urinary health advice needed (male cat)

[tara7884]

I hope this topic hasn't been posted before. I don't check the cat forums too often and I couldn't find any info in the search.

My 5 year old male cat has been "blocked" twice due to urinary infections. Both times he has been taken to the vet and was in danger of death. The 1st time he was put on Hill's CD for urinary health. I was debating switching to Innova because I felt the quality of food was better. I decided, after all the recalls, that I should. He recently had this problem a second time and is currently at the vet recovering from a surgery that basically made him a female in order to enlarge his urinary opening.

I will of course be discussing the best food options for him with my vet when I visit him tom. I just wanted to get some opinions from all of you. If you have had this problem, I was wondering have you ever had reoccurring urinary issues while on the special food ( like Hill's CD) , or have you had any success staying on a regular diet (Innova)? Were there any things you added to the diet to support urinary health? Any other advice or suggestions would be appreciated. I've looked online and tried to find out as much as I can. I want to feed my kitties the best food, but don't want to risk any health issues.

I am assuming his health issues are biological. I have 4 cats: 1 male and 1 female that have never had any urinary issues. This cat and his mom have both have had multiple urinary issues. ( His mom was a stray I brought in when she had her babies on my porch )

Thanks for your help. 

[Lise]

You don't mention if the Innova was wet?  He needs needs needs wet food.  Even the C/D dry, etc. doesn't work well for urinary issues.  The wet food is needed to ensure adequate water intake to help flush out the bladder continually.  When cats eat dry food they are not getting nearly enough water intake, helping create these issues.

With his perineal urethrostomy even though the chances that he will block have been reduced or eliminated, he will still be prone to bladder infections and could still develop bladder stones.  Which I'm sure your vet has explained to you.

As for food...  I can't really advise what to do.  Because I would be in the exact same position as you.  At work we send cats home on canned Urinary SO diet and it does seem to really work for urinary health in my experience.  The owners that feed 100% the urinary diet have much less problems with their cats getting reoccuring urinary problems.  But looking at the ingredients they are not so great, so I know why you are on the fence about it. 

[tara7884]

Thank you for your reply. I have aways fed dry, but will now switch to the wet. I really appreciate your advice and help.   It's so hard to know what is best for my pets, and in times when they are sick, I always feel so guilty about what I could have done differently. Thanks again!

[Marybelle]

I agree that canned food will be best for the problems your guy is having. 

I don't have much advice other than that, but I hope that a food switch will help him be a healthier kid. 

[windfire]

hi my blazer has been blocked  and had surgery and is on hills science diet. he gets a half can wet mixed with the dry and has water all the time. i have several cats and other animals and he is very sensitive to new things.

my vet has put him on cosequin for cats. at first it was once a day but now its every other day and he so far hasnt been blocked agian. its used for other things like joints and stuff but has been proven as a coating in the bladder to keep irratants away and not cause the upset. blaze has no problem eating it in his food eiother i just mix it in.

my vet also says the wet flushes the system as it has fluids in it. wets are always better when a cat has urinary problems accorsing to him.  but blaze does get dry too but its the cd diet dry for cats by hills he loves it but in moderation. hed eat all day if i let him.

wet in my opinion really does make a differeance.    but becareful about switching foods to that can create a problem too. my vet said to be careful with it if blaze didnt like the hills. thankfully he did and does and the cans come in 3 flavors so he has a varity. given i have to order through my vet but he likes them.

hope this helps some.

[tara7884]

Thanks for your help everyone! The vet said not to worry about food right now, and to feed what he is used to so that he eats. So for right now he is getting both his dry food and the wet version. He isn't much of an eater. I will switch to wet when he is "back to normal".

He is doing better, I wish he would eat more, but he is drinking and peeing!!! I never thought I would be so excited about cleaning out a litterbox

[werecatrising]

I know how frustrating it is. My cat, Ebony, has blocked several times. I had him on the hills for awhile, but he put on tons of weight. Next I tried the purina ur, but he hated it and it gave him diarrhea. I them swithced him to IVD control. It is  weight loss food for cats with urinary problems. I don't like giving him these foods. However, when I tried to put him on wellness like the rest of the cats, he blocked again.

One thing I'd reccomend along with the wet food is some sort of pet fountain. They really seem to increase water intake.

[strangeduck]

The cat I am adopting on Saturday has this issue as well and is on the Hill's Science Diet for urinary health.  The stuff I read about the condition says that wet food is more important than some special formulation of dry food.  I feed Felidae to my four, wet in the morning and dry available all day.  I want to switch him to Felidae because I like it better than Science Diet, but I'm afraid of too many changes at once.  Any tips for the safest way to switch him over?  I figure the first few days I'll keep him in the bathroom most of the day, at least until I'm sure he and my four aren't going to tear the fur off of each other, so I can feed him separately, but once he's out and about it's going to be hard to feed them separately.

[Marybelle]

A slow switch is what works best.  It should take several weeks to do a full switch from one food to another.  I'd start by adding in the canned food to his current diet.  You can do that while he's waiting in the bathroom, I'd think.  Once he's used to getting the canned food, you can start the switch to the Felidae dry.

[nakedrats]

I had great success with raw with my boy that blocked.  Raw has tons of water in it and no cruddy ingredients!

[Lise]

A slow switch is what works best.  It should take several weeks to do a full switch from one food to another. 

You can do a switch over a week.... it only takes approx 1 week for the enzymes in the stomach/intestines to accomodate the nutrients in the new food.

[Marybelle]

Not according to my cats!  But then, they're weird anyway. 

[Vibrissa]

Diet is DEFINITELY helpful or harmful

join these groups--they have great advice on foods and feeding
 
(I learned a LOT since the food recalls last year and doing a lot of research)  Most dry foods definitely connected to kidney failure, diabetes, and urinary tract problems. 

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/cathealthadvice/

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/CATWELL/?v=1&t=directory&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=dir&slk=20

Although I haven't gone there  yet (really don't know how yet), I have read and heard from many people that raw feeding increases overall health (and our conventional/holistic vet recommends it).  But I did upgrade in feeding and learned a LOT about many major brands that I "thought" were great, including Hill's Science Diet pushed by most vets.

Good luck to you and there IS lots of hope--diet change!