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My 2 y/o male cat needed over $2000.00 of medical intervention following a urinary blockage, and was sent home on feline c/d cans. However, I just found this online, posted by a vet on catinfo.org
"If I could have the reader of this webpage take away just one word from this discussion, it would be "water". If your cat is on a properly hydrated diet of 100% canned food - and no dry food - you stand a very good chance of never needing to read this webpage.
Always keep in mind that water flowing through the urinary tract system is the most important factor in keeping it healthy.
Note that I said "water" - not "crystals" or "urine pH" - or any of the expensive, low-quality, "prescription diets" often recommended by veterinarians.
A cat's normal prey is ~70% water. Canned food is ~78% water. Dry food is ~5-10% water. Cats have a low thirst drive and do not make up the deficit at the water bowl. They are designed to get water with their food.
Cats on canned food have been shown to consume at least double the amount of water (from food and water bowl) when compared to a dry food-fed cat.
This results in approximately double the amount of urine flowing through the bladder.
Think of canned food as not only a proper diet for an obligate carnivore, in general (see Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition), but also understand that it is the healthiest way to keep your cat's bladder flushed out and 'happy'."
Yep, cats need canned food (or raw) not kibble. Since I posted in this thread about my FLUTD cat eating c/d kibble I will update to say that I have finally taken her off that horrible food. She wouldn't eat the canned, or she'd still be eating c/d, but that corn laden junk, while it kept her urine pH acidic, has ruined her digestion.
She's been on a canned diet for almost 8 months now. It took a long time to find a canned food that didn't cause regurgitation, and even now her body can only tolerate one food. I hope some day she can have more variety, or maybe even a raw diet, but for now, I am still just trying to help her keep her food down.
The difference in my cat, a few months after stopping the c/d, has been remarkable, though I expected that. Her coat is so nice and soft, she doesn't have as much trouble with hair balls (though she still has some problems) she is no longer constipated, her eyes are bright, her energy level for an 8 year old cat is fantastic, and...it's too early to tell but I think she her chronic ear problem may have gone away.
keithramone you have found a wonderful website (catinfo.org) and I am sorry your cat has had to go through so much, but glad to know he is alive. Keep him on a good canned diet, and I'm sure he will be much happier.
Congratulations on you and your cat’s success with the one brand of cat food, and good luck with your continued efforts! Thank you for welcoming me to the board.
Charlie (the 2 y.o. male that had the urethral blockage) and his companion Candy (12 y.o. female) had been on free feed dry. This was of course economical, but I also had reason to believe that I was doing them a service. In my younger days I worked for 2 years as a veterinary assistant. Both of the vets in the practice I worked for generally advocated kibble for dogs and cats. Their spiel was “it has the same nutrition as cans, but is better for dental health”.
Charlie’s symptoms came on suddenly. I had to borrow to get him the help he needed, but he is presently fully recovered. I was motivated to find an alternative to c/d because it is not feasible to keep my cats segregated at the food bowl. Neither is finicky at all, and both actually prefer canned food (although c/d cans are not high on Charlie’s list!) Neither experiences immediate deleterious effects after eating any particular food. Neither is overweight (Candy could stand to put on a pound or two).
Having now read about what c/d does, I conclude that it was illogical to prescribe c/d cans for Charlie, who after all had been an all dry food cat. Number one, regarding the pH of his pee; it is not as if this SPECIFIC factor had been diagnosed as a causing his health episode. Its more like the vets floated 5 possible explanations at us. For the most part, irrespective of what caused Charlie’s urethral blockage, the best GENERAL promoter of urinary system health would seem to be greater urinary flow. So that leaves 2 strategies: a) give him salty food to increase thirst b) give him moister food.
As far as option A, it really seems counter intuitive to me! First, excess sodium is bad for general health. Secondly, cats’ drive to drink more fluid in response to thirst, as pointed out in the catinfo.org article, is relatively low; certainly MY cats have a far greater drive to eat than drink, so it seems smarter to first try to get the increased fluid in the food bowl rather than the water bowl.
Secondly, with regard to option A, it defies my own reasoning (I have a modest biology background). Healthy organisms maintain a balance between water and salt. If a cat has more salt in his or her food, he or she may drink more. But, he or she will also retain (ie- not eliminate) more water to balance the salt. So the whole process seems self-defeating and a poor way to maintain urinary health!
With option B, canned foods would greatly increase the water in a cats system as opposed to kibble, without relying on the counter-intuitive sodium mechanism. So here’s hoping that feed-on-demand store bought canned foods successfully help prevent future blockage episodes in Charlie, and help keep Candy well-nourished as she ages!
Last edited by keithramone; 07-22-2012 at 01:54 PM..
Reason: clarity.
By now you know that cats need their moisture to come FROM their food, not in addition to it or added to it (such as mushy kibble). You also probably now realize that kibble doesn't clean teeth, and in fact is most likely much worse for a cat's teeth.
There is absolutely nothing at all to recommend kibble as a diet for cats. There is just nothing good about it. I've known this since 1985 when I had a male cat with a urinary tract blockage. The vet I was seeing then was way ahead of his years, told me my cats should always be fed an all canned diet, and never feed them fish. I believed him, and with the exception of this one cat who was on a canned diet when her FLUTD symptoms first started 7 years ago, I've always fed a canned diet, though the quality of the foods I feed has changed since the 2007 melamine poisoning.
I hope Charlie never has another problem. The canned is especially good for your senior girl too, to help prevent kidney problems.
My male cat almost died from a blocked bladder 3 years ago....since than he has been eating Marx hills feline c/d...I was told if I ever stopped feeding him this food he would probably get a blocked bladder again...the 1st time it costed over a $1,000 to save his life and a lot of praying he would make it...I also have 3 other cats ...so this food gets very expensive $54.00 x 4 cats...as I can not feed them something different that coral might eat..I found this blog because I two am looking for an alternative to hills...as for the person who says you don't need a prescription to buy this food..he doesn't know what he is talking about...I have tried to buy it before when I had left the prescription at home and pet smart DOES check and refused to sell it to me...very frustrating because the food is so expense who would buy it if they didn't need too...if anyone does know of a safe alternative please answer this message ...thanks
My male cat almost died from a blocked bladder 3 years ago....since than he has been eating Marx hills feline c/d...I was told if I ever stopped feeding him this food he would probably get a blocked bladder again...the 1st time it costed over a $1,000 to save his life and a lot of praying he would make it...I also have 3 other cats ...so this food gets very expensive $54.00 x 4 cats...as I can not feed them something different that coral might eat..I found this blog because I two am looking for an alternative to hills...as for the person who says you don't need a prescription to buy this food..he doesn't know what he is talking about...I have tried to buy it before when I had left the prescription at home and pet smart DOES check and refused to sell it to me...very frustrating because the food is so expense who would buy it if they didn't need too...if anyone does know of a safe alternative please answer this message ...thanks
What were you feeding him when he blocked? Dry food? And are you feeding the dry c/d? Dry food, including "prescription" is the absolute worst thing you can feed a cat with urinary tract problems.
Whew, the fights about food on this forum make me tired.
Anyway, to quickly answer the actual title question: After an elderly male cat had bladder problems 22 years ago when I was much poorer and couldn't afford C/D, I simply started buying grocery store available Friskies Special Diet canned food, NEVER ever in a fish variety. Never feed tuna, never feed fish variety cat food. After doing this, there's been no bladder troubles in any of my cats for 22 years.
Whew, the fights about food on this forum make me tired.
Anyway, to quickly answer the actual title question: After an elderly male cat had bladder problems 22 years ago when I was much poorer and couldn't afford C/D, I simply started buying grocery store available Friskies Special Diet canned food, NEVER ever in a fish variety. Never feed tuna, never feed fish variety cat food. After doing this, there's been no bladder troubles in any of my cats for 22 years.
You found the key...WET food. No fish.
I have a hard time sometimes not kicking myself around for all those years I bought into the "prescription" "food". My cat's digestion was ruined from that "food". Sure she was "fine" for the first 5 years on it, but she stopped being fine, and may never be fine ever again. She's on a mostly raw diet now, which has helped a lot but her digestion is pretty much ruined from eating a corn based diet for so long.
Whew, the fights about food on this forum make me tired.
People are merely sharing information which I, for one, would have given ANYTHING to have had half a clue about instead of learning it all the hard way.
Some have a hard time digesting the fact that trusted vets are steering them in the WRONG direction regarding diet as cats are strict carnivores (when they have vets "prescribing" carb-laden cereal for a species incapable of even chewing it). People "shoot the messengers" who are only trying to do what THEY wished someone had done for them -- provide crucial information which would have spared blockages, diabetes, etc. and heartaches.
Many people don't have $$$$ saved up for preventable blockages; emercency catharisations; PU surgeries; Insulin... perennial treatments and expensive corn-in-a-bag.
Perhaps some desperate cat owner is searching and looking for information right now...
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