Let's talk about Dave's Pet Food?

Hannah531

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Bear with me, this is going to be a long one. Pic of my kitty boy Koda for tax. :redheartpump:
Koda.JPG


Koda is about a year and a half old and over the summer I noticed glitter in his urine so we had it tested and he had struvite crystals. They had gone away at a 4 week check but I'm seeing the glitter again.

Disclaimer: I have been keeping my vet in the loop through all of this but A. I've never REALLY liked her (we're military family and she's certainly the best out of the 4 we tried since we moved here) B. She's REALLY pushing the DRY C/D prescription diet.

We want to try and find something better for him. With REAL ingredients but still low in the things that create/contribute to creating crystals. Our dogs (we have 3!) eat Dave's and it has been a LITERAL godsend. It's been great for our Tripawd German shepherd, our aussie nicknamed 'beans' because of gas and our little pappillon mix who has a vertical jump of 4 feet. So, naturally, I looked into it for our Koda boy. He's been on C/D wet and dry (despite the vet pushing the dry for some goofy reason) and he's just not THRIVING and the glitter stuff has returned.

A note on water: Koda drinks SO MUCH WATER. I'm not worried about his intake or output, just with the presence of what I think is crystals again.

But here's my Dave's Dilemma. The Restricted diet magnesium-phosphate (Restricted Diet Magnesium – Phosphorus Pork Dinner | Dave's Pet Food) is not recommended as a long term solution. "This product is intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only."
BUT in Koda's case - since he needs the low counts of ingredients would it be safe for him to eat it all the time or do I need to alternate/mix it with something? If so, what?


Also, I have sent an email to the Dave's pet food folks - Just haven't heard back.
 

LTS3

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Could the "glitter" be just the litter? What kind of litter do you use? I use Scoop Away and sometimes the particles do look a little like glitter.

Give this a read for info on urinary issues: Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection

Many people just feed a canned food only diet to their urinary issue prone cats. Prescription food is not needed, although a temporary course of prescription food in certain circumstances may be helpful to some cats such as bladder stones.
 
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Hannah531

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Could the "glitter" be just the litter? What kind of litter do you use? I use Scoop Away and sometimes the particles do look a little like glitter.

Give this a read for info on urinary issues: Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection

Many people just feed a canned food only diet to their urinary issue prone cats. Prescription food is not needed, although a temporary course of prescription food in certain circumstances may be helpful to some cats such as bladder stones.
i don’t think so, I did consider that initially but it’s dark brown walnut litter. (I did learn that crystals can form in urine AFTER it’s been excreted. Meaning there’s no crystals in the actual bladder)

I did! That was one of the most informative pages I’ve ever read.
We’re definitely planning on wet food only (considering using high quality kibble as a treat though because he likes the crunch. Not to exceed 5 pieces a day.) but I’m still trying to find something low in phosphorus, magnesium and calcium. Maybe not as low as an RX diet or Dave’s restricted diet but still low.

I personally suffer from kidney/urine related problems and the BEST thing I’ve done is keep fillers out of my diet and keep specific minerals low. I’ve been kidney stone free for almost 3 years. I figure the same principle can apply to cats.
 

LTS3

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Maybe a veterinary nutritionist can suggest a non-junk filled food you could feed? Could raw or home cooked diets be an option?

I heard of something called "d mannose" (or something like that. Anyone know?) that can be added to food to help with urinary issues.
 
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Hannah531

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Maybe a veterinary nutritionist can suggest a non-junk filled food you could feed? Could raw or home cooked diets be an option?

I heard of something called "d mannose" (or something like that. Anyone know?) that can be added to food to help with urinary issues.
I've been trying to find someone in the area (even though in person appointments are likely not available, I'd like to discuss face to face in the future) to no avail. :(
We've seen a canine nutritionist for our dogs (3 with VERY different issues) and it went great but they don't 'do' cats. :/

I've heard of that and a few other things, including apple cider vinegar which Koda absolutely will not touch but I'd be worried about adding it to a food that already has it and then giving too much. (Though some homeopathic things can't really be overdosed).
 
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Hannah531

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Smol update;
I've been doing a LOOOOOOT of (mind numbing) research on food and pH and monitoring etc. etc. and I think ideally we want to go raw (we're preparing to move in the next 6 months so I'm trying to keep as many things constant right now as possible though) but we found a couple of brands/diets that we wanted to try that would be nutritionally appropriate.
Also, we've been testing his pH, every other day for a few days (Since the first post) and his urine seems to consistently be within 6-6.4 pH which I understand to be right on track.

We're going to start the transition to a new wet food tomorrow morning and use kibble as treats (mostly because I don't want to throw away 95% of a brand new bag and he likes the crunch.) 3-5 pieces a day shouldn't give us too much of a problem right?
 

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Smol update;
I've been doing a LOOOOOOT of (mind numbing) research on food and pH and monitoring etc. etc. and I think ideally we want to go raw (we're preparing to move in the next 6 months so I'm trying to keep as many things constant right now as possible though) but we found a couple of brands/diets that we wanted to try that would be nutritionally appropriate.
Also, we've been testing his pH, every other day for a few days (Since the first post) and his urine seems to consistently be within 6-6.4 pH which I understand to be right on track.

We're going to start the transition to a new wet food tomorrow morning and use kibble as treats (mostly because I don't want to throw away 95% of a brand new bag and he likes the crunch.) 3-5 pieces a day shouldn't give us too much of a problem right?
HI! I'm wondering what brand of raw you went with or if you ended up making your own? And?or your top list of the best foods to feed you kitty with crystals in the urine? Mine has been on Purina One Urinary Tract health since going to the vet and a rouPri;nd of meds. I would add water to it to get more water into him and some dry next to it, now he's been snubbing both for about 3 days now (eating, but less). He's grown up with Blue Buffalo dry to Primal Raw, then what I was using was discontinued, so I slowly switched to Instinct dry salmon and freeze dried raw, then came the crystals. Anyone out there have any suggestions of a good food/quality nutrition to put him on??
 
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Hannah531

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HI! I'm wondering what brand of raw you went with or if you ended up making your own? And?or your top list of the best foods to feed you kitty with crystals in the urine? Mine has been on Purina One Urinary Tract health since going to the vet and a rouPri;nd of meds. I would add water to it to get more water into him and some dry next to it, now he's been snubbing both for about 3 days now (eating, but less). He's grown up with Blue Buffalo dry to Primal Raw, then what I was using was discontinued, so I slowly switched to Instinct dry salmon and freeze dried raw, then came the crystals. Anyone out there have any suggestions of a good food/quality nutrition to put him on??
we landed on vital essentials (they make frozen raw as well as dehydrated patties and bites) but he had a reaction to the duck and the chicken gave him the runs so turkey has been going great! I usually give him the dehydrated bites without water because it prompts him to drink from the water bowls but sometimes I give him the (thawed) frozen patties as a treat. (It’s the same formula pretty much - he just plays with it lol)

they have their nutrition stuff on their website and they’re not ridiculously expensive (kinda middle ground) and so far the only time the crystals have come back was the two weeks after my husband left from deployment and I had a house guest. He was a little extra stressed. During that time I made sure to give him water in the bowl with the food and his PH was only elevated two days during that time (and his urine showed up glittery in the box) I decided to monitor him and they went away on their own.
 

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Hi,
If stress might be a contributing factor, try a calming diffuser in the rooms he spends most time. For example, during a move or when have a house guest or new addition to the family ( pet or human).
Bach rescue remedy ( the pet version) is also supposed to be good.
 

CuriousCat7

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we landed on vital essentials (they make frozen raw as well as dehydrated patties and bites) but he had a reaction to the duck and the chicken gave him the runs so turkey has been going great! I usually give him the dehydrated bites without water because it prompts him to drink from the water bowls but sometimes I give him the (thawed) frozen patties as a treat. (It’s the same formula pretty much - he just plays with it lol)

they have their nutrition stuff on their website and they’re not ridiculously expensive (kinda middle ground) and so far the only time the crystals have come back was the two weeks after my husband left from deployment and I had a house guest. He was a little extra stressed. During that time I made sure to give him water in the bowl with the food and his PH was only elevated two days during that time (and his urine showed up glittery in the box) I decided to monitor him and they went away on their own.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I will definitely look into it!!
 

CuriousCat7

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Hi,
If stress might be a contributing factor, try a calming diffuser in the rooms he spends most time. For example, during a move or when have a house guest or new addition to the family ( pet or human).
Bach rescue remedy ( the pet version) is also supposed to be good.
THANK YOU!! I've done both before but haven't in a while. Thank you for the reminder!!
 
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