A tale of conflicting vet advice: which diet is best for my cat's teeth/urinary health?

wali_the_cat

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Hello! My 7 year-old male cat has now seen three different vets in as many months. He has gingivitis on one tooth and periodontal disease. He also has a history of urinary crystals (likely caused by stress, which all three vets agree on, because his bladder is otherwise healthy).

The first vet was the vet at the SPCA, from whom I adopted my cat.
The second was an at-home vet for Wali's first official check-up post adoption.
And the third is my current, established vet.

All three vets had different advice regarding diet.
  • The SPCA vet recommended a permanent wet food only prescription diet of specific urinary care foods (Hills and Royal Canin)
  • The at-home vet said that RX urinary care diets are all marketing and any wet food is fine, but really he and all cats should be eating raw lizards and rodents.
  • My current vet recomended Hill's T/D dental care DRY food, and is indifferent to whether or not Wali eats wet or dry food, as long as he eats T/D for his teeth.

After doing research on cat nutrition, I have concluded that a wet food diet is probably the way to go with my cat (especially because he never drinks water). But should I be supplementing his wet food diet with something like Hill's T/D dental care dry food? The ingredients are questionable — while the first ingredient is at least meat in the form of chicken byproduct meal, the next ingredients are all grain derivatives.

Is Hill's T/D dental care dry food worth the cost when the ingredients are kind of sketchy? Does my cat even need dry food for his teeth?? I do attempt to brush his teeth. He does not like it so far but I think with time and patience we'll get there...

Thanks for any advice!
 

Kieka

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Sounds like the second vet is the best in terms of cat knowledge to a degree. I am not a vet but what he told you aligns with my cat specialist vets statements, the kidney care cat knowledge I've been told and personal research.

The only difference I would say is that a cat with known crystals should get a kidney diet because they have an additive that helps dissolve crystals. Once the crystals are dissolved any wet diet with lower phosphorus is good for maintenance. Just watch for reoccurance and get urinalysis to make sure it is clear. There are a handful of cats who do need to stay on a urinary diet for life because their systems just have problems easily. Not to say that proper diet could prevent it but their owners either haven't figured out the right diet or the cat is just that sensitive. The first vet was probably used to dealing with people who aren't attentive and reoccurance of issues aren't caught until its too late. Keeping kitty on the urinary diet for life with an owner who doesn't feed a proper diet or notice until its bad would stop the problem before it happens.

The third vet, don't go back. Dry food is not good for kidney problem prone kitties, they need a high moisture diet. Plus the whole idea of dry kibble doing anything for dental health is a myth. Most domestic cats barely chew dry kibble but dry kibble isn't even close to bones and feathers that are the natural tooth cleaning mechanism for wild cats. No dry commercial kibble will ever be able to replicate that natural process. A dental health kibble is a marketing gimmick, 100%.

Edit, just saw that the third is your regular. I would find a new regular vet. My vet only tolerates me feeding dry because I feed two wet meals and she sees my cats health isn't suffering. But that was only after five years of seeing her and talking with her. Dry food is only tolerated by a cat specialist vet if the owner is active in their cats health. A vet who recommends dry food and is indifferent to wet for a cat with kidney issues in the past, isn't a cat specialist. There are a lot of vets out there who rarely see cats or don't like cats even. I take my rabbit to a rabbit specialist because they aren't like cats or dogs, a cat should also see a specialist or at least someone who doesn't see them as small dogs. In my opinion of course.
 

daftcat75

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The at-home vet is the most accurate. I would add birds and insects to that list. But, of course, reliably sourcing and preparing rodents, lizards, birds, and insects is prohibitively complex and expensive. And your cat likely won't be interested in them unless he gets to hunt them himself.

In all seriousness though, prescription food is marketing. Dental food is also marketing. Dry food causes urinary and dental problems. The idea that crunching on kibble is going to clean his teeth is laughable. Cats don't even chew their kibble enough for that to work even if it did work they way they imagine it. Sinking their teeth into fur and pulling fur through their teeth as they rip their furry prey apart is much closer to the way a toothbrush works. If you are concerned about his dental health, learn how to brush his teeth. Search YouTube for "Cornell brush cat teeth". I'd link you, except my work VPN (rightfully so) blocks YouTube. As for his urinary health, an all (or predominantly) wet food diet will do more than any specialty dry food. It will keep his kidneys healthy too! And you'll avoid most of the nonsense and low quality ingredients that go into making a shelf-stable food that cats would want to eat.
 

LTS3

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It's perfectly fine to ignore any vet's advice / suggestion / recommendation food :) It's YOUR cat after all. If you don't want to feed junk, then don't. No vet can force you to.

The at home vet's advice is the one I would follow. Catinfo.org has more info on proper cat nutrition and why most prescription diets are useless.

Home dental care will help keep teeth clean and healthy, just like it does for your own teeth. Tooth brushing is best. Use only pet toothpaste, never Human toothpaste. There are videos online on how to brush a cat's teeth. Most cats balk at having their teeth brushed but soon tolerate it. Use a yummy flavored toothpaste such as CET poultry flavored toothpaste. You can use a small pet toothbrush or finger brush or even just a piece of gauze wrapped around a finger. You're not aiming to scrub every single surface of all the teeth. A swab of toothpaste on as many tooth surfaces will suffice.

Short of tooth brushing, or in addition to it, there are dental rinses you can try. A little squirt in the mouth is all that's needed. There are dental additives that you put in the water bowl but the taste / smell of the additive may cause a cat to stop drinking, which can lead to dehydration and other issues, plus you typically need to refresh the water and add more additive every day. Cats don't drink from a bowl often so that's a huge waste of additive and money IMO. Some people swear by dental additives, though.

Giving raw gizzards and bones may help with dental health.

CET dental chews are the only chew treats I would suggest to try.
 
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