Feeding nightmare

hi!

I have two male cats, one is 12 and the other is 9. Sniffs is the other of the two, and his younger partner in crime goes by Toots.

About two weeks ago, Sniffs had to go to the emergency vet due to not being able to pee. Luckily it was a bacterial infection/UTI so he didn't have to get a catheter but still very stressful.

With the vet visit came RX food. Prior to this, they were both eating limited ingredient diet food by Natural Balance. They seemed content eating it, and it's one of the few foods that Toots eats and doesn't get sick.

In a panic, I started them on the RX food right away which sent Toots into a week long puking frenzy. I'm honestly not sure how to effectively feed these two separately because I live in a small place and knowing how they operate, they'll both just munch down each other's food.

To be honest, I'm quite worried Sniffs will somehow get a UTI back if he starts munching on the food Toots was eating, and I'm worried that Toots will munch on the UTI food and puke his guts out again. This is my fourth trip to the laundromat in a week and it's stressful. I know the throwing up is food related because he was fine prior to introducing this RX food.

Long term id like to either do a mix of high quality dry with wet food, or just wet food. I honestly don't know how I can make this transition as smooth as possible without making either cat sick. I tried introducing the LID wet food (same ingredients) in small amounts but I didn't seem to have luck.

Any help is much appreciated.

One big question in all of this is if I transition toots by using some of the old dry food, do I need to worry about this giving Sniffs another UTI if he gets into it? That's my biggest fear.

If a small amount of dry mixed with wet is safe and seems to keep their stomachs peaceful, I'd be ok with it.

Yes, the cat who needs the low purine food should not have access to it.

My old cat Andy was prescribed Hill?? CD cat food (can't remember the company who made it) by our vet. I don't know if that's what you are feeding your cat or not. Andy had no problems eating it. I switched to Purina's urinary tract formula cat food due to cost. Andy did fine on the Purina cat food. You can ask your vet about the Purina cat food. Your vet might not like it but then again he might. I fed all my cats the Purina urinary tract cat food after buying it for Andy. Tails ate it too and he had no problems with it either.

I tried the purina stuff too. Maybe I just need to put a food bowl in the bathroom or something and make them eat at specific times. Ugh.

OK, so all that happened was a UTI?  No crystals or blockage or anything like that?  No history of UTIs?  This is the first time this has happened?  WHY did your Vet say you should put him on special food?  WHY does he think he will continue to get UTI's or worse if you don't change his food...did he explain? 

One thing that is good to do to prevent future UTI's is to make sure your cats stay hydrated.  One easy way to do this is to feed wet food, which you mentioned you might like to do.  You could even add a little more water into the canned food.  That's what I do, and I don't even have that problem here . 

As to mixing dry and wet food, it's perfectly fine to feed both wet and dry food, but not a good idea to mix them together in the same bowl unless it's eaten up fairly quickly.  If it then sits around, it's a breeding ground for "ickies".(IMHO) 

As far as transitioning your little ones to times meals, and to wet food, here are some articles that might help, when you're ready:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transitioning-free-fed-kibble-kitties-to-timed-meals

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transit...-to-a-new-type-of-food-canned-raw-or-homemade

Also, there are lots of threads here about the best foods for cats with UTI issues.  Here's just one of them: 

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/229557/best-food-for-cat-with-past-uti

Male cats (and that includes neutered males) are prone to UTI's due to their short urethra. In fact neutered males are more likely to have this problem. According to Wikipedia, " 0.5% to 1% of the population" is affected by Feline Lower Urinary Tract infections. FLUTD includes "bladder (cystitis) or urethra, formation of urinary crystals/stones in the bladder (crystalluria/urolithiasis), and partial or total obstruction of the urethra. The latter condition is also known as plugged-penis syndrome," according to Wikipedia. The source link is below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_lower_urinary_tract_disease

Prevention is far healthier and less expensive than paying your vet for treating your sick cat. I almost lost my brown tabby Andy to FLUTD as I was at work when he started having problems. According to our vet, we managed to get him to the vet in time otherwise his bladder would have exploded and Andy would have died. There were no warning signs and the FLUTD struck suddenly. To quote Wikipedia once again "Complete urethral obstruction is fatal if left untreated."

Yes, providing plenty of clean water helps but diet is important too. According to Wikipedia,  "...researchers have found that urine pH is a more important contributing factor. Urine that is acidic helps to dissolve struvite uroliths and also provides a less favourable environment for its formation.

The Wikipedia article also cited dehydration as one of the causes of FLUTD. It is a very good idea to provide plenty of fresh water (something I always did) and to feed your cat a vet recommended diet. As to feeding cats Urinary Tract Health Formula I recommend it to help prevent FLUTD IF your vet approves. I am  not vet, nor am I a health care professional, so this is not medical advice.

Hope this helps!

MA