Maintenance and struvite dissolution diet regimen help requested

Hi everyone,

I have a wonderful 3-year old male cat named Avery who has a history of struvite crystals. His former keeper fed him cheap food and he underwent surgery a few months ago. The cystotomy resulted in removal of a 2 cm stone. A recent trip to the vet proved that there were no crystals in his urine, but I want to make sure that I'm giving him the best diet to prevent a recurrence. So far, this is what I've been doing:

1) Feeding only canned prescription vet-only food.
2) Adding clean filtered water to every meal. About 1-2 tablespoons of water per half-can of food. He won't drink on his own or from a cat fountain.
3) Giving him free access to fresh wheat grass.

With respect to food choices, I've administered as follows:

1) On weekdays, Medi-Cal Preventive canned food. Therefore, he gets this 5 days a week out of 7, or 71% of the time.
2) On weekends, Medi-Cal Struvite Dissolution canned food. Therefore, he gets this 2 days a week out of 7, or 29% of the time.

Unfortunately, my vet wasn't very specific about how to feed him the combination of Preventive and Dissolution formulae. My question is about how I should give him the combination of foods.

For example, should is the 5 day / 2 day mix appropriate? Or should I feed him Preventive for 2 months and then 1 month of Dissolution cycled throughout the year? Or should I mix the two foods completely and evenly all the time?

I'm concerned since I know that lowering the pH too much by using the Dissolution formula can result in Calcium Oxalate crystals. For reference, I found a page on various pet foods, so this should help some of the veteran forum browsers answer my query!

Any help is appreciated, I want the best for my super cat!

Thanks, dcgirl79

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Royal Canin has acquired IVDÂ[emoji]174[/emoji], Medi-CalÂ[emoji]174[/emoji] and Techni-CalÂ[emoji]174[/emoji] brands from Del Monte and has also formed an alliance with Waltham's veterinary diets.

Medi-Cal Preventive is the same as IVD Select Care Control
Medi-Cal Dissolution is the same as Dissolution Formula

No words of wisdom from anyone? Please?

None of us are vets ( some are vet techs ) ... I will say do your own research and see if Rx s are what you and kitty really want and need... You and your vet have to figure that out...Call your vet back and get the specifics about the foods you are currently feding and if you were to go off those what he/she would want in % of protein fat magnesium calcium total ash and phosphorus

The dissolution formula isn't meant to be fed for a long time because it drastically lowers the pH so it is acidic enough for the crystals are broken down. I used Hills s/d for my kitty and it worked wonders, but it is bad for the kitty to be on dissolution food for very long. The recommended duration is until a month after the crystals can no longer be seen in an x-ray. And, only the dissolution food should be fed at that time as a mixture with the maintenance food may not be effective enough to break down the crystals. The maintenance food alone should be fed after this time.