Urinary care food for feline interstitial cystitis

[Forgoodnesssakejustletme]

My boy had an episode 4 weeks ago and again last week. He was fortunate to get away without catheterisation but has been sedated twice this week to have his bladder emptied by manipulation. Vet has suggested a change of diet. He currently has 2 pouches of purina one and one portion of biscuits a day. The options seem complicated and expensive. Can you tell me what you are using for your cat including brand names and any bladder meds you use to help too? I'm thinking maybe keep him on the meat he currently has and just swap his biscuits to one of the urinary care brands

My cat had the Hills science plan urinary biscuits for the last two years of his life. It was excellent. He had had several bad bouts of cystitis and this really helped. They do a meat version too. I think the vet said that too much protein would cause issues so not to give him too much.

@HairyFeline did he just eat the dried food then? Our vets advised me to move him to meat earlier this year (previously Royal canin biscuits only) as he was gaining weight and she said meat would avoid future urinary issues as biscuits were too dry!!! I do wonder whether to just put him back on biscuits

Has your vet taken a urine sample to determine what the issue is? There are different types of urinary crystals which require different foods to manage them.

Our three year old male has had struvite crystals since he was one. We feed the Purina food for those specific crystals and he also has daily Cystease and D-Mannose supplements.

He's not needed to go back to the vet for it in two years and is thriving on his current diet.

@margotrose ours has struvite crystals too. They think his wee problem is a stress response as the crystal levels were low but worth changing his diet to prevent them building up (he's 7). Can I ask which of the purina you give him please? Both wet and dry and in what proportion? Thank you so much for answering- it's been so upsetting 😥

Hi OP. He had the hills meat as a treat, half a sachet a few times a week, the rest of the time just the biscuits. He had crystals in his bladder that nothing would budge but he was definitely improved and had less crises on it.

My male had chronic urinary infections until I switched him to a wet-only diet. I also add extra water to his meals and mush it in with a fork.

But I don't buy any particular brand, just the budget supermarket stuff. In his case it's the fluids that are necessary, not any particular ingredients.

Cats live in a chronic state of dehydration because they don't really feel thirst (makes sense as they are evolved to be desert-dwellers with few sources of water). Their water has to come from food. Raw prey and tinned food is around 75% water whereas biscuits are only around 10% water.

My female BSH had bladder stones which were causing her awful pain and had to be removed surgically (poor thing was suffering for a while as we thought she was acting up due to DD1 arriving). She’s been on Hill’s c/d dry food since then, so 4-5 years, and hasn’t had a recurrence. The vet tested the stones and found they were struvite so this is the correct type of food to prevent them re-forming.

We initially fed them alongside wet food of various types, but she was never that keen on it so stopped with the wet food as it seemed a waste of money- checked with vet first and they said this was ok to do. She does often drink water so I don’t think she’s dehydrated and seems perfectly happy.

i buy the hills online as it’s a lot cheaper!

Mine won't eat the urinary wet food - we tried three different brands and he just turned his nose up, lol.

He has the Purina Veterinary food for struvite crystals and we just leave it down 24/7 for him to graze on. He also gets Sheba wet food in gravy. He's never had a re-occurrence since we changed his diet and added the supplements. He'll be four next year and his last re-occurrence was in 2021.

@CaptainWentworth @margotrose thank you both. Can I ask where you buy your food (and any supplements) please?

@Forgoodnesssakejustletme i tend to google and buy wherever is cheapest at the time, but it’s often Pet Drugs Online or Zooplus. The online retailers all offer loyalty schemes but you don’t save much really. I buy the massive 8kg bags and they last for ages- they are resealable so the food doesn’t go stale.

I get his dry food online - ZooPlus tends to be cheapest but sometimes it's Amazon. All the supplements I get in bulk with Amazon subscribe & save.