Urinary Crystals/Alkalinity, Prescription Diet Not An Option

(Wasn’t sure if this belonged under health or nutrition. Feel free to move if I have this in the wrong spot.)

My mom’s cats are five year old littermates, Artemis and Apollo. They’ve been on the Hill’s C/D kibble for urinary crystals for about four of those years. Everything was fine, the only problem was the cost of the kibble. Until…

Apollo lost almost all of his teeth when he had his first dental a couple months ago and he couldn’t chew the kibble anymore. He was struggling to eat anything. Mom transitioned them to an all canned food diet, but he threw up the C/D canned food every single time she gave it to him, so she started giving them Friskies with a bunch of extra water added in. She really can’t afford to feed super high quality canned food (the C/D cans are $1.45 each and that’s too much for her), but we both did a lot of research and we thought canned food would help.

She started using Pretty Litter (http://www.prettylittercats.com/) last month. Lo and behold, it turned bright blue today – high urine pH.

Going back to the C/D isn’t really an option. Apollo can’t chew the kibble and he always vomits up the canned food. What is special about the C/D food? Is there an affordable alternative canned food that would help? Any other options we could try or medicines we could talk to the vet about? She’s going to take them for exams and a urinalysis ASAP, but this vet is a BIG prescription diet pusher. Mom’s not looking forward to the I-told-you-so.

Thanks!

Unfortunately the best options (more meat and fewer carbs) are going to be more expensive, although I don't think a prescription diet is necessary either. Definitely keep feeding canned, because water intake is the most important factor, but also look at the phosphorus content. Lower phosphorus seems to be much better for cats with urinary tract issues. You want to look for phosphorus levels below 250-300 mg/100 calories. Be careful because that number can change a lot between flavors, even if they're the same brand. For example, fish tends to have more phosphorus than other meats. 

Royal Canin make a prescription Urinary diet too - Urinary S/O. It has a pretty small kibble size, so that might be worth trying.

The prescription diets have certain ingredients added specifically to lower the urine PH and help break down crystals. The primary one is DL-methionine. You can buy it separately to add to the diet (I know a couple of raw feeders here do this), but you MUST take advice on the exact quantity - too much can cause it's own problems.

Was it Artemis or Apollo who had the urinary problems before? I'm just thinking that if it's Artemis who needs the prescription diet then you could feed a mix of c/d dry and friskes (or whatever) wet. This combination has worked great for my crystals boy. Just a thought.

Lastly, whilst prescription diets aren't always necessary for maintenance, they're sometimes essential for treatment of a flare up.

Talk to you vet about the issues you've had with the c/d. No matter how big they are on prescription diets, NO decent vet would expect you to feed something that your cat either cannot physically eat or something that makes them vomit. It doesn't matter how great the food is - if it doesn't get into or stay in the stomach it can't do any good

Thanks, both of you!

Artemis and Apollo actually both had crystals when they were younger. I don't remember exactly what kibble we were feeding them, but it was probably Iams or something along that line quality-wise.

How would we figure out how much DL-Methionine to give them? Is it just by weight or would we need to figure out custom dosages with the vet? What sort of issues are caused by too much?

I've not used it myself, but I think the best thing to do is ask your vet. I would think the dosage is by weight though.

The biggest problem with too much dl-methionine is that it can cause calcite crystals. They're much harder to treat than struvite crystals as they don't break down so readily.

I know you said cost is an issue, but I think your mom should think about the cost of food vs the cost if they have another blockage. Sometimes feeding higher quality isn't really that much more per month, because cats should eat less of the better quality food because it contains more protein and less fillers (generally). There are some good quality low cost foods, like 4health grain free available at Tractor Health. They should absolutely only be on a 100% wet diet based on their history. I'd stay away from any of the non-pate or fish flavored Friskies because they contain a ton of crap which isn't good for cats with urinary issues. That doesn't leave that many options (probably just the turkey and giblet) so she'll really want to look at some other foods to add to their rotation. 

missmimz said:

 
I know you said cost is an issue, but I think your mom should think about the cost of food vs the cost if they have another blockage. Sometimes feeding higher quality isn't really that much more per month, because cats should eat less of the better quality food because it contains more protein and less fillers (generally). There are some good quality low cost foods, like 4health grain free available at Tractor Health. They should absolutely only be on a 100% wet diet based on their history. I'd stay away from any of the non-pate or fish flavored Friskies because they contain a ton of crap which isn't good for cats with urinary issues. That doesn't leave that many options (probably just the turkey and giblet) so she'll really want to look at some other foods to add to their rotation. 

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I think she feeds mostly the Mixed Grill and the Country Style Dinner pates, the only pates that don't have fish in the ingredients. When she first switched them to wet food, Friskies had the "special diet" urinary foods, but those were discontinued.   

I don't know if there's a Tractor Supply near her, but I'll look. Thanks!