Food for cat with UTI tendencies?

[Muffin]

The vet recommended my four year old cat, Atticus, go on the prescription Royal Canin SD food, as he seems to get urinary tract infections on occasion (once a year or so) for some reason. Previously, both he and Omar were eating a grain free food, which I switched them to when I ran into problems getting their favorite, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lovers Soul.

Comparatively, the grain free and CSftCLS were around $16 for a seven pound bag. The Royal Canin is almost three times that! And, both cats eat together, so Omar is eating it by default. But, they love it. No issues with not eating in this house!

A friend recommended Purina One Urinary Tract formula, and I have to admit, the reviews online are great. Reading the reviews of the Royal Canin SD aren’t as glowing, oddly. The nutritional breakdown is similar.

I’m considering mixing the Purina One and the Royal Canin. I don’t want to take Atti off what the vet recommended, but it’s seriously pricey, especially with two cats eating it. Does anyone have any experience with the Purina One, or another UT dry food formula?

Thanks in advance!

[Simkie]

A recall issue with Royal Canin killed one of my cats. Was many years ago, but I’m still bitter about it. They were total jerks to deal with through it all.

The MOST important thing for a cat with urinary issues is hydration…so ditch the dry and switch to an all wet diet. Add water to that, too, so it’s soup. The best wet diets are meat only, but if you can’t afford that, an all wet diet with meat as the primary ingredient is fine–and will be leaps and bounds better than dry.

You can do a really high quality wet diet for about a buck a day with the By Nature stuff.

You can do it for about 60 cents a day with the Tractor Supply 4 Health stuff.

You can do it for about 35 cents a day with the Sprouts stuff I can find at Fleet Farm.

And avoid all fish for a cat with pee problems.

Good luck!

[Muffin]

Thanks, Simkie. Great information. I’m sorry about your cat. I’ll read up on an all wet food diet.

I give Atticus a teaspoon of the Royal Canin SD wet food each morning. I hadn’t considered giving him more than just as a treat, but I can increase that. Prior to this diet change, both he and Omar were getting a teaspoon of tuna each morning (they’re spoiled). I didn’t realize fish was tied to UTIs. Maybe I should change Omar to a chicken option?

Neither damn cat will drink the filtered water in their bowl. They both insist on drinking out of the toilet. I’ll experiment with a bowl of wetted dry food and a bowl of dry in the interim.

Any other tips would be greatly appreciated! Their litter is the cedar pine kind, since I understand the clumping clay litter can be dusty and cause UT blockages. I also started to give Atti a homeopathic remedy called Cantharsis every week or so, which is good for UTIs. Apparently stress can be a factor as well, but I haven’t had any changes in their home lives.

[Hulk]

Give the cat only distilled water to drink. Mix water in with can food to make a slurry to increase water intake. Good luck with kitty, chronic UTI sucks. We have a few guys we have to watch, so I feel for you.

[Muffin]

Thanks for the advice! Atticus just had a slurry of the wet food, and didn’t seem to mind it. I’ve put some water in a bowl of dry food, and will be curious if they eat that up before the morning. I’ll get a jug of distilled water for them as well. I don’t want to stop them from drinking, so I guess I have no choice but to let them continue to drink from the toilet.

Assuming the wetted dry food is gone by the morning, is that something I can make ahead of time and keep in the fridge? Of course, I’ll warm it up before giving it to them!

[alto]

Be careful with the wetted dry food - read the articles on bacteria & molds that become an issue with this, it’s been a awhile so not sure if removing any remaining food after 15-20 min worked to control the issue.

Canned food is processed differently, though even with that, check with manufacturer re feeding directions.

(unlike dogs, cats are much less able to deal with bacterial etc contaminated food issues)

As your cat has re-occurring UTI’s (rather than a single incident), I’d be careful with foods, why not just feed both cats individually in crates etc.

I’m in agreement with Simkie’s suggestion to switch off the dry food completely.

[wendy]

most important thing to do with cats with UTI problems is never ever feed them dry food. They need to eat wet food exclusively. If you can get more fluids into the cat via food it will probably clear up the problem completely.

[Peggy]

Try feeding Cosequin to the cat. It is known to help with idiopathic UTIs.

[Ruth0552]

Is it actually a UTI or idiopathic bladder irritation (often called idiopathic cystitis). From what I’ve read/been told, it is far more likely for cats to have cystitis, crystals, stones, etc., than it is for a cat to have a real infection. However, many people call bladder issues a UTI.

I have a cat that had calcium oxalate stones that had to be surgically removed. He has been eating dry SO and wet friskies since then and has been fine.

Another cat had two recurrences of idiopathic cystitis. After the second bout I put him on the SO as well and added Cosequin. It worked well, and he has been fine for years. After about a year I weaned him off the Cosequin and he has been fine.

I know a lot of people hate the prescription diets and dry cat food, but it does work.

[scruffy_the_cat]

Yeah, no dry food ever. Mine got rid of all the kidney/urinary issues once we switched to high quality canned like EVO 95% meat. Every once in awhile we’d give her a little kibble because she adored it so much but every time, she’d start with the urinary problems again, so we stopped that.

[Frivian]

If they won’t drink out of their bowl, have you thought about getting a fountain? My cat will only drink water out of a fountain.

[Muffin]

Ruth, you’re right. I called it a UTI, but Atti had crystals in his urine. The vet did suggest Cosequin as well, so I’ll get him some of that.

He wasn’t wild about the slurry this morning, but ate it up when I added more wet food than water. I’ll have to wean him onto a more soup like mixture. Water in the dry food did not go over well at all, it turns out.

The fountain is a good idea. They also drink water out of whatever bowl is soaking in the kitchen sink, which again, makes no sense! They both love to bat ice cubes around, but that’s playing, not licking them.

[Simkie]

What kind of crystals?

If you move the kitties to a wet only diet, especially if you are able to add water to it, they will likely stop drinking otherwise. By all means, continue to offer with whatever sort of bowl that they like, but don’t be surprised if you nearly never see them drink. Kitties are really designed to get their fluids via their food. I have four all on wet and never, ever see three of them drink. The fourth is operating on one kidney and has had elevated renal values for 10 years, and I do see her at the water bowl a few times a week.

Cosequin is an excellent idea. And cheap from Amazon

[Romany]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7840540]
A recall issue with Royal Canin killed one of my cats. Was many years ago, but I’m still bitter about it. They were total jerks to deal with through it all.

The MOST important thing for a cat with urinary issues is hydration…so ditch the dry and switch to an all wet diet. Add water to that, too, so it’s soup. The best wet diets are meat only, but if you can’t afford that, an all wet diet with meat as the primary ingredient is fine–and will be leaps and bounds better than dry.

You can do a really high quality wet diet for about a buck a day with the By Nature stuff.

You can do it for about 60 cents a day with the Tractor Supply 4 Health stuff.

You can do it for about 35 cents a day with the Sprouts stuff I can find at Fleet Farm.

And avoid all fish for a cat with pee problems.

Good luck![/QUOTE]

Simkie - sorry about the loss of your cat after eating Royal Canin - how awful.

I was curious about the “avoid all fish” comment - our cat only eats wet/canned food (gives dry food a good stiff ignoring), and prefers the fish ones. Are they ok? Do you mean avoid all fish, or avoid fishy cat food?

[Simkie]

[QUOTE=Romany;7841478]
I was curious about the “avoid all fish” comment - our cat only eats wet/canned food (gives dry food a good stiff ignoring), and prefers the fish ones. Are they ok? Do you mean avoid all fish, or avoid fishy cat food?[/QUOTE]

It’s my understanding that all fishy flavors should be avoided, although I admit I’ve never done a whole lot of looking into why. Let’s see what we can find…

Here’s an article written by a vet about it:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/

Yikes!!

[Romany]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7841503]
It’s my understanding that all fishy flavors should be avoided, although I admit I’ve never done a whole lot of looking into why. Let’s see what we can find…

Here’s an article written by a vet about it:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-fish-is-dangerous-for-cats/

Yikes!![/QUOTE]

Rightyo then - more digging required, clearly: thanks for the heads-up.

Now, how to break this sad news to the cat…

[Frivian]

Re: the fountain thing - my cat is on an all wet-food diet, and she does drink water in addition. Not very much, but I do have to refill it once a weekish.

[Muffin]

Cosequin ordered!

Thanks everyone! I’m feeling better about everything now. Simike, I’m not sure what kind of crystals he had?

Here’s my main question… How much canned food should a cat get?? And, do you toss it out if they haven’t eaten it all up within a certain time, or is it ok to leave out all day? I’ve never done an all can diet. I still have a fair amount of the SO dry left, so I can see how they fare on a canned diet. I like the idea of the EVO 95 Chicken, a store near me carries it, and it looks like it comes in a soup-size can (as opposed to like a tuna size can).

Atti is a big cat… 17 pounds. Omar is slimmer and sleeker, I’d say around 13 pounds or so.

I’ll have to wander around the grocery store today and see if chicken for people comes in pouches or something (I’m a vegetarian so I don’t frequent the meat section!). Wonder if something like that would be a good thing to mix in with a can and water stew?

[Simkie]

Struvite stones will dissolve on their own, but calcium oxalate stones will not–it would be good to know what kind of crystals were present as one required a bit more watching and attention.

I feed my average sized cats one 5.5 oz can per day per cat (in two servings) which works out to about 200 kcal/day. Here is a good place to start: calorie requirements for cats (although that does look a touch high to me based on my experiences.)

I’ve gone to a crate feeding system for my cats, and LOVE IT. We initially started because I had a fat one that really needed less, and another that required a novel protein. Every cat goes into a small dog crate (but much bigger than a regular cat travel crate) twice a day for meals. They are locked in for perhaps 30-60 minutes to eat their meal, and then any food that’s left over is picked up. When we first started, I did feed lunch to my grazing kitty, as the whole concept of eating a meal all at once was a little foreign to her, but now she’s gotten on board. Everyone cleans up their portion, and I have excellent visibility and control over who gets what and how much they’re actually eating.

Prior to the crate system, food went down in the morning and bowls were picked up at dinner in the evening. That worked fine, although the piggy one ate more than her share and the grazer got left out a bit sometimes due to that. (We didn’t live in a place with bug issues, so leaving food out all day didn’t draw ants or roaches or anything.)

I wouldn’t add chicken to the canned, but you can if you really want to. I would keep it a small portion of the diet–more of a treat–and include those calories in your calculations.

[Romany]

How much? Try one can at a time - I only buy the teeny ones now, as anything more just goes to waste - hrh doesn’t like anything that’s been in the fridge. He’ll eat up to 5 cans a day if he’s staaaarving, otherwise 3 or 4.