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Old July 21st, 2008, 08:45 PM
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sugarcatmom sugarcatmom is offline
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Calgary, AB
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Quote:
Originally Posted by darraz View Post
Miss Kitty went on antibiotics and the vet told me to try Science diet indoor .073% mag.
First things first, welcome to the board! Sorry to hear Miss Kitty has urinary tract issues.

Now for my spiel about vets and nutrition. Basically, when it comes to cats especially, vets have no business giving diet recommendations. The education they receive on the topic is minimal at best, and severely biased by Big Pet Food at worst. Unless they've been really active in doing their own research on feline nutrition, it's best to ignore 'em. You might find this little article interesting: http://catnutrition.wordpress.com/20...food-and-vets/
The fact that your vet thinks it's the amount of magnesium in the food that is causing Miss Kitty's problems proves s/he isn't all that current on the issue. Magnesium is only a factor when urine is too alkaline, and the way to make urine more acidic is to feed a meat-based, species appropriate diet, not a crappy corn/grain based one like Science Diet.

Quote:
Originally Posted by darraz View Post
I can't seem to find a grain free, low magnesium dry food. Any suggestions?
A cat with a history of urinary/bladder issues should not be eating any dry at all. The best thing you can do for Miss Kitty is eliminate the kibble (gradually, if you have to, but you have to none-the-less). I urge you to read this link for details on why dry food (even if it's grain-free) is not a good idea: http://www.catinfo.org/ There are tips on how to transition to an all wet diet: http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_

Have you tried just picking up all the dry and leaving canned down instead? Most people get overly worried about spoilage when leaving wet food out, but it really isn't a problem. That's how I feed my cat. You might also want to try a few different flavours and brands of canned food because many cats get bored eating the same thing all the time. Miss Kitty might eat more if she had more variety.

Anyway, good luck and do let me know how she does.
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