- Joined
- Dec 11, 2012
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- 19
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My 5 y/o kitty recently went through an awful experience with urinary blockage due to crystals. We thankfully caught it super early so he never experienced toxin buildup or any of the other horrible things that can happen from blockage, but he ended up needing a PU surgery because he kept re-blocking and he had atypical anatomy that made it almost impossible for the doctors to insert a catheter (a surgeon had to do it the first time because the ER doc couldn't get it in). That anatomy also put him at hugely increased risk for re-blocking.
We're now about 10 days out from the surgery, and I have been feeding him Hills C/D (wet only) as prescribed by the hospital where he had the surgery. I am familiar with the complaints against Hills food generally (by-products, grains, etc.). Prior to this he was eating a combination of Wellness Chicken canned food (grain free, by-product free), and Blue Buffalo indoor freedom dry (also grain free, by-product free). The majority of his food was the wet, but he has a strong preference for the dry so he was getting a carefully measured amount of that every day. He also loves to drink water and I have several bowls out and a fountain, so I have a really hard time believing that the crystals were caused by a lack of moisture and/or poor diet, as so many people seem to suggest.
With that background, I'm struggling with what to feed him on an ongoing basis. The vet says he will need to be on C/D for the rest of his life, and if that is what is best for him I will do it. But I'm concerned about it causing other health problems with all the by-products and grain. At the same time, I don't want to risk further bladder complications by going back to a high-quality but non-prescription diet.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Are there any high quality diets out there that are formulated to regulate urinary pH the way that the prescription diets are? If so, I can't find them! Thanks for reading and for any ideas!
We're now about 10 days out from the surgery, and I have been feeding him Hills C/D (wet only) as prescribed by the hospital where he had the surgery. I am familiar with the complaints against Hills food generally (by-products, grains, etc.). Prior to this he was eating a combination of Wellness Chicken canned food (grain free, by-product free), and Blue Buffalo indoor freedom dry (also grain free, by-product free). The majority of his food was the wet, but he has a strong preference for the dry so he was getting a carefully measured amount of that every day. He also loves to drink water and I have several bowls out and a fountain, so I have a really hard time believing that the crystals were caused by a lack of moisture and/or poor diet, as so many people seem to suggest.
With that background, I'm struggling with what to feed him on an ongoing basis. The vet says he will need to be on C/D for the rest of his life, and if that is what is best for him I will do it. But I'm concerned about it causing other health problems with all the by-products and grain. At the same time, I don't want to risk further bladder complications by going back to a high-quality but non-prescription diet.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Are there any high quality diets out there that are formulated to regulate urinary pH the way that the prescription diets are? If so, I can't find them! Thanks for reading and for any ideas!