Cat Foods & Urinary Health

[reeay]

My cat has been ill w/ Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease (possibly crystal stones in his bladder). He's doing well - eating, drinking, playing, and taking his meds like a champ. The culprit was pet foods & treats that are toxic. I feed him pretty pricey cat food but his urinary problem stems from imbalances of nutrition in pet food (he only takes to dry food). Obviously cats are not meant to be eating dry foods but moist, protein rich foods like they do in the wild. Heard this condition has increased exponentially in cats over the years.

The vet and I are working to naturally dissolve the stones with diet (there are special dry foods for urniary problems only available at vet's) and environmental enrichment. I wish he would eat wet canned food more but he seems to have little interest in them.

Does anyone here have similar experiences? I've read that wet foods, home-made food, distilled water, and vitamin C are very effective for both treatment and prevention of urinary problems. Anybody use other supplements or know of natural remedies for animals w/ urinary problems? The goal is for the cat to produce more acidic urine & eat foods w/ lower magnesium (which is high in pet foods).

Thanks!

[Spaced]

Some cat foods have cranberry in them which is supposed to be helpful for preventing urinary tract problems. The problem with feeding cats only wet food is that it's bad for their teeth.

[Melissa]

I've had a similar experience with one of my cats. She had to undergo surgery to remove the crystal stones but when the vet opened her up the crystals were gone. They didn't take any x-ray's before surgery because of the size of the stones, they usually don't dissolve and cause too much internal damage. So, be sure to ask for an x-ray -the minute before surgery.

It's best to balance dry/wet food, imo. If your cat doesn't prefer wet food mix in in with the dry food little by little, or, wait 'til he gets hungry. Also, try a massage if your cat allows it, mine used to love it and I think it helped the process a great deal. Best wishes to you and yours!

[reeay]

Thanks guys, very helpful!

We did x-ray yesterday and saw little stones clustered in the back of the bladder... but vet said, 'use your imagination' to see these spots on x-ray. Waiting on one more test to see if it is stones.