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Food recommendation for urinary health after blockage?
My cat was in the hospital for 3 days with a urinary blockage. Smuckers is now home and is doing well. Seems to be peeing, we've been checking and scooping the litter box regularly - a little difficult to monitor sometimes as we have 2 cats.
After his urinary blockage, the vet sent us home with the Prescription canned food as well as a moist kibble for urinary problems. Smuckers hates both of them; he's been used to dry kibble up until now and I know how important it is to get him switched to a quality canned food specifically for urinary health. So....anyone have any food recommendations that I can buy from Global or somewhere? I've heard a bit about Wellness brand but don't know much about it. Thanks for any suggestions.
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My furbabies: Bruno - grey short-haired domestic (bn Aug. 04) Smuckers - black & white long-haired (bn June 06) Magic - black mixed Shih Tzu, Chihuahua, Malteze, Bichon (bn Feb 19/08) |
#2
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Yikes! Sorry to hear that. Having gone through the whole blockage thing with one of my cats, I know how scary it is.
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And some info on food as it relates to urinary tract health: http://www.catinfo.org/feline_urinary_tract_health.htm Quote:
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"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb “We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler |
#3
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Hi SCM, thanks for your quick reply.
Here is the actual kibble food from my vet: http://www.hillspet.com/products/pre...eline-dry.html It's not as hard and crumbly as the usual store-type kibble and this is the canned food: http://www.hillspet.com/products/pre...ne-canned.html I am ashamed to say he's been eating Whiskas up until now I know, I know - no need to commence lecture Sometimes it takes a real crisis for people to "see the light", kwim? My hubby is going by Global today to check out those brands - do you know if they have foods specific for bladder/urinary health? Thanks for all your help!
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My furbabies: Bruno - grey short-haired domestic (bn Aug. 04) Smuckers - black & white long-haired (bn June 06) Magic - black mixed Shih Tzu, Chihuahua, Malteze, Bichon (bn Feb 19/08) |
#4
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So sorry to hear about your kitty
There is a canned that cats seem to really love, but is NOT nutritionally complete, but may get your kitty to eat a better quality canned if you mix it in. It is called Almo. It comes in a small can and is made of real meat with lots of liquid. I buy it at Kingston's Global so hopefully it will be available where you are. I use it for Puddles when she has a furball and won't eat, or to give to Rose with her meds
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Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
#5
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Thanks Love4H. I'll see how my hubby makes out at Global today.
Just wondering if anyone knows if my vet would take back the $34.00!!!! bag of food that my cat won't eat? I would assume they'd take back unopened canned food though, don't you think?
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My furbabies: Bruno - grey short-haired domestic (bn Aug. 04) Smuckers - black & white long-haired (bn June 06) Magic - black mixed Shih Tzu, Chihuahua, Malteze, Bichon (bn Feb 19/08) |
#6
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There is nothing magical about urinary tract diets, and in fact their development is rather devious and underhanded. Instead of acknowledging that feeding all of these moisture-depleted starchy dry food diets is the cause of urinary tract issues in cats in the first place and creating something more appropriate for a carnivore, pet food companies take the very same problematic ingredients and throw an acidifier (DL-methionine) into the mix. The acidifier is supposed to counteract the alkalinity of all that corn and rice. Here's an idea: stop feeding corn and rice!!!! But no, that would cut into their profit margin. Quote:
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Absolutely take it back. Even opened, they're obliged to give you a refund.
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"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb “We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler |
#7
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I fed Puddles a crappy diet of mostly kibble and didn't think anything of it until she started wasting away, her fur turned greasy and started thinning out. I took her in for bloodwork thinking she was on her last legs and she was fine except for high blood calcium. Vet advised me to change her diet.
Now she is on Raw and NV Instinct canned and her fur is WONDERFUL. She is like she was when she was a young cat. Good luck on the food change
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Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
#8
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[/QUOTE]
There is nothing magical about urinary tract diets, and in fact their development is rather devious and underhanded. Instead of acknowledging that feeding all of these moisture-depleted starchy dry food diets is the cause of urinary tract issues in cats in the first place and creating something more appropriate for a carnivore, pet food companies take the very same problematic ingredients and throw an acidifier (DL-methionine) into the mix. The acidifier is supposed to counteract the alkalinity of all that corn and rice. Here's an idea: stop feeding corn and rice!!!! But no, that would cut into their profit margin. [/QUOTE] So there's no harm if we don't feed him the prescrip food from the vet's? Hubby and I thought there was some ingredient/medicine in there that helped dissolve crystals or something?
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My furbabies: Bruno - grey short-haired domestic (bn Aug. 04) Smuckers - black & white long-haired (bn June 06) Magic - black mixed Shih Tzu, Chihuahua, Malteze, Bichon (bn Feb 19/08) |
#9
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The "special ingredient" is the acidifier, DL-methionine. Struvite crystals form in an alkaline environment, and an alkaline environment is created by eating a high carb diet. So if a cat doesn't eat a high carb diet, they shouldn't need an acidifier. What you could do if you want to be extra sure is get some ph test strips from a health food store and test Smucker's urine yourself to see if it's within normal parameters (6-6.5). If it's still too alkaline (consistently above 7), then you could always add a small amount of L-methionine (also from a health food store) to his wet food to try to achieve the correct range. You have to keep testing with the ph strips though while he's on the L-methionine to ensure his urine doesn't swing the other way and become too acidic, which may cause calcium oxalate crystals (much harder to get rid of). This is a common problem with the acidifying prescription diets. Calcium oxalate crystals were very rare until all these special diets came out, and now they're about as common as struvite. Just goes to show you what geniuses the pet food companies are .
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"To close your eyes will not ease another's pain." ~ Chinese Proverb “We must not refuse to see with our eyes what they must endure with their bodies.” ~ Gretchen Wyler |
#10
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And the vets trust them
__________________
Cat maid to: Rose semi feral, a cpietra rescue, female tabby (approx 13 yrs) Jasper RIP (2001-2018) Sweet Pea RIP (2004?-2014) Puddles RIP (1996-2014) Snowball RIP (1991-2005) In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats.-English Proverb “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions.” Stephen R. Covey |
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