turkey breast has the highest amount of methionine, which is why I try to buy turkey breast when it is on sale and give Ritz freeze dried turkey breast treats.

In the end, what it comes down to is what is the best diet for your cat. There are a ton of cat food brands out there. When you go into a pet store, it is mind boggling! Then there are the grain free foods (wet and dry) Are they better for your cat. If you have a cat with urinary problems, what is the best brand; if you have a cat with kidney or liver problems, what is the best brand; what about IBS or sensitive stomach??? Veterinarians usually do not know enough about nutrition so where do you go for help. And, you can't believe everything about the products that are available. Question: Has anyone on here done research on grain free diets. If so, please post.

I think what it comes down to is to feed your cat a canned only diet (no dry) with very low carbs and add water to it and you will be in much better shape. Prescription diets are a scam for long term. They may work for immediate intervention but please do more research.

Also read this Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection