Going from CD back to regular food?

Hi all,

My vet put Eppie on C/D (low pH) food about 5 months ago. They did not find crystals in her urine; they just thought it'd stop her from peeing on the couches (though we all think that's more anxiety-driven).

Anyway, things are about to be very lean for me for possibly the next few months as I am about to be unemployed. Will it be harmful to the cats if I put them on a lower-cost regular cat food until I can afford to buy the expensive special diet food? Or is there a low cost CD food available?

Thanks y'all!

Purina One (not the best of the best I know but not horrible either) makes a Urinary Tract Formula, thats lower in PH, I know the Purina Pro Plan line does as well. check with your vet maybe one of those two would be ok?

My concern is that your cat is on C/D when it's not medically necessary. Lowering the ph of the urine in a healthy cat can cause the opposite (calcium oxylate) crystals, which are more difficult to treat. I don't know why she would have been put on this food in the first place if struvite crystals weren't present. Granted, I'm not a veterinarian. Perhaps a second opinion is in order?

Originally Posted by vanillasugar

My concern is that your cat is on C/D when it's not medically necessary. Lowering the ph of the urine in a healthy cat can cause the opposite (calcium oxylate) crystals, which are more difficult to treat. I don't know why she would have been put on this food in the first place if struvite crystals weren't present. Granted, I'm not a veterinarian. Perhaps a second opinion is in order?

Click to expand...

Um I second this concern ...

I'm a receptionist at a veterinary clinic. It seems like almost every one of our clients that has a cat on c/d also has other cats that they feed it to (simply because they're too lazy to feed their cats seperately). They complain about the cost of the food when they're feeding it to 2 or 3 cats (and only one actually needs it). We do tell them that it can cause problems in healthy cats, but they don't seem to care. I would definately not risk harming my healthy cats if I had one that needed to be on c/d, but in the two years that I've worked at the clinic I haven't seen a healthy cat develop oxylate crystals from being on it. I would definately talk to your vet about it though. It doesn't sound like either of your cats need to be on it. There are behavior modifying drugs that can be used to treat inappropriate urination in cats. One of my cats is on Amitriptyline (she's on it for excessive grooming because she licks herself bald). Amitriptyline is also used for inappropriate urination in cats and seperation anxiety in dogs. If your vet won't prescribe the drug ask to be referred to a veterinary dermatologist who will. I ended up taking my cat to a Veterinary school that had a dermatologist who prescribed it. I guess general vets are a little leary to prescribe the drugs due to the fact that they are actually human anti-depressants and there is always the risk of human drug abuse.

Thanks everyone.
Yeah, Eppie is on Amitriptyline, which does seem to be doing the trick. And yes, my other cat is on CD as well (the vet told me that'd be fine) because there is no way I can feed Eppie without Cosette getting to the food (she can get into everything).
So I'll call my vet tomorrow and see what she recommends that they BOTH can eat that's lower-cost.
Thanks everyone!