Hi all,
This is a little bit health and little bit nutrition, so I hope I'm posting in the right place. Seamus was diagnosed with his first UTI in early July. Things seemed to clear up after a couple rounds of antibiotics, but yesterday I received the results of his follow-up urinanalysis (he's been off the antibiotics now for about 3 weeks) and his ph was high at 7.5 and they detected struvite crystals. He wasn't having symptoms yet, but the doctor put him on Royal Canin Urinary SO temporarily to head off a possible blockage. He will be on this food for at least the next 3 to 4 weeks and then they will retest his urine. The thing is, when he had his first urinanalysis when he was diagnosed with the UTI, his ph was within the normal range at 6.5 and they did not detect any crystals, but he had signs of infection such as white blood cells in the urine (they also did a culture, but it came back negative). Anyway, at the time of the first test, he was eating Wellness dry, but a week before the follow up test I had bought a bag of Blue Buffalo dry (I tend to rotate between these two brands) and mixed it in with the Wellness. That was the only change. I also feed wet food and that rotation has been constant, so I'm suspecting that adding Blue to his diet may have caused the altered ph and crystals. I was also told to replace his wet food with the RC urinary wet food but I honestly think this issue is related to the dry and the introduction of the Blue Buffalo. Do you think my suspicions are valid or is simply a coincidence? Anyway, I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on this.
In any event, I don't want to keep him on the prescription food if I can help it and would like to get him back on the Wellness once he's stabilized. Since both my cats graze on the dry during the day my other cat has to also eat the prescription food even though she doesn't need it. The vet said that's okay, but I know it's not ideal, and I still would rather have them both on a good quality maintenance food.
Thanks in advance!
This is a little bit health and little bit nutrition, so I hope I'm posting in the right place. Seamus was diagnosed with his first UTI in early July. Things seemed to clear up after a couple rounds of antibiotics, but yesterday I received the results of his follow-up urinanalysis (he's been off the antibiotics now for about 3 weeks) and his ph was high at 7.5 and they detected struvite crystals. He wasn't having symptoms yet, but the doctor put him on Royal Canin Urinary SO temporarily to head off a possible blockage. He will be on this food for at least the next 3 to 4 weeks and then they will retest his urine. The thing is, when he had his first urinanalysis when he was diagnosed with the UTI, his ph was within the normal range at 6.5 and they did not detect any crystals, but he had signs of infection such as white blood cells in the urine (they also did a culture, but it came back negative). Anyway, at the time of the first test, he was eating Wellness dry, but a week before the follow up test I had bought a bag of Blue Buffalo dry (I tend to rotate between these two brands) and mixed it in with the Wellness. That was the only change. I also feed wet food and that rotation has been constant, so I'm suspecting that adding Blue to his diet may have caused the altered ph and crystals. I was also told to replace his wet food with the RC urinary wet food but I honestly think this issue is related to the dry and the introduction of the Blue Buffalo. Do you think my suspicions are valid or is simply a coincidence? Anyway, I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on this.
In any event, I don't want to keep him on the prescription food if I can help it and would like to get him back on the Wellness once he's stabilized. Since both my cats graze on the dry during the day my other cat has to also eat the prescription food even though she doesn't need it. The vet said that's okay, but I know it's not ideal, and I still would rather have them both on a good quality maintenance food.
Thanks in advance!