Insight on changing urinary wet food

Hello all,

I am looking to switch my kitties from the Royal Canine urinary SO wet cat food to something more affordable. 

My situation: 

I have 2 cats (Gizmo and Mufasa).  Mufasa  had a very scary urinary emergency in January.  He was in the kittie hospital for a few days and had a severe blockage along with off the charts elevated potassium and to top it off he had a reaction to the Ketamine they gave him and died on the table, luckily they were able to revive him. We struggled with issued for several week after this incident but he finally cleared up and has been doing well since. 

I have had him on the R/C SO food since end of Jan. I have been also feeding it to my other cat because its too hard to feed them separate food as I worry about Mufasa getting into it and having a reaction. It is getting so expensive to feed them both this food.

I am terrified to take Mufasa off of it because I have had so many mixed reviews on taking him off and the chance of this horrible situation happening to him again. The vet says he can never go off of that food and to not listen to people on the forums because it can hurt him. Then i read the forums and see all this info on how I can take him off of it and that the Vets do not understand nutrition, etc. So I honestly do not know what to do and do not want to risk hurting my baby. 

What are some other wet foods low in ash and grains that I can feed them that are less expensive?

I came across this one Hi-Tor Veterinary Select Felo  while looking online today, it seems a bit less expensive. 

Also my husband is a chef and we talked about making our own food but again is this more cost effective and is it safe? 

I do not meant o be so dramatic but again, I am very worried about making the wrong decision here as the situation we faced earlier this year with over 7 vet visits in 3 weeks, seeing my baby so miserable and spending over $3500, I am just terrified. 

Mufasa is the big boy, Gizmo is the little one. 

They are both adorable.  And your question has been asked many times.  It's a tricky one, because these prescription foods TO what they are meant to do .  But, that are most definitely expensive. 

I think maybe this thread might be helpful to you:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/302645/food-help-please

And, without me re-reading that entire thread, not sure if Dave's low magnesium and ash food was mentioned in it or not, but I know they make a special urinary food

First of all, you boys are beautiful and welcome! Secondly, I understand your worry and confusion about what to do. My female kitty had a bout with an inflamed bladder due to urinary crystals almost two years ago. She was also put on RC Unrinary SO. I kept her on it close to a year to make sure the situation was stabalized before finally making the decision to at least try to get her on to a non-prescription canned diet. My vet was initially opposed to the idea but after emailing her tons of published literature, she backed off her stance with the request that we do a urinalysis after a month of the new diet to make sure that there was no crystal formation due to the diet change. After a lot of research switched her to Nature's Variety Instinct and Dave's Restricted Diet:

https://www.chewy.com/daves-pet-food-restricted-diet/dp/101618

The follow up urinalysis showed zero crystals and thankfully she has done well ever since. But it really could have gone the other way, which is why I very much wanted my vet on board with the plan so that a plan to monitor her was in place. Kitty is particularly fond of the Dave's, which is great because it's less expensive than NVI!

If you are going to make a change, please get your vet involved in the process so that Mufasa can be monitored.

Also, I did make changes to Kitty's environment in case stress played a role in her crystal issue: she has water bowls every where and a fountian, Feliway diffuser running at all times, a bird feeder outside the windows for her watching enjoyment, scheduled play time every night and I've just trained her to go outside on a harness.

The fact that Mufasa is male and Kitty is female is a big difference when talking about urinary crystals. My understanding is that crystal formation in males are much more dangerous due to the bladder anatomy in males make them likely to block fully (as you well know) whereas females can have a crisis and be very ill but are unlikely to fully block.

Even though Kitty is doing really well, I am still obsessed about how much she pees every day. I never want to relive that again so I understand your fears and my girl did not suffer nearly as bad as your sweet little man.

Sorry for such a long post but feline urinary crystal issues are complex and have severe health consequences so I wanted to give as through a response as I could. I'm sure you have already been to this website but just in case you have not, it was the source which began my exploration into what to feed my girl and is an execellent resource:

http://www.catinfo.org