From: AmyH (pool-70-17-40-185.pskn.east.verizon.net -70.17.40.185)
Subject: Cat Food and Crystals - Jena and Emily
Date: February 1, 2006 at 2:56 pm PST
I'm back with the info...
Last year we had 3 of our boys in for routine annual exams; our vet
suggested we run urinalyses since they were just under 2 - the common
age when urinary crystals start developing in about 80% of all cats
(stat is from the vet). Much to our surprise, they had pHs on the
high end of the range and a few crystals in their urine. We were very
lucky to catch it before it started causing problems!
Vet wanted us to put them on Hill's C/D. I took one look at the
ingredient list and just about freaked...since I love to research I
had spent days - if not weeks - picking the "ideal" food for them and
I just couldn't feed them the C/D - not with BHA, BHT, rice as the
first ingredient, and the only protein source being by-products. So I
again started researching.
At the time of the diagnosis, they were eating Wellness Kibbles (more
on that later). All the info I found pointed to feeding them an all-
wet food diet of high-quality food. There are a couple reasons for
this; one is that the wet food adds a lot of moisture to their diet.
In fact, a cat who eats all wet food and doesn't drink water gets more
moisture than a cat who eats dry and and drinks water! Another is
that the protein level in wet food is far more appropriate for their
physiology; the meat-based protein acidifies the urine and prevents
crystals. Finally, in general, dry food tends to have way too much in
the way of "undesirables".
So we attempted to switch all 6 of our cats over to an all-wet diet.
We've got 4 who are completely eating wet, one who eats 50/50 wet and
dry, and one who still flat-out refuses to eat the wet. Of course the
50/50 cat (Petey) and the kibble-only cat (Noah) are 2 of the 3 who
tested positive for crystals!! But so far they seem to be doing OK.
I still try every day to get Noah eating at least some wet food (he
will occasionally lick it), and I've tried every trick in the book to
get him there. Some day....I do worry about him eating just kibbles.
As for the dry food, we now feed Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's
Soul. When I found out about the crystals, I joined the Yahoo Cats
With FLUTD group, and found that MANY cats eating Wellness kibbles
were developing crystals...and I thought I picked the best food for my
babies with all my research!!! On the other hand, it seems that many
cats do well with the Chicken Soup cat food, so that's why I've
decided on that.
Of course all of these decisions were made under the supervision of
our vet. And with Noah and Petey eating more kibble than I would
like, I watch them like hawks to make sure they aren't having problems.
Of course getting as much water into them as possible is also
something to do. If you don't have one, a drinking foutain is great -
it really encourages them to drink more water (we have a DrinkWell and
the love it). To get even more water into them, you can add it to
their wet food. I've heard that adding water to dry food isn't a good
idea; that it promotes bacterial growth. Definitely want to get as
much water in as possible especially if they are eating dry food.
I had also asked the vet about using urine acidifiers and he did not
recommend doing that. The biggest problem with those is that if the
urine gets too acidic, calcium oxylate crystals can form, and the only
way to remove those is surgery - no food of any sort will dissolve
them.
I think in the short-run, prescription diets can serve a very
important purpose such as dissovling current crystals, I'm just leary
of using one in the long-run. Of course you shoud definitely work
closely with your vet if you decide to change diets.
Also, a little side note, you can always us pH testing strips to
monitor their urine at home - that way you can keep your eye on how
things are going. And, the most accurate reading will be immediately
after the cat urinates; as time passes the pH definitely changes and
can give an inaccurate read.
I'm sorry you guys have had problems, even to the point of having the
PU surgery! It is such a common problem, and really is a dietary
issue because of commercial diets - the way they're made and
marketed. Honestly, urinary crystals scare me more than cancer - they
can come on so quickly and be fatal in a very short amount of time. I
really hate the condition, and it frustrates me that food
manufacturer's don't do a better job of addressing it.
I hope this helps. I've also included a link to a very good website
about feline nutrition (hopefully the link works!)...
