Urinary Tract Infection in Cats

[butterfly08]

Vets don't really have a clue what is good pet food. You have to go by the ingredients and decide for yourself. AND vets get perks from pet food distributors.

Iams is a rather pricey food considering it's full of filler ingredients that aren't really good for your pet.

How do you know which ingredients you should be looking for?

 

[cattitude]

How do you know which ingredients you should be looking for?

Here are a few sites. It's best to read for yourself and make your own informed decision. Kibble really should not be the main part of your cat's diet.


What cat food ingredients should I look for - Cat Food FAQ

How to choose a cat food




While most of these are wet foods, you can see that Science Diet, as well as Iams had recalls.

A look at recalled pet food brands - Pet health

 

[butterfly08]

Here are a few sites. It's best to read for yourself and make your own informed decision. Kibble really should not be the main part of your cat's diet.


What cat food ingredients should I look for - Cat Food FAQ

How to choose a cat food




While most of these are wet foods, you can see that Science Diet, as well as Iams had recalls.

A look at recalled pet food brands - Pet health

Thanks I'll take a look at those sites when I get home, for some reason they are blocked here at work.

 

[denisend]

Do your cats eat wet food or dry? Wet food gives them more water (cats have a low thirst drive), which will help flush out the kidneys and bladder, which helps prevent future infections. That's a good first step, and may be adequate if he has an infection but no crystals.

I'd still consider switching to a quality brand (I prefer Wellness, myself, though we recently went to Weruva since one of the boys is allergic to everything). Cats aren't built to digest a lot of the ingredients in commercial foods.

Denise

Has anyone ever had their cat get a urinary tract infection? I have two girl cats and one boy cat(Tiger). Well I started noticing that Tiger was urinating outside the litter box. At first I didn't think much of it. Then I noticed that there was blood in his urine. He would also go to the bathroom like every five minutes and only a little at at time. That's when I decided to take him to the vet. They determined it was an infection and did a urinalysis on him. The results of his urinalysis came back that he had no crystals in his urine(she said the crystals could cause stones). They also gave him about two weeks of antiobiotics to take which he just finished taking. They told me that I should change his diet to prevent him from getting more infections, and of course they want you to buy the food that they have there, which is so expensive. I know that there are other cat food brands that promote urinary tract health...couldn't I just feed him that? Im just curious if anyone has any experience with this and if so, any other suggestions you may have.

 

[butterfly08]

Do your cats eat wet food or dry? Wet food gives them more water (cats have a low thirst drive), which will help flush out the kidneys and bladder, which helps prevent future infections. That's a good first step, and may be adequate if he has an infection but no crystals.

I'd still consider switching to a quality brand (I prefer Wellness, myself, though we recently went to Weruva since one of the boys is allergic to everything). Cats aren't built to digest a lot of the ingredients in commercial foods.

Denise

I've always fed my cats dry food, Would it be better if I was doing a combination of wet and dry food?

 

[cattitude]

I've always fed my cats dry food, Would it be better if I was doing a combination of wet and dry food?

More wet...less dry.

 

[Mousebaby]

My vet told me to take my cats completely off wet food as it is bad for their teeth. He told me just to make sure that there is plenty of fresh water available for them to drink. I have two waterfountains plus various other water stations for them. Only 1 of my cats are over weight and NONE have had UTI! My only cat that has any kind of problem like that has been a sickly cat all her life. I have been with the same vet for 16 yrs. after all this time he has never once steered me wrong! JMHO!

 

[denisend]

For a cat with a history of urinary problems, I would definitely get him to eat as much wet food as he will. One of mine has had crystals, and he only gets dry food on Friday and Saturday nights when we want to sleep in (because there's no snooze alarm on a hungry cat! ).

Good luck!
Denise

I've always fed my cats dry food, Would it be better if I was doing a combination of wet and dry food?

 

[cattitude]

My vet told me to take my cats completely off wet food as it is bad for their teeth.

Did you know that's a bunch of crap?

For starters:

Little Big Cat

 

[denisend]

Mousebaby, there aren't any definitive studies on dental health, so that's not really a good reason (IMO) to favor wet or dry. There are certainly other reasons, but in this case (a cat with a history of a potentially fatal disease), flushing as much fluids through his system is the most important thing. Your cats may have a stronger thirst drive and so may not need wet food. Everyone is different.


There are some specialized dry foods that I have had good experiences with in improving my cats' tartar levels, but IME the normal dry foods have been the same as the wet foods. I've come to the conclusion that if I want to "brush" my cats' teeth with their food, I'll just use bone-in raw rather than carbohydrate-filled dry foods. But that's my conclusion after reading the studies...

Denise

My vet told me to take my cats completely off wet food as it is bad for their teeth. He told me just to make sure that there is plenty of fresh water available for them to drink. I have two waterfountains plus various other water stations for them. Only 1 of my cats are over weight and NONE have had UTI! My only cat that has any kind of problem like that has been a sickly cat all her life. I have been with the same vet for 16 yrs. after all this time he has never once steered me wrong! JMHO!

 

[huntr1]

Our cats have been eating Purina One Urinary Tact Health dry food since 1998.

 

[Mousebaby]

Now I am beyond confused! He is completely convinced that the male cats do not need the extra wet in their diet where I had been told that they did. He is also convinced that dry is better for their teeth.

I guess I will give them back their wet food. Thing is they have lost weight since I took them off and really don't want them to gain it back.

What to do what to do.....

 

[denisend]

Read up on the dangers of dry food, and then decide if your cats show symptoms of suffering from these problems.

For example - are they dehydrated? Check the skin at the scruff of their neck, does it "snap" back in place or does it slide slowly (or tent up). Are their gums slippery or sticky? Are they having urinary tract or kidney problems?

If they aren't having any problems on dry, and you suspect that they will have problems (i.e. become overweight or obese) on wet, then you have to decide if that is something that you want to do.

As I said before, I don't think that there's a food that is right for every cat; every cat is different. Unfortunately, of my four... we seem to have 3 different foods going.

And, of course... my advice is worth what you paid for it.

Denise

------------------
Chance, with CRF, is on prescription for that
Yates, who's allergic to beef, chicken, pork, turkey, milk, eggs, liver, and flaxseed, eats various fish flavored wet Weruva
Hunter, who's PICKY, eats Wellness packets in fish flavors
Juliet, eats anything (THANK GOODNESS)

Now I am beyond confused! He is completely convinced that the male cats do not need the extra wet in their diet where I had been told that they did. He is also convinced that dry is better for their teeth.

I guess I will give them back their wet food. Thing is they have lost weight since I took them off and really don't want them to gain it back.

What to do what to do.....