Help/Advice Needed re: Cat Prone to Calcium Oxalate Stones

[VIOLET0019]

My cat Ginger is 11 years old, and approx. 4 years ago had emergency surgery to remove calcium oxalate stones. I was shocked, having always been feeding him high quality holistic foods since rescuing him as a kitten. Since then, over the years he has been on several various brands of foods from the Vet, i.e. Medi Cal, Royal Canin etc. i.e. Urinary S/O etc. as a preventive against this happening again. He also has several other health issues, one of them is having (chronic) vomitting-up after eating. Also, he refuses canned wet food, raw food, and i.e. cooked chicken, meat etc. Often he is interested and will begin to eat a food, but after throwing it up, and/or somehow just not liking it, Ginger will refuse to eat it again. Also, due to a recent mysterious serious illness where he suddenly stopped eating completely, became very withdrawn, lost 1/2 his weight, went into hiding and was on the brink of death, (>a very lengthy story, puzzling to the Vet...... but thankfully, miraculously, and with the help of the Vet, I nursed him back to life - with many many sleepless nights of continual TLC, praying, assortment of medications, and having to resort to many many types of chemical cat foods - canned/wet....anything to get him to eat again and to get back on his feet. Nowadays, I find that I still have to "coax him" to eat.....Althought he is with many other health issues , he is as stable as can be now) I have tried many many brands of foods over the years. To avoid the vomitting, right now, I feed him very small amounts, several times a day - which sometimes works. He is still "sort of"eating/nibbling those special preventive (specifically against calcium oxalate) Vet foods, (without gusto!)I would be grateful to know the specific names of any holistic foods that I can try and feed him instead of the food from the Vet, that would not cause him to get these calcium oxalate stones again and that he would hopefully enjoy. I feel overwhelmed and confused at all the information out there, and so, I am appealing to any of the members here, who may have found safe holistic type of brands of cat foods, that are specifically safe for not developping this particular type of calcium oxalate stone, and could share this with me. Also, does anyone know if there is a specific ingredient in cat food, that one must avoid, in order that cats do NOT develop these particular stones? I appreciate your help! Thank you!

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by VIOLET0019

Also, does anyone know if there is a specific ingredient in cat food, that one must avoid, in order that cats do NOT develop these particular stones?

Yes, acidifiers. DL-methionine being one that is commonly added to dry food (especially "prescription" dry) which is responsible for the increase in cases of calcium-oxalate crystal formation. Urine that is consistently too acidic (ph of less than 6.0) is the prime environment for this type of urolith.

A moisture-depleted dry food diet is also a factor.

My suggestion is to pick up some ph test strips from a health food store and test Ginger's urine at home whenever possible. If it's frequently under 6.5 (ph fluctuates throughout the day, so you need multiple readings), then you might want to think about adding potassium citrate to his diet (talk to the vet about dosage). Something else to consider is supplementing with vitamin B6. Some cats have a B6 deficiency that causes them to form oxalate crystals. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=1741

But I highly recommend working on getting him to eat more canned food. Some tips to help you with that:
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites...et-part-1.aspx
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites...et-part-2.aspx
http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/switching-foods/