Prescribed food for urinary crystals

My neutered male is about 3 or 4 yrs old. twice he has had a UTI with some blood in his urine and both times had been put on antibiotics. The first time the x ray showed crystals in the bladder but not the second time. The vet has me feeding him Hills S/D dry food and S/D wet food (half a can a day) I let him free feed on the dry food. He's been on this food for quite a long time (close to a year) and it's been a long time since he has had any issues and I'm thankful for that. I have read that having a cat on this prescription food, specifically the dry food, is not the best for him since the ingredients aren't as wholsesome. I was wondering what food would be recommended for long term use and would also help prevent future urinary issues. I'm thinking about going full time (twice a day) with wet food and scaling back his dry food since I also read a lot that wet is much better than dry. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! thanks in advance.

For a cat with a history of urinary issues, all wet would definitely be better. Many people even add additional water to the canned food!    Here is a thread that discusses some food, and has links to other threads within it:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/305756/food-rotation-for-cat-has-a-history-of-bladder-stones

Here are some additional articles that might be helpful: 

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

Hey..I'm sorry for your cat ailing from crystals.....I'm assuming "struvite crystals"?
What kind of food do you feed your baby?
Does it contain cranberries?.....They are not as healthy for feline urinary tracts as the pet food industry (&even our traditional veterinarians) would like us to think....

I have a male cat who is now 6yrs old. He got struvite crystals when he was 3. He had a near complete blockage, only drops of urine! So he had to be hospitalized &catheterized.

My vet told me once they get crystals, they are prone to get them for the rest of their lives. Then she recommended I feed him prescription food FOR LIFE!.....NO. FREAKING. WAY.
So, knowing that prescription foods aren't all they are coughed up to be, I decided to challenge her on this topic. I did my research & although she prescribed the very best of the prescription foods, Royal Canin (waaaaaay better than Science Diet..&ur cat will LOVE the wet..&ESPECIALLY the dry version like it is kitty-crack which was kinda scary to me), this food had a history of causing another major medical issue after years of use (I forget, but think it was a thyroid problem??)

Anyway, I insisted on other alternatives, so she asked that I feed only the presc food for at least 3months &gradually change him to a NEW food (preferably WET), but she added that I should NEVER feed him the food I was previously feeding him when he got the crystals. I asked why &she said that it's just a "rule of thumb" amongst vets to be safe in case something in the food sparked the crystals.

Well, I hated that piece of advice cuz I always fed him Blue Buffalo (dry) & he loved it & he was sooooo shiny &beautiful while eating that diet! But I planned to follow her advice. Two months into the presc food diet,my cat was looking so dull. So I decided to enhance his prescription diet by adding a little flax seed oil to help his coat look healthier from added Omega 3s. And, since he was still kind of lightly, lethargic & uncharacteristically moody still since he had the crystals, I thought I'd help him recover faster by adding just a few drops of cranberry extract to his food since it wasn't in the presc food to help his urinary tract heal faster.

Well, he instantly got majorly blocked up again. I avoided another $1500 hospital visit by following advice I had read on the internet about securing the blocked-up cat &lightly massaging his pee-pee with a warm damp rag to help break up the crystals enough for him to urinate. A high protein, low carb, low fat diet (like his presc food) would help break down remaining crystals with regular feedings.

Anyway, I realized either the Flax Oil or the Cranberry Extract caused the flare-up. So I did a whole heck of a lot of research to find answers. I quickly found out that Flax Oil can't be converted into Omega 3s in a cat's body (like it can in a human & other mammals) without the presence of fish oil to help the conversion (makes since now that I understand cats' intolerance to plant proteins & plant ingredients). That's good to know!.....but I was sure this oil couldn't cause sharp crystalline structures as a result of an ineffective oil additive.

All my research on "cats + cranberries" showed up as recommendations to feed cats cranberries to prevent urinary tract problems so common in cats.
Finally I researched "cranberries + danger" & BOOM.....I got some contrasting information!

ALL cranberries have "natural-occurring Benzoic Acid", a natural preservative. Cautions with Benzoic Acid were mentioned as it is a "safe" preservative, but as with most things, it needed to be limited.

So then I looked up "Cats + Benzoic Acid" & boy, was I shocked to learn that it is toxic to cats....they have absolutely NO TOLERANCE for it in their diet! They cannot metabolize it. It builds up in their bodies over time then it eventually has to pass without metabolizing cuz there's too much in their body. I then read that it passes in it's original form, which happens to be a crystalline structure.

My cat ate Blue Buffalo food, which has cranberries, for 3 yrs before he almost die. I cannot say for sure that the cranberries CAUSED his crystals initially, but I CAN say they did most certainly upset them in his bladder.

Since then, my cat has been fed Evo Cat & Kitten (wet) Food & he has never had a recurrence of crystals in 3 yrs now. I do also feed him a little Candidae Pure Dry Food between his 2wet food feedings when I'm away all day at work (work long hours) & sometimes in lieu of his wet meal when I'm in a rush. Unfortunately that label of Evo is being discontinued & all of their large cans are cut off too, so I'm shopping for a new grain-free, cranberry-free, soy-free, carageenan-free, tuna-free wet food.....sigh.....so many brands have recent "improved recipes" that now include cranberries or 1 of the other ingredients from my "avoid" list.

Look at the ingredients in your regular food & if there are cranberries, we might've discovered a link that not many want revealed. I've talked to 3 different vets about this debacle &they dance around the topic & their answers don't match my questions. One of them went as far as to answer that pet food manufacturers use ingredients that people who are buying the food seem to want.....wth?

Hopefully you will consider at least a 50-75% wet diet.

I also added a little Slippery Elm in his food to help manage his inflammated &irritated parts & it seemed to help. I put 1/4 capsule in each feeding.
I also add about a teaspoon of water to his food each feeding to be sure he is super hydrated (&helps warm up food that is refrigerated since I feed from big 12oz cans). Both vets I asked said this was okay to do &would likely help as long as I dont drown him
Also, I now feed my cat the same spring water I drink to avoid chlorine & the inorganic minerals in tap water that might further alkalize him as cats need to remain very acidic & alkaline pH CAUSES crystals as well.
Those are my tips & tricks.

It takes time for the crystals to break down so don't expect fast healing whether you just change his diet or if you feed prescription food or if you give him medication or all of the above so be patient.

Hope your baby is doing better!

While I don't have any experience with cats with urinary issues, If my cats did i would put them on an all wet food diet ASAP and take away all kibble. I personally don't like RX diets and wouldn't feed them. I think you can make or buy better quality food than the RX stuff.