This is gonna be long... sorry
Well I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later with so many boys in my crew. Bear has crystals and a low urine PH. A round of antibiotics and some nasty PH increasing gel stuff and he seems to be peeing normal again. However I know that this is probably not the end of it.
My vet really wants me to put them on an all wet diet. My wallet wants me to put them on a high quality dry diet with a little wet food supplement of high quality. Currently my bums get a half a cup of Chicken Soup each and I split one can of Wellness or Natural Balance between them a day. The dry is free fed through out the day so they are all used to grazing when they want.
If I were to put them on an all wet diet, the Wellness would go right out the window. There is no possible way I can afford a months supply of Wellness to feed six cats wet every day. I have done some research and found that Friskies makes some special diet for urinary tract health and it tends to run about $.40 a can. But of course the one of the first ingredients is meat by products.
So this is the advice I need...
1. Is one can per cat a day a good amount to feed? It's all I can afford, it actually goes above my budget.
2. My cats love to sample each others food, they play musical food dishes, so feeding them each something different would not be possible so would the special diet stuff be OK for all the other cats too (**posting the ingredients at the bottom).
3. High quality dry vs. low quality wet? I like the changes I have gotten from the high quality dry with a supplement of high quality wet. Cleaner litter boxes, shiny coats, active kitties. The low quality wet might help with one cats crystals and PH problem but I will probably lose all the pros that their current diet affords.
So what are your opinions. I am most concerned about one can of food per cat a day. I just don't feel like it would be enough. I also really don't want the by products or all the grains. But it would be all wet so that has to count for something right?
Ingredients Special Diet Sliced Chicken Gravy Dinner:
Water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, chicken, wheat gluten, corn starch-modified, artificial and natural flavors, soy flour, potassium chloride, taurine, calcium phosphate, salt, added color, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-6142
Crude Protein (Min)12.0 %
Crude Fat (Min)3.5 %
Crude Fiber (Max)0.2 %
Moisture (Max)78.0 %
Ash (Max)1.5 %
Potassium (Min)0.20 %
Magnesium (Max)0.022 %
Taurine (Min)0.05 %
Well I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later with so many boys in my crew. Bear has crystals and a low urine PH. A round of antibiotics and some nasty PH increasing gel stuff and he seems to be peeing normal again. However I know that this is probably not the end of it.
My vet really wants me to put them on an all wet diet. My wallet wants me to put them on a high quality dry diet with a little wet food supplement of high quality. Currently my bums get a half a cup of Chicken Soup each and I split one can of Wellness or Natural Balance between them a day. The dry is free fed through out the day so they are all used to grazing when they want.
If I were to put them on an all wet diet, the Wellness would go right out the window. There is no possible way I can afford a months supply of Wellness to feed six cats wet every day. I have done some research and found that Friskies makes some special diet for urinary tract health and it tends to run about $.40 a can. But of course the one of the first ingredients is meat by products.
So this is the advice I need...
1. Is one can per cat a day a good amount to feed? It's all I can afford, it actually goes above my budget.
2. My cats love to sample each others food, they play musical food dishes, so feeding them each something different would not be possible so would the special diet stuff be OK for all the other cats too (**posting the ingredients at the bottom).
3. High quality dry vs. low quality wet? I like the changes I have gotten from the high quality dry with a supplement of high quality wet. Cleaner litter boxes, shiny coats, active kitties. The low quality wet might help with one cats crystals and PH problem but I will probably lose all the pros that their current diet affords.
So what are your opinions. I am most concerned about one can of food per cat a day. I just don't feel like it would be enough. I also really don't want the by products or all the grains. But it would be all wet so that has to count for something right?
Ingredients Special Diet Sliced Chicken Gravy Dinner:
Water sufficient for processing, meat by-products, chicken, wheat gluten, corn starch-modified, artificial and natural flavors, soy flour, potassium chloride, taurine, calcium phosphate, salt, added color, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, Vitamin A supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), pyridoxine hydrochloride, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, biotin, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, potassium iodide. A-6142
Crude Protein (Min)12.0 %
Crude Fat (Min)3.5 %
Crude Fiber (Max)0.2 %
Moisture (Max)78.0 %
Ash (Max)1.5 %
Potassium (Min)0.20 %
Magnesium (Max)0.022 %
Taurine (Min)0.05 %