Uti diet issues

Monica Mieczkowski

So, I have 4 cats, 2 are about 8 and have developed uti issues and crystals. ( we had a vet who just recommend we feed anything and we used purlina ) and 2 cats who are 2yrs and 1 yr. I feed the younger cats separate from the older cats since i thought they were stealing her food and bc the vet put the older cats on science diet cd and I've been researching cat food and have the younger cats on grain free dry in the pm and wet in the am. But one of the older cats still is losing a lot of weight and it seems to be getting worse since the science diet. The vet said her blood work was great, and my sister is a vet tech so she got a full exam and just about every test, and the only thing they found was the crystals and uti. At first I thought the other cats were eating her food, so we feed the younger ones in a separate room with the door closed and give her plenty of time to eat, and I watch her eat so I know she is eating. I started feeding twice a day for her, since before we just fed once a day. Anyway, I'm thinking of trying a grain free wet food and giving it twice a day, does this sound reasonable? Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Also, I cannot feed raw bc I live with my 5 yo niece who likes to feed the cats, and I don't want the salmonila risk for her.

Sally Waldron

My UTI cat was on C/D and lost weight and his hair got really nasty. The Royal Canin is so much better, he has put on weight and has a beautiful coat. I tried grain free for awhile but he just flared again, so I stick with the RC urinary SO.

Laurel Kowalski

Yes, yes an all wet diet is the best!!!! Lot of small meals they say. But if two is what you can schedule try that. If needed add more. If the price of an all wet diet too much then get the cans that are pate ones without gluten in them like some Friskies or Fancy Feast. PS, we add a little extra water to our wet food. But not too runny though it be comes soup for my crew. Yummy!

Karen Lee

Keep an eye on the 8 year old cat. Losing weight is a common symptom of diabetes. Other symptoms include eating a lot of food and always being hungry, flooding the litter box with sticky sugary smelling pee, and a "nail polish remover" smell on the breath. Diabetes is common in senior cats over 8 years old or so. Did the vet include a fructosamine test with the blood work? Urinary issues are often misgianosed by vets :? Here's Dr. Lisa's take on urinary issues and how they can be prevented: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth Any canned food will help with urinary health. Grain free is ideal if you can afford that. Add extra water to the canned food to ensure good water intake. Some cats will eat soupy canned food, others don't. Try different amounts of water to see how much extra they will tolerate in their canned food. Limit seafood to once in awhile meals. Many cats get addicted to eating them and will refuse to eat anything else. Seafood is also low in protein and tend to be high in phosphorus. Twice a day meals isn't enough for many cats. It's like a Huamn eating just breakfast and dinnner 12 hours apart with no snacks or anything in between :? Going too long without food can cause blood glucose to go out of whack and the body to not feel great. You can free feed canned food. A programmable timed feeder works great for this purpose, such as the PetSafe 5 compartment feeder Most cats are ok with eating dried out canned food but you can add extr water to keep the food moist longer. Or freeze canned food in siicone ice cube trays and put the frozen cubes into the feeder. The cubes will slowly defrost in the feeder. Some brands of feeders have ice packs that will keep the food cool. You might need two feeders so that both cats aren't competing to eat out of one feeder.

Monica Mieczkowski

Thanks, the adding water to the food is a great idea. I went out and got some favors of wet food for them, so now hopefully they will like it )