Best food/supplement for struvite crystals

My 8 year old boy Enzo has suffered from UTI's and the formation of crystals in his urine. After his last bout I found a Wysong supplement that completely solved the problem. However, since then he has been diagnosed with IBD (I'm thinking the culprit is likely fish). There is fish in the Wysong supplement. He is on a wet food only diet now, Merrick limited ingredient turkey. He has a vet appointment coming up for a urine recheck and I am unsure what I will do if the crystals are back. Prescription diets aren't really an option for me as I hate all the carbs most of them contain and the quality of ingredients doesn't impress me. Does anyone have any suggestions on wet food and/or supplements that can help?

I was told by my vet, that Hills urinary care (wet) was the best. She also gave me glucosemine pills that could help the inflammation (causing cystitis) in the bladder. I mix one capsule in her food every evening. I also put water in her food, the more water the better.

I've had him on the hills and he gained a lot of weight and I didn't like the ingredients, some by products and such. I'll try adding water to the food, that's a good idea, and I'll ask about the glucosamine as well. Thank you!

Mine needs to gain weight, so i guess thats good! I hope you can find an alternate substitute for your little one.crystals are rough stuff..them turning into stones scare me. Then were talking surgery.

Exactly, that's why I'm so concerned. I guess if all else fails I can give him the Wysong supplement again. Hopefully it won't irritate his IBD. Better yet, we'll go to the vet and she won't find any crystals! If your little one needs to gain weight I wouldn't worry about the Hills, but I'd be concerned feeding it long term. It has a ton of carbs.

At first the vet said it was temporary..then i could wean her to whatever, but when she got all of the results, she made it sound more like a permanent solution. Thank you for telling me how carb filled it is. She has been on it a week and i can see a weight difference already. (Which is good for right now.) but if it gets to a point where it outweighs other health benefits, i will have to change it. Yes. No crystals in the urine woupf be nice! Fingers crossed for both of our kitties! I never knew that dry cat food was notorious for causing crystals. Perhaps i wouldnt even be in this mess if i had stuck with the wet. I will let you know if i run into any information on alternative wet food for kitties like ours.

I have had great success with a combination of Kroger's own grain-free canned food ABOUND Turkey & Giblets Dinner (there are only two types, and the other one has fish in it but I don't use that one) and EVO 95% Chicken & Turkey.  The Abound is 79 cents a can; the EVO is about $1.54 a can. Neither one has any grains or vegetables or fruits, so they are very close to what a cat would eat in the wild, i.e. all meat protein and fat.  I mix in a little water as well.  She also gets 0.2 ml. of Braggs organic apple cider vinegar mixed with 0.8 ml water daily.   I didn't like the ingredients in any of the urinary foods so went by Dr. Lisa Pierson's List (showing of ingredients in various foods) to find a food that was low in both carbs and phosphorus and had no grains, fruits or vegetables, not an easy thing to do, but these two foods meet that directive.

"Therefore,stick with the directive to stay below 10% carbohydrates but do NOTget caught up in whether a diet says 10%...or 5%....or 0%.

Takeit one step further and read the label. For example, if you do not see any grains, peas, potatoes, “starch,” or vegetables on the label,

even if it is listed as 10% carbs, chances are that it is much lower."

That is some great information! Thank you

KiarajamesMemow said:

At first the vet said it was temporary..then i could wean her to whatever, but when she got all of the results, she made it sound more like a permanent solution. Thank you for telling me how carb filled it is. She has been on it a week and i can see a weight difference already. (Which is good for right now.) but if it gets to a point where it outweighs other health benefits, i will have to change it. Yes. No crystals in the urine woupf be nice! Fingers crossed for both of our kitties! I never knew that dry cat food was notorious for causing crystals. Perhaps i wouldnt even be in this mess if i had stuck with the wet. I will let you know if i run into any information on alternative wet food for kitties like ours.

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I wish there were a non prescription version for crystals, or I wish the rx versions wouldn't be so otherwise unhealthy. I know, I wish I had known about the dry food as well. He ate it for most of his life. I also have read that it's not even good for their teeth which is one of the reasons he got it. Oh well, live and learn I guess! Here's to no crystals for either of our babies! Thanks so much again!

Red Top Rescue said:

I have had great success with a combination of Kroger's own grain-free canned food ABOUND Turkey & Giblets Dinner (there are only two types, and the other one has fish in it but I don't use that one) and EVO 95% Chicken & Turkey.  The Abound is 79 cents a can; the EVO is about $1.54 a can. Neither one has any grains or vegetables or fruits, so they are very close to what a cat would eat in the wild, i.e. all meat protein and fat.  I mix in a little water as well.  She also gets 0.2 ml. of Braggs organic apple cider vinegar mixed with 0.8 ml water daily.   I didn't like the ingredients in any of the urinary foods so went by Dr. Lisa Pierson's List (showing of ingredients in various foods) to find a food that was low in both carbs and phosphorus and had no grains, fruits or vegetables, not an easy thing to do, but these two foods meet that directive.

"Therefore,stick with the directive to stay below 10% carbohydrates but do NOTget caught up in whether a diet says 10%...or 5%....or 0%.
Takeit one step further and read the label. For example, if you do not see any grains, peas, potatoes, “starch,” or vegetables on the label,
even if it is listed as 10% carbs, chances are that it is much lower."

Click to expand...

This is great info, thank you so much. I have not heard of the Kroger so I'll have to do some research to see where I can purchase it. I have actually tried the Evo with Enzo and he won't eat it.

Abound here is really pricey. The stores near me only sell the ones with fish ingredients in them. My boy hates fish and won't eat it. He's turning the even pricier rx food down now too.

Actually, ABOUND is on sale through March 8th (at least at the Kroger's here) for 50 cents a can, same price as Friskies.  I am hitting all the Kroger's and filling up my shelves.  I don't use the Chicken & Whitefish recipe, only the Turkey.  There are a whole bunch of stores in the "Kroger Family" so one should be in your area.  Portland OR, I have friends there.  Let me see if any of the Kroger family stores are out there.

QFC (Quality Food Centers) and Fred Meyer seem to be the two in Oregon  Here is a list of all of them, so other people reading this can find their location too.

http://www.krogerkrazy.com/kroger-family-of-stores-find-matchups-in-your-area/

I'm sure you could ask the store that sells Abound to get the TURKEY flavor also.  It only comes in the two flavors, and what I see at the market is that the turkey sells out really fast.  Mine don't particularly like the fish either because I don't usually feed fish, but some of them will eat it.  Our Kroger is a big store and does well here, and they will special order anything you want, you just have to ask at Customer Service.

I had to get her used to eating wet food, and I also add a tiny sprinkle of L-Methionine to each meal to further acidify her urine (I test frequently and try to keep her pH at 6.0 to 6.5) and that doesn't seem to be a struggle any more.  I got her in mid-September and she was peeing blood every 15 minutes.  It took 3 weeks to get her transitioned to wet food and get her pH constant and everything has been smooth sailing since then.  Everything I used to get her well is something I learned at this site and by asking people who posted on the FLUTD threads what worked for them.  Dr. Lisa Pierson's web site (http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth) includes a chart of foods and their phosphorus content (which you want as low as possible) and I used this to choose what food to work with.  Evo was good for her but she did get quite plump on it, and Abound is lower in fat and lower in calories and very high in liquid.  I used the technique of crushing cat treats and sprinkling that on top of the food to get her to eat it.   Now she eats it without the treat sprinkles, and prefers it to any other food.   I no longer have to keep her away from the other cats' food.  She prefers her own.  She has been symptom-free for five months now, never had a recurrence after we got the problem under control, and this was a cat they were about to euthanize because neither shelter vet could get her problem under control.

ABOUND Grain Free turkey canned cat food (5.5 oz cans)
At Kroger and Kroger family of stores (14 stores), $0.79 per can at Kroger in Georgia (ON SALE FOR 50 CENTS A CAN THROUGH MARCH 8TH)

TURKEY BROTH, TURKEY, CHICKEN, POULTRY GIBLETS, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, GUAR GUM, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, CARRAGEENAN, MINERALS (ZINC AMINO ACID CHELATE, IRON AMINO ACID CHELATE, COPPER AMINO ACID CHELATE, MANGANESE AMINO ACID CHELATE, SODIUM SELENITE, COBALT AMINO ACID CHELATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE), VITAMINS (DL-ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, NIACIN SUPPLEMENT, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, BIOTIN, VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT, FOLIC ACID), CHOLINE CHLORIDE, TAURINE.

CALORIE CONTENT (ME CALCULATED): 1240 KCAL/KG 193 KCAL/CAN
Recommended feeding:  1 can daily for 6-8 lb. adult cat; kittens can have twice as much
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
ABOUND grain free Chicken & Whitefish canned cat food

CHICKEN BROTH, CHICKEN, POULTRY LIVER, WHITEFISH, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, GUAR GUM, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, MINERALS (ZINC AMINO ACID CHELATE, IRON AMINO ACID CHELATE, COPPER AMINO ACID CHELATE, MANGANESE AMINO ACID CHELATE, SODIUM SELENITE, COBALT AMINO ACID CHELATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE), VITAMINS (DL-ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, NIACIN SUPPLEMENT, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, BIOTIN, VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT, FOLIC ACID), CARRAGEENAN, CHOLINE CHLORIDE, TAURINE.

CALORIE CONTENT (ME CALCULATED): 1150 KCAL/KG 179 KCAL/CAN
Recommended feeding:  1 can daily for 6-8 lb. adult cat; kittens can have twice as much

My fredy's has abound on sale but there are only the turkey with peas, carrots, and potatoes and chicken and beef with carrots and potatoes. Are these what you mean?

No, those are the packets.  What I mean is the 5.5 oz. CANS.  Here is a link, the one on your RIGHT is what I use, Grain Free Turkey & Giblets Dinner in a 5.5 oz. can.

http://www.aboundpet.com/cats/

Ingredients:

TURKEY BROTH, TURKEY, CHICKEN, POULTRY GIBLETS, DRIED EGG PRODUCT, GUAR GUM, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, SALT, CARRAGEENAN, MINERALS (ZINC AMINO ACID CHELATE, IRON AMINO ACID CHELATE, COPPER AMINO ACID CHELATE, MANGANESE AMINO ACID CHELATE, SODIUM SELENITE, COBALT AMINO ACID CHELATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE), VITAMINS (DL-ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, NIACIN SUPPLEMENT, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, BIOTIN, VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT, FOLIC ACID), CHOLINE CHLORIDE, TAURINE. 

CALORIE CONTENT (ME CALCULATED): 1240 KCAL/KG 193 KCAL/CAN 

Recommended feeding:  1 can daily for 6-8 lb. adult cat; kittens can have twice as much.

http://www.aboundpet.com/coupons/