food for cat peeing outside the litter box

[badmoviescript]

I have two one year old cats and the one I'm having problems with is a male. He's neutered and territorial but had always behaved himself up until a few weeks ago when he peed in my roommates dirty laundry. Then in my dirty laundry. Then in the closet, then on the pillows, etc. etc. etc. I took him to the vet today to get him tested for bladder

Comments

[rocza]

Yeah, actually, I just dumped $350 on my monster for inappropriate peeing issues. Almost the same diagnosis, too - no infection, although my monster didn't have a high crystal count, either. (And unless that's done immediately, on-sight, the crystal count can be a bit misleading, just because cat urine tends to crystalize over time.)

The only really "suspect" thing I see in the Purina food is rice - but tummy troubles often accompany urinary problems for cats. "Meat by-products" isn't really anything to worry about - it's just what it sounds like. Typically it's neck, feet, stomach, penis, etc, of cows. The things we don't consume, but are created as a part of the processing system. There's nothing inherently "sub-quality" about it, just because the labeling doesn't say "steer penis." Are there better options? Maybe - I'm not convinced there's a huge difference between commercial cat foods (and Marion Nestle did a book on the topic of how we feed our animals, and basically agrees

[rocza]

Oh also, you might want to try reading through www.catinfo.org. She's a vet, and she goes into quite a bit of detail about food analysis, diet, and specifically how to prevent urinary (and other health) issues. She gives detailed information on how to create a healthy raw food diet, as well. She also links to this chart, which gives an analysis of many wet foods on the market.

[badmoviescript]

Thankfully it was done on site. They took him back, brought him back to me in less than ten minutes, and had the results within five minutes of that. So, the crystal count is likely accurate. Also, everything I've read about "meat byproducts" is that they're low quality protein, so it's not just that it's animal products that Americans don't happily consume. Personally, I'm not all that comfortable feeding them anything that isn't human-grade quality. We all know that even human-grade quality doesn't necessarily mean healthy, but at least there are some regulations there. Who knows how much shit (literally) is in these "byproducts" that will make cats sick.

[rocza]

You know that there's not a legal definition for human-grade, right? At best, what it means is that the byproduct being included in the pet food comes from a plant whose sanitary conditions meet the requirements for processing human food.

There's also really not a "quality of protein" concern, so much as a minimum protein concern. As long as the food meets minimum protein requirements for the animal in question, where that protein comes from - lungs, penis, hooves, whatever - is less of an issue.

I really recommend Nestle's book on the subject. She and her co-author tackle is from the same perspective the rest of her books take, talking about advertising, the mass production system, and so forth. There's a lot of look at labels and label claims, and figuring out what it all means.

[dakotakym]

I have 2 older male cats (one's 17, the other's 11). The younger one has a history of crystals, and was fed Purina Urinary Formula by his previous owner. Since I've adopted him, he's eaten mostly meat (chicken, beef, turkey.. whatever's on sale), with a bit of chopped greens and sweet potato for fiber, and some added taurine and other vitamins (as I tend to cook the meat unless I know how old it is & how it's been handled). This diet ends up costing less than feeding high quality canned food, and the cats are very healthy.

FWIW, all of the vets I've been to, with the exception of a holistic vet who actually studied animal nutrition, have told me to feed them commercial pet food. Most vets don't study animal nutrition (much like most human doctors don't study human nutrition).. they learn about disease, and how to treat it with the use of pharmaceuticals.

If you want accurate advice about how to feed an animal well, you would need to either learn this on your own, or consult someone who is well-versed in feline nutrition.

[badmoviescript]

Thanks :) I think I'm going to go to the natural pet food store and ask their advice on what to feed him, and apparently phase out the fish stuff.

[rainbow]

this is my experience, and your mileage may vary, but for my 2 boys who were/are prone to crystals, grains are the issue, especially wheat, barley, rye, corn.

after being put on a 100% grain free diet my old moose (who'd had vet visits every 3-6 months for 2 years for crystals while on the vet recced food) was fine and never needed surgery again. the only times he started straining again were when he got into something he shouldn't (including cat treats with wheat in them), so we made sure he didn't have the chance. moosie lived to 16 with no further issues, and aodhan is still going strong now at 16.

(i went with homemade raw food following the recipe from felinefuture.com.)

[stark404]

I was going to mention that a friend of mine had a cat with lots of urinary tract problems, and she ended up having to make up her own raw meat mixture for them to eat.

[ladysilverlark]

My Mom and Grandmother have both owned cats with urinary tract problems. Both of them found out that changing their diet to having more wet food helped. Also My grandmother found out her cat with urinary tract problems had more problems when he was feed a diet high in fish or shell fish. Ones she switched him over to having a diet of only beef or poultry wet food the cat did a lot better.

[badmoviescript]

I was feeding them chicken and herring Wellness food and he was fine on that. The natural pet food store I went to just recommended switching it up to get variety, so I did. Hopefully if I switch back, or switch to just chicken, he'll be fine?

[ladysilverlark]

It would be worth a try. My Mom's one cat refuses to eat any thing but chicken dry food and wet food. So it is definitely worth trying the cat back on the food that was before the problem started. Some animals just can't have their food switched up on them with out it causing a problem.

[babygurly70]

I can't offer much as to what you should be feeding but I can say, with complete certainty, that YOU probably know more about pet food than your vet does. Veterinarians are not trained in pet food quality, ingredients, etc. What they know about food is what the manufacturer (Purina, in this case) tells them... and that is that their food is the best over the rest. :) Wellness is a superior brand, I would not switch to Purina.

[badmoviescript]

I figured as much. I'm very happy to have only gotten responses of this nature because other people I've talked to just default with "listen to the vet". It's the same as "listen to the doctor" even though the doctor knows next to nothing about nutrition and only knows to push drugs that "cure" problems.... Somehow this train of thinking makes me crazy.

[jokermobile]

This!