Cats Fur Rough Due To New Food?

Hey therr0789

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Per the vet my cats are on a urinary diet. Wet and dry because the wet alone is expensive and I'm a bad cat owner. Anyways I'm not sure if its due to them getting older or the food as I'm noticing around the same time is their coat is not as soft. Its a bit rough like older 20yro cats. I'm not sure what to do.
 

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I'm not sure if its due to them getting older or the food as I'm noticing around the same time is their coat is not as soft. Its a bit rough like older 20yro cats. I'm not sure what to do.
Sometimes it's due to food and sometimes it's due to lack of grooming.

If your cat is not grooming well, it could be due some medical reasons. You can help groom her coat everyday a few times a day and observe and can check with your vet or bring her in for check up.

If it's food related, maybe change to something else and make sure she gets lots of water to keep her hydrated.
 

LTS3

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Most of the time prescription diets aren't necessary for urinary issues. There's info here:

Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.

Most urinary issues can be managed by providing a canned food only diet. Commercial canned foods work just fine and cost way less than prescription canned food. It's perfectly ok to disagree with the vet (most of the time) about food and treatment. Vets recommend things but you don't necessarily have to listen and absolutely do it.

Adding omega 3s to the diet may help with fur and skin condition. There are fish oil and other supplements most pet stores sell.

Brushing the fur regularly helps spread the skin's natural oils throughout the fur to keep the fur healthy.
 
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Hey therr0789

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Most of the time prescription diets aren't necessary for urinary issues.
What do you mean by that? So Royal Canin Urinary SO is not a urinary food? Or purina rx urinary? I'm not sure I understand. So they were on a limited ingredient salmon diet I think the fish was better for their coat. I am always wondering about if I can just add what food to their diet and make sure they're drinking a lot if they'll be fine. But recently we've had clients come into my work blocked and the owners had switched from the urinary specific foods to whatever other food and were in a again months later with a blockage. The thing hard thats so hard is that anything can cause a blockage so it may not have even been the food. Who's to say it was the food or who's to say it was stress whos whos say it was lack of water. We have a nutritionist coming from NC State to talk to us at work tomorrow. I'm hoping she gives us her personal information so that we can chat afterwards because I don't really feel comfortable bringing this up while my coworkers are there. I don't want to be judged. from what I hear a lot of bets aren't even that educated on nutrition they only take a couple of courses or even just one course and it's usually sponsored by the big companies. I don't know what to believe anymore cuz even in human food everything is changing all the time.
 

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What do you mean by that? So Royal Canin Urinary SO is not a urinary food? Or purina rx urinary? I'm not sure I understand .

You can read Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats. for more info on why prescription foods aren't always necessary. Prescription urinary foods often just have an acidifier to keep crystals and stuff from forming in the urine. There are other ways to keep urine pH at an optimal level.

There are non-prescription alternatives to Royal Canin SO:

Alternatives to Royal Canin SO
Alternatives to expensive Urinary SO food
 
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