which food and where to get for UTI?

mrsbrak

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I am so confused!

I have 3 cats and have been feeding them Purina One dry, salmon & yogurt flavor, which they have liked for a long time. Occasionally, I'll add a can of Friskies or Iams to the mix for variety.

But now I have a 7-y-o neutered fat male with a urinary tract problem. I also have a 14-y-o neutered & slightly underweight (but healthy) male, and a 3-y-o- female who's starting to get plump. The old cat eats like he's starving all the time, but he just never has gained weight. (Wish I had that problem!)

I've been reading this forum to see what's recommended, so I went down to PetSmart and picked up a variety of canned to see what the kitties would like. I've tried Merrick for a couple of days. They hated it... kept looking at me like I was nuts.

ProPlan didn't go over very well either.

Now we're trying Nutro... the same reaction.

I'm mostly concerned about switching to something that won't aggravate UTI problems. PetSmart doesn't have Wellness or Felidae or Royal Canin except in the dry. I'm not interested in trying BARF... no offense to those who go that route.

Is there a dry or wet food that y'all swear by that's good for UTI and overall health for all cats? And where can you buy it economically? I'd be willing to order online if it saves money.

Thanks, everyone!
 

jlphilli

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Did you try Royal Canin? Petsmart does carry it...

Also, try to stay away from a fish-based dry diet...the high levels of magnesium can cause urine crystals, and kidney problems in cats who are already crystal-prone.
 

yosemite

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I feel your pain. I went through mega brands before I found the Merrick ones they liked. They won't touch anything with fish or seafood - only beef or chicken so I'm down to Merrick's Granny's Pot Pie and Thanksgiving Dinner. Maybe try mixing just a bit of wet with the dry she likes and see if you can get her started on the wet that way.
 

mamacat

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After Nathan had a bad bout of UTI we put both of ours on Hi-tor Felo Diet, as recommended by our pet supply guy and approved by our vet. Nathan did really well on it, but Nedicks eventually developed struvite and calcium oxalate crystals, so we have them both on a prescription dry now, though we still give Nathan the Hi-tor canned (Nedicks gets the prescription wet). I don't necessarily think, though, that Nedicks's crystal problem was directly related to the Hi-tor. In all likelihood, she is genetically inclined and would have developed them no matter what as long as she was not on a prescription diet.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by jlphilli

Did you try Royal Canin? Petsmart does carry it...

Also, try to stay away from a fish-based dry diet...the high levels of magnesium can cause urine crystals, and kidney problems in cats who are already crystal-prone.
I agree as this is the exact words my vet used...

Royal canin makes a decent vet line ... you may want to look into that...
 

kitytize

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I have 2 cats with UTI problems. I feed Purina One Urinary Tract Health. It has worked for 8 years. But I recently did discover Royal Canin special 33 is low magnesium so I have been for the last 3 weeks mixing it in with the Purina One. So far all cats including the non UTI ones are doing very well with this mixture. Purina One is sold almost everywhere and Royal Canin I get from Pet Supplies Plus or Petco.
 

jen

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I have noticed with some cats, that when they are spoiled with the junk foods like Purina, Friskies and Iams, it makes them less likely to accept the health foods. Like if you gave a kid macaroni and cheese for dinner every day then suddenly switched to beans and brussels sprouts. Know what I mean? Did you just switch suddenly or did you gradually add more and more of the new food and less and less of the old? That would be the way to do it. I don't know of any real suggestions for food for UTIs, I just usually buy Nutro or Authority or a healthier brand that says it helps UT health. But when UTIs come up, the cat is usually put on one of a few different meds from the vet. Has the cat actually been treated for the UTI?
 
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