Post Urinary blockage food.

After an expensive vet trip, and a long time waiting for Orion to be able to come home, hes finally back and I'm trying really hard to keep him on a good diet, right now he is on his prescription diet Royal Canin S/O. I have never really been a huge fan of royal canin due to all the fillers in the food, but I could really use some suggestions on after care for when hes feeling a lot better. He just recently got out, yesterday morning to be exact and a lot could happen still, but my hopes are high. 

Before he was put into the vet he was on Almo nature and Canidae PURE. 1/3 cup of dry to one cup of wet a day split into two meals. I'm just feeling a bit angry at myself because I've always tried my best to keep him on good food, hopefully I can keep him healthy. He is a huge fan of wet food, so I'm just looking for suggestions on those.

I'm feeding my cats all wet food and add some water to the food to increase their pee. 

Some good information here:

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

Do you think adding warm water might make him want it more?

My cat just recovered from a UTI as well! He had one last month during Thanksgiving. Because of that, we went from an all dry diet to an all wet diet within 2-3 days. I add in warm water to the canned food and mix it all in. He's doing a lot better AND his coat is a lot nicer now. He has always loved wet food before, but we only gave it to him as a treat. It's great that your cat already loves it. It'll make the transition a lot easier.. most likely, there won't be a long transition period.

We also got the Royal Canin S/O. I wanted that rather than Science Diet. Supposedly (because I'm not an expert) it makes your cat thirsty so it drives your cat to drink more water, which then flushes out the kidneys, of course. I bought about 14 cans and only used 4-5 cans at most. He didn't like it... and he's a cat who loves wet food. Of course his companion was getting better flavored wet food so that could be why. I also read the ingredients list and wasn't too happy but I figured I'd try it. I wish I didn't let my vet push me to try though, but I was just VERY worried so I didn't want to rule it out as one of his "treatments".

And yeah, he was on good food before. Or so I though. Canidae dry food feeder here too. So I was also mad at myself.. but at least we are here now trying to make a change

I will definitely give the warm water a try later after his meds. I just spent wayyy too much money on all the food stuff, so I really have to get him to eat it, because I'm not sure they will refund the prescription food. But I had already bought some extra "tasty?" wet food from a local holistic pet food store. Hopefully it will make him like the pate "yuck" food. He really likes the sliced food. Oh the joys of being an overly loved cat.

I believe my pet store and vet would refund the unopened royal canin prescription cans so yes, worth a try! Buy something better with it lol.

I also use warm water rather than cold because my canned food tends to be cold so I figured lukewarm would warm up the food more to either room temp or slighter warmer. I'm not sure what temp everyone uses here. I just know lots tend to add water in general to canned food.

Spoiled cats lol.

My cats just eat canned food mixed with cold filtered water from fridge. I usually add water in room temp. I add cold water when I need to leave the food out for a while. 

Hi there, if your kitty was diagnosed to have struvite crystals, your best bet would be to read up on that link by Dr. Pierson. She gives an extended, detailed answer on what to best feed your cat as she has seen many cats with urinary blockages herself.

For a cat with a history like yours, the best thing you must provide is lots of water and the right diet. One that is high protein and very little to no plant matter in the food consumed, including vegetables, fruits, and grains. It is essentially the meat in the food that will help keep your cats urine acidity as low on the pH scale, which prevents crystals from forming. Added warm or hot water to the food will stimulate his appetite by the aroma, while keeping him flushed. Sometimes cold leftovers are best warmed this way. Foods eaten too cold can cause a kitty to vomit at times, especially if they have sensitive tummies.

Best wishes to you and your kitty! :-)

One of the vets told me that a raw diet would just cause him to re block essentially, so I'm just really confused on adding more meat.

I can only tell you what my most recent vet said & what has worked for my kitty. My cat had 2 blockages & 2 bouts of cystitis until I got good advice. Now he is doing well. All WET! Although the Rx foods come in dry and wet, its incredibly important for them to eat only wet. Feeding all wet Rx is great, but even my vet said that even if you feed non-Rx, as long as it's wet, it is good. 

This is how the vet explained it to me. When these cats have crystals that form in their bladder, they become blockages when they congregate & plug up the urethra. By increasing the amount of water they consume, you are diluting their urine. So even if they produce the same amount of crystals, there is more fluid to dilute it so the crystals will be more likely to pass than to clog up. That's why an all wet diet is key and adding more water to that food is even more helpful. My cats food looks almost like a stew or soup from the extra water I add.

My cat eats the Hill's c/d stew multicare formula and I supplement that with BFF, Tiki Cat and Pride Rockstar Rabbit. I've heard on here that you should avoid fish with these cats, but the vet never mentioned that & I haven't been able to find out the reasoning behind that. But I try to avoid it just in case. 

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.

Taking it one step further, look for one that is low in phosphorus - either below ~1.0-1.2% dry matter (not 'as fed'), or below ~250-300 mg/100 kcal.

Protein, carbohydrate, and phosphorus content (mg/100 kcal) are listed for many canned foods on this chart.

Unfortunately, it would take me far too long to keep up with the new products on the market so if you want to know the specifications of the food you are feeding, please see the Contacting Pet Food Companies  section on my Commercial Canned Food page for dialog that you can use when calling them.

When considering water versus phosphorus content, as noted above, the water issue is the most important  but if you are really worried about crystals (even though they are not  an abnormal finding in cat urine as discussed below), pick a diet that is low in phosphorous.

Phosphorus is a general indicator of the calcium and magnesium load of the diet.  If a diet is low in phosphorus, chances are it is also fairly low in calcium and magnesium since all of those minerals are high in bone material and if a diet is low in phosphorus, it is probably low in bone matter.

Note that fish tends to be high in phosphorus because fish comes with its own bones so stay away from fish.
 

Click to expand...

And then here regarding why a carnivorous diet is important for felines:
 

 
While keeping in mind that cats are obligate carnivores,  it is important to understand that  a meat-based (carnivorous) diet naturally  leads to an mildly  acidic urine.  

Grains, on the other hand, promote a more alkaline urine due to their carbohydrate level as shown by this study.

Due to Man's focus on profit margin, diets higher in grains (higher in carbohydrates than a cat's natural diet) have flooded the market - along with pet food manufacturers' unscrupulous advertising onslaught designed to persuade the feline caregiver to think that feeding a water-depleted, grain-laden dry food diet constitutes optimal nutrition.

Keep in mind: Meat is expensive.  Grains are cheap.

Meat (animal-based protein) promotes a mildly acidic urine which is normal for the cat.

Grains (plant-based protein and high carbohydrate content) promote an alkaline urine.

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.

Click to expand...

And the basic nutshell, just to reiterate what rlavach has mentioned:

Instead of reflexively reaching for the prescription diets when patients present with urinary tract issues, I would like to see the emphasis switch to getting the patient off of all dry food and onto a meat-based canned food with added water.

Click to expand...

I just fond out something interesting about the cat and his water consumption habits.

It turns out we have this xmas tree in our living room, I used a bucket as a base and to keep tree steady on its place I filled the bucket with some gravel left from one of my fish tanks such as this:


I filled the bucket with gravel holding the Xmas tree lower part right in the middle taking care gravel kept the xmas tree right on its place then I poured some water inside the bucket along to the gravel for the tree to suck the water as a flower pot if you know what I mean.

Well the fact is that our Horatio ignored his water bowl and prefered to drink the water right from that improvised flower pot for our Xmas tree, so I think there's something about the gravel that makes him feel like drinking that water as if something from the fresh "mineral flavor of the rocks" get him to drink.

So I decided to get some more of this gravel, a couple of handfulls of it, put it inside this net for acquarium media just to keep cat from accidentally eating one of those little stones and just placed inside of my cat water bowl and it works out!: Cat drinks now from his bowl more often, I donno but there's something about these stones that get him to drink, maybe it can also work out with some pieces of a clay pot just big enough not to be accidentally eaten for the cats.

I hope this is useful for you.  

Eaumond said:

One of the vets told me that a raw diet would just cause him to re block essentially, so I'm just really confused on adding more meat.

Click to expand...

I forgot to add, you don't have to go raw, but many choose to, because they find commercial pet food lacking in a lot of areas, mainly with added fillers/substances that are unnecessary or questionable for their cat. Pet food is certainly big business, so many are in for lining their own pocket rather than for the benefit of your animals.

I don't know why that vet would say such a thing, because it would really make no sense. If this logic were true, then all wild cats would have this problem, yet they've lived for thousands of years, haven't they?   

I have been looking over the article by Dr. Pierson back and forth, I even sent it to my boyfriend for him to double check everything I had been reading it. The only thing I wish even though it is in there, it's not quite direct as I wish it could be, for which food would be best for Orion.

I realize that I don't have  to go raw, but I've heard the many great things about doing so and I even have my female cat Sunrise on a frozen raw diet and she does great on it. When the first symptoms had occurred in Orion I thought he was having constipation problems and switched him to the full wet mixed with bits of the raw because it what always made my girl feel better. The vet I go to still has no idea whats wrong with my girl cat, but the wet food/raw food always makes her feel better. I've stopped giving her wet and shes on just Primal Chicken Salmon formula (the raw food). But at this point I'm not worried about her, she is back to normal acting great and has more energy than ever.

As for Orion, hes eating, drinking, and even playing with the fountain we got him because that was suppose to be another good way to get him to drink water. He likes to play in it more than drinking, but I hope he learns that it's for drinking and not playing eventually. We also switched the water from the regular reverse osmosis water, to Arrowhead spring water because supposedly the taste is something cats like more.

I'm just in search of the best food I can give to him with lots of water in it. If raw is suggested as the best method of course I will go with that, but after the vet saying that I really feel like I need to get as much information as possible before I throw the idea out the window. Orion is also basically free fed as of right now until I see a lot of improvement in his pee's. Unfortunately the Clavamox they gave us to give to him is making him have diarrhea and now I'm like ahhh what do I do! I already called the vet and they told me to just take him off of it, and he is still happy purring and at almost all of the food I gave him at about 10:00 am MST.

OH and the thing that was driving me the most crazy about my vet was that they were giving my cat with urinary problems dry and wet food! I knew before him having urinary problems that for cats with them it is absolutely crucial. Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine, or maybe I'm just being logical, but either way I told them to stop feeding him the dry while he was there. Which was the night of 12-24 to the morning of the 27th. They are suppose to be like a super amazing vet, and I'm sure they try their best. But that was just really irking.

Eaumond said:

 
I have been looking over the article by Dr. Pierson back and forth, I even sent it to my boyfriend for him to double check everything I had been reading it. The only thing I wish even though it is in there, it's not quite direct as I wish it could be, for which food would be best for Orion.

I'm just in search of the best food I can give to him with lots of water in it. If raw is suggested as the best method of course I will go with that

Click to expand...

The best food for a cat prone to urinary issus is either canned or raw food.

As for brand of canned food, there really is no "best" brand. All canned foods have a high water content, about 74% to 78% according to the Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats published by the National Research Council**. Many people add additional water to the food to ensure good water intake. I suggest feeding whatever brand your cat will eat and you can afford. Some people include other criteria such as grain-free or carragean free.

If you decide to feed raw, you can post over on the Raw forum for the various types of raw food diets and what would work best for you and your cat.

My two cents

**Ch.12 / Diet Formulations and Feed Processing." Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. 2006 ed. Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2006. 316. Print.

My cat eats Royal Canin because they were the only brand that makes "chunks and gravy".   The regular pate is more like ground instead of chunks and he would not eat it.  It is expensive because the cans are smaller but he is worth it. 

He still gets dry but it is also the prescription urinary  diet.  It's been over four years since he was hospitalized with a blockage and so far the diet has worked.   
 

rlavach said:

 
My cat eats the Hill's c/d stew multicare formula and I supplement that with BFF, Tiki Cat and Pride Rockstar Rabbit. I've heard on here that you should avoid fish with these cats, but the vet never mentioned that & I haven't been able to find out the reasoning behind that. But I try to avoid it just in case. 

Click to expand...

Fish is bad because of the level of mercury, and it's even higher in tuna, which is the typical kitty fish food. BFF is all tuna based. I do NOT like BFF I opened one of their 5 ounce cans and pulled out 10 bones! Almost every single can of BFF I opened in a week period had at least one bone in it. BFF is what I had fed my crystal kitty and I was having serious issues with vomiting and I took him off it and we went back to normal. So I only recommend BFF when you have time to check each can for bones.

I use Weruva "Because weluvyou" line of canned foods for my kitty, and only the chicken based ones, I just don't trust their fish. BFF and Kats in the Kitchen are also made by Weruva and all their foods are designed to be low in all the things crystal kitties need to avoid. My vet approved the switch to Weruva after checking it out. Prior to that she wanted him on SO or C/D.

We spent about two years going to the vet constantly for infections and crystals even on the dry prescription food diet. We tried prescription wet food only but he hated it, though it did lower his trips to the vet. We've now been on BFF/Weruva for 3 years and not a single bladder issue! I highly recommend wet food only diets for any crystal kitty, and Weruva is the food I recommend. Best of all my kitty eats usually with out a complaint and he doesn't like wet food!

@CheshireCat  I feel you, my cat only eats 'chunks in gravy' too, hates pate. Hills c/d now comes in a stew formula, but only the little 3oz cans. He likes it!

Thanks for the clarification @ReiKitty. I agree that BFF has a lot of fish based foods. I looked at the pouches & I'm actually feeding him Cats in the Kitchen. Since they're all from Weruva, I mixed them up. I found a sardine cutlet food from Tiki Cat that he adores & I use 1 tsp as a mix-in to get him to eat new foods he may not like. I remember reading that sardines are usually lower on mercury than fish like tuna. 

@Eaumond  This link from Weruva's website explains the higher water content & high protein content very well. http://www.weruva.com/tid-bits-deta...ary-tract-issues-crystals-can-I-feed-Weruva-6  Although they're promoting their own foods, the info is applicable to other brands if you do your research.  

Eaumond said:

I'm just in search of the best food I can give to him with lots of water in it. If raw is suggested as the best method of course I will go with that, but after the vet saying that I really feel like I need to get as much information as possible before I throw the idea out the window. Orion is also basically free fed as of right now until I see a lot of improvement in his pee's. Unfortunately the Clavamox they gave us to give to him is making him have diarrhea and now I'm like ahhh what do I do! I already called the vet and they told me to just take him off of it, and he is still happy purring and at almost all of the food I gave him at about 10:00 am MST.

Click to expand...

I can tell you when I open my cans of Weruva I have to be carefully otherwise I get the juice/water everywhere, sometimes it seems like the cans are mostly liquid.... And in most urinary tract issues just making them up their water intake cures them as they flush it out. Often times the antibiotics they give them are unnecessary. 

And also in regards to water fountains. When ever I get a new foster in they almost always play with it for a couple days then start drinking from it.  My blind cat is the only one who plays in it still, she likes to mess with the water stream and change the noise of it.

rlavach said:

Thanks for the clarification @ReiKitty. I agree that BFF has a lot of fish based foods. I looked at the pouches & I'm actually feeding him Cats in the Kitchen. Since they're all from Weruva, I mixed them up. I found a sardine cutlet food from Tiki Cat that he adores & I use 1 tsp as a mix-in to get him to eat new foods he may not like. I remember reading that sardines are usually lower on mercury than fish like tuna. 

Click to expand...

Cool We use the Cats in the Kitchen pouches a treat but they're more money so usually its the cans. Fish just shouldn't be feed 100% of the time, with he other proteins your feed him I'm sure he's fine. And your right about the sardines vs tuna - tuna being one of the worse for mercury.