Is there anyone whose Cat is using urinary food long term that can advise?

[soreknee]

According to the vet it would be sensible for Dcat to be on urinary food (regular cystitis). They did give me a brief overview of what to look for but I am totally confused by what is available online. I know the letters on the bags/boxes are related to whether its a food designed to dissolve crystals or prevent them (s/o, c/d, etc etc) but I don't fully understand which is which? And if you use a combination or at different times? I'm also not sure whether it's ok to use some dry urinary food from time to time? I know ideally you want to use as much wet food as possible) but is urinary dry food ok?

Lastly cost- if anyone has any suggestions as to the most reasonably priced place to buy said food, I'd be very very grateful.

We tried but our cat wasn't having any of it,so we ditched dry food altogether and just feed him wet. Purina gourmet and about 3x a week raw. We also give him daily Cystaid.

The vet told us no dry at all including treats. We use chewy bars and Lick e Lix.

We just feed our cat normal wet food and he's had no issues with uti since we changed over from dry.

Thank you. This is all really helpful to know. We will also be doing daily Cystease/Cystaid (is there any difference?). Do the ingredients in the Cystease replace any of the Crystal- dissolving ingredients in the special food?

I found for my own cat who had no stones or crystals, but peed in lots of places. Hills c/d multi are worked best created correct ph, had l-tryptophan in it to help with the stress element and produced nice dilute urine.
But if there are stones or crystals you need to use the appropriate food for which ever type there is.
Did your vet give you a list? I usually write down which are correct for an individual cat.

Cystease/cystaid correct ph and contain l-tryptophan.

I get my mums cat Royal Canin Renal from Zooplus. Dry and wet.
She mixes it in with Bellas favourite food.

DCat has had struvite crystals rather than cystitis but is now on urinary s/o. We bulk buy from animed to get the free postage - it's the best price I've found. He has dried and wet food with us but also now has a water fountain which they all prefer.

We had our boy on Royal Canin urinary dry food for about 8 years without any issues. Switching from wet to dry made such a difference to their poo as well. On wet food, it stank the whole house out (we had house cats) but once on dry, you never smelt it. We lost our boy last year and the vet advised us to leave our girl on the same food as she'd been on it for so long.

My cat had hills prescription c/d dry. She won't eat wet food with jelly and just licks the gravy off and leaves the meat. The last year I've had her on royal canin senior 12+. She turned 19 this week so doing something right. Hasn't had cystitis since prob about 5.

@DaveMinion my cat does that to , sometimes I wish I could just buy the jelly to put back over the left over meat .

My cat have stress related bladder issues so not quite the same but is on hills urinary care dry food and sheba wet food as he won't eat any of the urinary care wet foods. He also has a wide water bowl so he can drink comfortably without his whiskers getting in the way

( poor little didums 🙄)

Mine has/had struvite crystals and is now on urinary food for life.

He won't eat any wet food in gravy which pretty much rules out all the urinary wet foods 🙄 so we feed him normal wet food in jelly and he has Purina urinary dry food available 24/7. He also takes Cystease everyday as well as D-Mannose supplements.

Our vet said any wet food was better than no wet food, and we always make sure he has access to plenty of water.

We've not had any issues since switching his diet and using the supplements - his last vet visit was almost eighteen months ago when he got his diagnosis!

I buy Concept for life dry from Zooplus for my girl. She's previously had stones and they just come back if she's not on a urinary dry food. It's a bit cheaper than the main brands. She's also had Kattovit from Zooplus.

She does have wet food but mainly licks the jelly/gravy and leaves the meat.

Thanks all. Vet strongly feels the cystitis is largely stress based as Dcat ticks all the boxes, and then some, for this but there was also some sediment in a small sample of urine too. It feels it's going to be a bit of a balancing act- he is a very fussy eater, going from brand to brand, wet and dry (doesn't seem satisfied with just wet or just dry- will fuss and meow until he's had some of whatever he's been fancying at the time). I don't think he'll ever be happy on one brand for the long term and so I suppose i need to weigh that up with the stress factor. I'm thinking long term Cystease, small handfuls of urinary dry when he won't touch wet, and hopefully a much higher proportion of wet food generally...

My cat has been on purina pro plan vetinary diets uti cat food, dry and wet, for a few years. He absolutely loves the wet food but will also eat the dry.
I've learnt the hard way that if we run out and give him normal cat food for a few days he will end up with a uti.
Vet thinks his uti might be stress related. This food and feliway classic plug ins seem to sort him out .
Not cheap though

Any wet food is better than no wet food for a cat with urinary problems. They need as much moisture as possible in their diets. Another option is to mix some warm water with their dry food to make it more appealing, but of course mine turns his nose up at that

I would go for urinary dry food (available 24/7) and then whatever wet food he will eat - if that's urinary food, great, but if not, any wet food is better than none. Gravy is ideal (more moisture) but again, jelly or pate is better than nothing at all.

The only wet food mine will reliably eat is Felix AGAIL in Jelly. He won't touch any brand of urinary wet food or any other wet food in gravy 🙄

I've been using Hill's urinary pouches and tins, with the ocasional pouch of normal food, plus a bit of urinary dry food put down at night, since my cat ran up a £700 vet bill in the new year but urinary food is so expensive and I'm broke right now so I think i'm going to have to switch him back to regular wet food in the short term until finances improve.