Is there an over the counter cat food for cat that have urinary track infection with christals.

Question

My cat is 9 years old and is on special food and he has been on this food for a few years now and it is getting to be expensive.

Answer 1

Science Diet is the number one vet recommended food for this kind of stuff. I think the specific diet is Science Diet C/D, but i might be wrong about the letters.

Answer 2

Most cats dealing with struvite crystals (FLUTD) do well on a high protein, low carb, and grain free wet food diet. You many want to look into these while switching food. Eliminate all and any dry food including prescriptions. They will not help your cat but instead, make his condition even worse.  I am uncomfortable with giving out brand names when it comes to cats with special dietary needs as a result of certain medical conditions.

I do suggest however, that you join a FLUTD support group here on Yahoo. The members have extensive knowledge on how to feed and care for cats with this condition as well as links to important information and educational resources.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FLUTD

Good Luck!!

Answer 3

Why doesn't your vet surgically remove the chrystals?  My cat had a urinary problem and after several antibiotic treatments and switching her food that didn't work long term, my vet surgically removed a chrystal that was blocking in her bladder area and she hasn't had any problems since then.  The vet did a great job and even saved the specimen and showed it to me.

Answer 4

Yes there is.Science Diet Prescription Diets make many types of food  for cats with FUS(feline urinary Syndrom) .The food specifically call C/D is much lower in minerals(mainly magnesium and calcium) to help prevent  bladder sludge and stones from forming blockages in the urinary tract.See here...

http://www.hillspet.com/hillspet/product...  

You can get it at any vets office.

As far as purchasing low magnesium food elsewhere go here:

http://www.nextag.com/urinary-tract-cat-...

These should be cheaper than Science Diet Prescription Diets.

Removal of crystals and stones by surgery only removes the present urinary blockage but of course cannot affect blockages which can and will happen in the future(rather quickly,I might add).

Sometimes, if you're lucky, just switching to a low magnesium-low mineral food will be the answer.Good Luck.

Answer 5

Yes. We feed it to my cat, too. I believe it's Purina One Urinary Health. You can get it at any grocery store.  

Answer 6

Been there, done this. :o( I have 2 males who I almost lost to FLUTD, struvite crystals, bladder and kidney stones. I managed to cure both of them naturally (with the help of my vet) by feeding a species appropriate Raw food diet and adding in a regimen of natural supplements.

My biggest piece of advice is if your vet advises you to use a “prescription diet” food… choose to skip that route and go for a strictly wet food diet, canned or raw, instead. Vets that prescribe dry prescription foods and even canned prescription diets as the cure to Urinary Tract problems obviously know nothing about feline nutrition and are only bandaiding the problem instead of preventing it in the first place. Sadly, most vets never learn anything about feline nutrition except what the cat food companies teach them. *roll eyes here* Any vet that would tell you to put your already sick cat on a garbage food made with cheap fillers like Hills Science Diet, Royal Canin, or Purina Prescription clearly knows NOTHING about cats nutritional needs

Cats were never designed to eat dry food. NEVER. They eat their prey whole and wet. Cats do not have a thirst mechanism. So because of all that… cats are designed to eat only wet food. We idiot humans feed dry only for our convenience. Shows how much we used to know, huh?

Because of all the above, we, by feeding dry, are usually the cause of all UTI issues in cats. They do not take in enough water on a dry diet and so their systems do not fully flush out so they get UTI issues.

What you need to do is unconcentrate the urine. To do that you need to stop feeding all dry foods and switch to an all wet diet. Either a canned diet or Raw. Did your vet recommend that? Wet food will help flush the system faster so that crystals and bacteria can not form.

Get your kitty on a STRICKTLY wet food diet. Either high quality canned, or a raw diet. It’s not cheap but it will cost you less in the long run than the vet. You can learn about raw food at www.catinfo.org and www.catnutrition.org  or canned… choose Wellness, Merrick, Drs Foster and Smith or something with those matching ingredients.

No matter which you choose… no more dry food for your cat ever. Wet food only!

I’ve also had success using Glucosomine and Chrondriton for preventing inflammation in the urethra. Discuss this with your vet and ask them to look into it. There are some major feline studies being done on this that are VERY promising!

If your kittys urine needs more acidity because of struvite Crystals you can also add dry cranberry extract, just a pinch 2X a day on wet food. And you can try a pinch of Vitamin C sprinkled on as well.

Give your kitty distilled water to drink only. Both my vet and I are convinced after speaking with vets all over the county that the hardness and mineral content in water in different areas contributes to the # of cases of UTI’s in those areas. From here on out… distilled water only. Another suggestion… is to get kitty a water fountain. I bought the Bigdog Drinkwell for my cats and keep it filled with distilled water and they love it. It’s a great way to encourage their water consumption.  

Lastly, get yourself a bag of scientific litter so you can keep track of kittys PH levels at home. You won’t be able to detect the crystals at home that cause blockages, but if the ph was off… you could get kitty in for a urine analysis right away and possibly head off a blockage.

Good luck!