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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Cat food problem

14 replies

ispyfun · 08/10/2017 17:19

About months ago our cats urine started to smell really badly - if i went for half an hour you could smell it as soon as you walked in the front door even if the litter tray had been cleaned immediately before I left, so I took her to the vet. She showed no sign of any pain, was urinating and pooing fine so he gave me a kit to take a urine sample (fun!) and did a full set of tests which showed crystals.

He prescribed a very expensive diet of Royal Canin Unrinary S/O for 7 weeks. Cat took to the food as though it was a royal banquet - emptied her bowl as soon as it was filled, then followed me round crying for more. The smell from her urine disappeared after only 3 or 4 days on the diet, much to everyones relief and after the 7 weeks
were up, the urine test was repeated and the crystals were no longer apparant.

BUT - vet says they are likely to return given her age (she's 13) so suggested we keep her on the diet. We love her, so although it stretches our budget more than is comfortable, I bought another 2 months supply of the food ...... here we are a week later and she is flatly refusing to eat it!

I've persisted for a few days but she has been eating virtually nothing, so today I've given in and fed her some of her usual food that was still in the cupboard. She wolfed this down, so she's not off her food because she's not well, but where do I go from here? I don't know whether to feed her old diet for a couple of weeks then try the ledicated food again, feed both together or pay another fee and go and talk to the vet.

Any one else have any experience of this and any idea of the bext thing to do?

OP posts:
ispyfun · 08/10/2017 17:21

Arghh sorry for spelling mistakes - on myt phone with very small keyboard and eyesight not my strong point

OP posts:
PosiePootlePerkins · 08/10/2017 17:22

Is her usual food wet food? I find my cats get bored of having the same food all the time, is there any way you could mix and match, say a pouch of wet food for breakfast and biscuits for supper? Obviously I'm not a vet though so I'd check with them first! But might encourage her to eat if she has variety.

ispyfun · 08/10/2017 17:24

Oh sorry I should have said - she has always had wet food from a pouch first thing then dry food for the rest of the day, and the prescription food is the same so she does have both already

OP posts:
VivienneWestwoodsKnickers · 08/10/2017 17:27

Two thoughts - standard fussy cat syndrome or an unwell kitty.

Have you tried fresh chicken or fish? If cat will eat, I'd guess it's fussiness. Otherwise maybe another check up?

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 08/10/2017 17:30

Are you giving her cystaid daily?

Applaws is very good for urinary health.

ispyfun · 08/10/2017 18:24

vivienne she doesn;t seem at all unwell so I'm thinking fussy, but am worried that she will get the crystals back if she wont eat the prescription food.

DameDiazepm what is cystaid please?

OP posts:
EachandEveryone · 08/10/2017 18:26

Are u allowed to put abitbif lik e Lix on the food

cozietoesie · 08/10/2017 18:59

You mean ‘Are you allowed by her to put........’. Grin

EachandEveryone · 08/10/2017 19:02

Our vet lets you return food can you ask yours

cozietoesie · 08/10/2017 19:02

Newboy stopped eating his Country Hunter - Yes, I had to peer out of the window to see whether the sky was fallingGrin- but is perfectly content with a ‘mix and match’ diet. Smile

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 08/10/2017 19:09

Cozie, Harry is down to one flavour of Country Hunter only now, he won't eat anything except goose of all things. I've got a Fetch delivery coming tomorrow so I think we know what's going to happen next...

OP, I think it's just a cat thing. I'd have a word with your vet and see if they've got any ideas. Harry has kidney problems and won't eat the renal food so we add something to his normal food. It's not as good apparently but better than nothing.

cozietoesie · 08/10/2017 20:46

I’ve started alternating Newboy between Country Hunter and AGAIL. That seems to suit fine. Smile

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 08/10/2017 20:59

Sadly anything Felix has an unfortunate effect on Harry's stomach...

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 08/10/2017 23:32

Cystaid is a daily supplement that was given to my cat after he nearly died of a really bad UTI. I give it daily in a lick e lix,it has the added bonus of calming them down too as it has green tea in it. Hasn't had a UTI since.

£30 from the vet but we get it on Amazon for £10.

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