Health Foods: Urinary health food recommendations

Urinary health food recommendations?
I got back from the emergency vet this morning to find out my cat has a UTI (FLUID I think he called it specifically if that means anything) and crystallization of her urine but not blockage. The emerg vet suggested that I should discuss with my vet changing my cat's food to one that is optimal for urinary tract health to prevent another similar incident. Either way, I know that my vet will instantly recommend Iams since that's what he sells at his office and I'm looking for another opinion on what people have used and have worked. Both of my cats are currently on Wellness Core brand, Indoor health and are doing very well on it. So, which food would you recommend? Is such thing as a urinary health food without grain products as my cat is sensitive to them?
Cats - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
I would maybe try this: http://www.hillspet.com/products/pd-feline-cd-multicare-feline-bladder-health-dry.html I don't think there is one without grain in it though, unfortunately. Here is some grain-free cat foods too but they don't have the urinary health to it: http://bluebuffalo.com/products/cats/basics-for-cats-turkey.shtml http://bluebuffalo.com/products/cats/wilderness-cat.shtml http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/cats/dry_food/canyon_river_feline_formula/ http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/cats/dry_food/rocky_mountain_feline_formula/ I feed this stuff ^^^^ and my cats are really healthy and love the food. They eat less, making less time in the litter box. Hope this helps! =) -Fresh--Paint-
2 :
If it is struvite crystals just feed a quality wet food with high protein and no grains. Or if the cat has a lot of crystals and the vet says they need to be dissolved and recommends first a short term diet for that you COULD go ahead and give her that. Or give it DL Methionine or Vitamin C along with a grain free wet food, but check the urine ph with test strips regularly to make sure it is not getting too alkaline or you can risk the cat getting calcium oxalate crystals which have to be surgically removed. (BTW that is what has happened to many cats on the prescription diets for struvite crystals -- it goes too far and changes the pH too much and they get the other kind of crystals that are harder to deal with). And I definitely would not put a cat long term on one of those low quality, high carb, high priced vet foods for crystals full of cheap grain fillers and byproducts. I unfortunately did do that (specifically Hill's c/d) and my cat gained 6 lbs and got diabetes. I have since heard so many other people say their cats became diabetic on those diets. Once I put mine on low carb wet food he never had any problem with crystals. At first he was on Evo but later switched to a variety including Merrick Cowboy Cookout, Wellness, Natures Variety Instinct, Wysong Au Jus, some of the Merrick B.G. (Before Grain) canned food, etc.
3 :
Please consider a high quality canned diet. It will have the moisture and animal protein a cat needs. A low protein prescription diet is kind of the old fashioned way of dealing with crystals. New research suggests that canned food is really just as good if not better because of the protein/moisture combo. On a side note I have noticed a number of folks that had their cats on Wellness CORE had cats with crystal issues. It could be a coincidence but you may want to look into it and perhaps make sure the healthy cat gets some canned food also, just to be safe. All signs point to it being a super healthy food so this was surprising to me, and may just be coincidental like I said.. Here's a couple of studies regarding a high protein/low carb diet http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/ajvr.2003.64.1059 http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/ajvr.2004.65.138 Good luck

Read more discussions :

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Urinary health food recommendations