Wet food for cat after UTI/crystals

csmcsqrrl · Jul 7, 2015

Hi! My cat (Giles, a 2 year old male tabby mix who we adopted off the street a couple of years ago) is recovering at the vet's from being blocked due to urinary crystals. After this scare, we really want to make sure that we're feeding him the right food to avoid having this happen again; it was stressful to both of us, and also my wallet (this is my first pet; I had no idea how expensive all this could get). We've been feeding him Blue Wilderness dry food, and our vet strongly urged us to switch to wet food, and recommended the brand they sell (Royal Canin Urinary SO). I've read mediocre things about Royal Canin, and I was really happy with Blue Wilderness (well, until now, anyways).

What kind of wet food are y'all feeding your cats who have had crystals/blockages in the past?

Thanks! - Ray & Giles

LTS3 · Jul 7, 2015

Most people here recommend any commerical brand of canned food with extra water added for cats prone to urinary issues. Grain-free brands are ideal. I've heard that Wellness is not a good brand to feed to cats because it can cause urinary issues. So you might not want to feed that brand.

For struvite crystals, some feel that prescription canned is best because it has acidifiers that keep the struvite crystals from reforming. Others feel that no special food is needed. Here's one vet's take on urinary issues and diet: http://catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

pushylady · Jul 7, 2015

When our cat Pushkin got repeated bouts of crystals years ago, we put him on Hills c/d wet and kibble. He was on that for at least two years, until I wanted to get him onto something with a better ingredient list. Firstly, we transitioned him to an all wet diet (he gets a few kibbles as treats) and we always add extra water to his food too. At first I looked at various "urinary" formulas, but now we have a large rotation of different brands & quality. He's been fine for years now.
He's lost quite a bit of weight from when he got crystals that helps too.
The important thing for us is to keep him on wet with extra water, and to keep his weight down.

rlavach · Jul 9, 2015

I've finally transitioned my boy over to all wet food, after 5 years of Hills Rx C/D dry only. Now he has some Hills Rx C/D wet stew formula, but mostly Cats in the Kitchen, Pride by Instinct and Nature's Variety Instinct 95%. All non fish formula's. Although, I had to bribe him by mixing in tuna with his meals for several months until I could wean him off. He's been bout free for about a year.

knic · Jul 9, 2015

Any type of wet food with added water is great! I would feed whatever your cat likes. I have read that no fish flavors and low phosphorus is best for cats with a history of crystals, but I don't know how true that is.

nansiludie · Jul 9, 2015

knic said:
Any type of wet food with added water is great! I would feed whatever your cat likes. I have read that no fish flavors and low phosphorus is best for cats with a history of crystals, but I don't know how true that is.

That is very true, it is better to feed no fishy foods because they contain bone and are higher in phosphorous. I do give my urinary kitty, fishy food on his birthday or tuna, as he always liked them but not often, Wet food is best if he will eat it, even RX wet, do try by all means to stay away from dry food.

knic · Jul 9, 2015

nansiludie said:
That is very true, it is better to feed no fishy foods because they contain bone and are higher in phosphorous. I do give my urinary kitty, fishy food on his birthday or tuna, as he always liked them but not often, Wet food is best if he will eat it, even RX wet, do try by all means to stay away from dry food.

I have a question for you or anyone else who is knowledgeable in this area

On sites like http://www.catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm that have lists and list the % phosphorus, does that take in to account the phosphorus from the fish? Maybe that is a stupid question, but I had noticed that with most foods (at least all the ones I have looked at) there is not a difference between the levels of % phosphorus in fish flavors vs non-fish flavors. I had originally tried to keep my cat away from fish flavors, but because he is picky and the fishy foods I give him are not too high in % phosphorus on charts like this, I stopped trying.

rlavach · Jul 10, 2015

You know, when I went to our new vet this past fall, she was really knowledgeable about FLUTD and urinary issues. She stated that monitoring phosphorous & magnesium levels is now thought to be less effective. She stated that it was based on some studies done many years ago & that there aren't many new studies that confirm that rationale anymore. So she told me not to worry much about those levels & instead feed him only wet food that is ideally high protein & grain free.

Just to be safe, I also don't feed him fish flavors and try to look for other brands that mimic the levels of minerals in the Hills Rx C/D food. But she literally stated, any wet food is better than even Rx dry food.

csmcsqrrl · Jul 10, 2015

Thanks for the great advice, everybody! We have him on wetted dry food for now (using one of the urinary SO brands recommended by the vet and a couple articles thoughtfully posted here/in PMs); the vet noticed that Giles is a little weirdo and doesn't seem to like wet food, but with wetted dry food he'll drink all the water and then eat the food, which gets us to the same goal.

2bcat · Jul 10, 2015

rlavach said:
You know, when I went to our new vet this past fall, she was really knowledgeable about FLUTD and urinary issues. She stated that monitoring phosphorous & magnesium levels is now thought to be less effective. She stated that it was based on some studies done many years ago & that there aren't many new studies that confirm that rationale anymore. So she told me not to worry much about those levels & instead feed him only wet food that is ideally high protein & grain free.

Just to be safe, I also don't feed him fish flavors and try to look for other brands that mimic the levels of minerals in the Hills Rx C/D food. But she literally stated, any wet food is better than even Rx dry food.

That is great to hear from a vet. It is pretty much what I had concluded on my own (not the details of phosphorous and such, but that all wet diet is probably enough), and I have not had trouble either in over a year. Our two females came to us eating Hill's c/d, and we fed them this a little at first, but I didn't want to keep feeding it. The shelter they were in is very good and thorough, and it appeared they were eating c/d because they might have had crystals and had some prior symptoms of such and not really because there was true 100% confirmation of them. We haven't seen any trouble and are feeding an all wet high-quality diet (canned and also rehydrated freeze-dried, which counts as wet to me).

furmummy · Jul 13, 2015

On a totally different note...

Indoor cats are much more likely getting FLUTD than cats going outside.

Now, I'm NOT an advocate for cats running lose outside! Nope!!

But, what makes the difference?

Presumably an outdoor cat lives more true to their nature. They climb, they hunt, they stalk, catch and prowl. They can find a solitary

place to hang out, a place where they don't need to defend or protect their space.

We also know that FLUTD is very connected to stress. We also know that play "therapy" is very useful for cats with FLUTD....

One way to lower stress is to have a place where kitty can be high up. A cat tree, shelves, places where kitty does not have to compete for space.

A place to call her own. Or maybe several places to call her own

And then try to imitate their natural instinct of hunting, catching and eating.

Wand like toys such as Da Bird are great to bring out the natural instincts in your cat. Lasers are magnets for many cats... Allow them to hunt, jump and run,

catch once in a while, and then a nice meal..... Kind of like in the wild...

FLUTD is a condition that needs to be looked at from more perspectives than just food, even though getting off dry can be all that needs to be done.

morecowbell · Jul 14, 2015

Saw the comment here that Wellness brand wet food may NOT be good for struvite crystal issues - can anyone confirm? I've just (last three days) converted my 4 yr old male indoor to wet/grainfree w/added water and while he seems to like everything, the large Wellness can seems to be the best deal so was going with that - unless of course its going to cause the problem I'm trying to eliminate!

Thanks for any help!

pushylady · Jul 14, 2015

M morecowbell I think people were having issues with Wellness Core, rather than the regular Wellness flavours, but I can't remember why.

cindysb · Jul 14, 2015

csmcsqrrl said:
Hi! My cat (Giles, a 2 year old male tabby mix who we adopted off the street a couple of years ago) is recovering at the vet's from being blocked due to urinary crystals. After this scare, we really want to make sure that we're feeding him the right food to avoid having this happen again; it was stressful to both of us, and also my wallet (this is my first pet; I had no idea how expensive all this could get). We've been feeding him Blue Wilderness dry food, and our vet strongly urged us to switch to wet food, and recommended the brand they sell (Royal Canin Urinary SO). I've read mediocre things about Royal Canin, and I was really happy with Blue Wilderness (well, until now, anyways).

What kind of wet food are y'all feeding your cats who have had crystals/blockages in the past?

Thanks! - Ray & Giles

cindysb · Jul 14, 2015

The levels that my vet recommends are 0.04-0.09% magnesium and potasium. I found a few flavors of Iams at .03%. My cats (all 10 of them) didn't like Hills and will eat Purina dry for UTI but their coats look shabby since we switch from Natures Place dry and wet Friskies.

mamatoserge · Sep 12, 2015

I LOVE that your cate is named Pushkin. My parents are from Ukraine and i grew up reading and watching the ballet and opera of Eugene Onegin. Im trying to find how to transition my cat Serge off of Hills c/d on to a better quality ingredient food as well.... i feel so in over my head...

missmimz · Sep 12, 2015

LTS3 said:
. I've heard that Wellness is not a good brand to feed to cats because it can cause urinary issues. So you might not want to feed that brand.

Do you have any links you can post for that information or where you heard it? Mostly I'm just curious because I have some Wellness Core Kitten in my kittens rotation but I can't really see what would trigger urinary issues.

ruthm · Sep 16, 2015

missmimz said:
Do you have any links you can post for that information or where you heard it? Mostly I'm just curious because I have some Wellness Core Kitten in my kittens rotation but I can't really see what would trigger urinary issues.

I am wondering the same as missmimz, I would like to see links to the posts or information citing Wellness Core Kitten as triggering urinary issues. @LTS3

LTS3 · Sep 16, 2015

The brand in general seems to cause some cats to have urinary issues. There are people who recommend against feeding Wellness to a cat who is prone to urinary issues:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/231134/kitty-had-struvite-crystals-diet-help

http://www.catster.com/forums/Food_and_Nutrition/thread/684062/1

http://www.catforum.com/forum/38-he...rnatives-prescription-food-urinary-tract.html

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/9-26-ot-wellness-urinary-blockage-issues.79899/

I've never fed Wellness so I can't say if the barnd causes urinary problems or not.

speshlneedsreqr · Sep 16, 2015

Just thought I'd put this out there-- one option (depending on what one's veterinarian says) is Felo-diet-- both wet and dry. While not an Rx diet, it is intended for cats who are prone to urinary crystals. It's sold in smaller pet supply stores not at the big box places and is very reasonably priced when compared to some of the Rx diets. Again, I'd recommend running it past your vet (and don't ever be afraid to talk costs with your vet-- they do understand and are usually happy to find a middle of the road option for you if possible).

Wet food for cat after UTI/crystals

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