Cheap Alternative To Hills Urninary Care C/d?

[duckpond]

I know many do not like the ingredients in the prescription diets. But there is so much we still do not know about a cats nutritional needs. I have read so many instances where the prescription diets do an amazing job of helping cats with urinary issues. If my cat had this problem i think i would feed the prescription food that the vet recommends.

Would other wet foods work, maybe. But i would keep my cat on the prescription food, unless my vet was willing to work with switching the cat to something else. At least for a while, some vets will say that for some cats it ok to keep them on the prescription food for a while, get everything straightened out, then switch them to a non prescription wet food that you like better? Maybe ask your vet about this? I would be afraid of causing the cat to block again, so i would go with the vets advice, just my personal opinion on it.

 

[Ladewyn]

I've heard some bad things about Blue Buffalo with cats, specifically in relation to urinary problems.

The thing about prescription diets is while they are crappy from a basic nutritional aspect, they *do* work. And the issue with crystals is that they usually come back. To find a diet that works, you may have to undergo some experimentation, which can also be quite expensive in its own right and may mean your cat will have to deal with crystals until you find what works. You may want to at least wait a while before trying something else.

I would suggest if concerned about this diet as a lifelong treatment, check with some other vets around town, specifically try to find a cat specialist. Most vets are generalists, so specialists can be helpful when you want a second opinion. Seeking a specialist in cats would at least mean they probably have more experience with crystals in cats.

 

[laura14801]

I know many do not like the ingredients in the prescription diets. But there is so much we still do not know about a cats nutritional needs. I have read so many instances where the prescription diets do an amazing job of helping cats with urinary issues. If my cat had this problem i think i would feed the prescription food that the vet recommends.

Would other wet foods work, maybe. But i would keep my cat on the prescription food, unless my vet was willing to work with switching the cat to something else. At least for a while, some vets will say that for some cats it ok to keep them on the prescription food for a while, get everything straightened out, then switch them to a non prescription wet food that you like better? Maybe ask your vet about this? I would be afraid of causing the cat to block again, so i would go with the vets advice, just my personal opinion on it.

Bad news, I placed an order for the prescription food from Petco, because he was almost out and the Vet will not approve it! She said he has to be seen again first. I don't have that kind of money...what am I going to feed him now?

 

[leechi]

I've heard some bad things about Blue Buffalo with cats, specifically in relation to urinary problems.

The thing about prescription diets is while they are crappy from a basic nutritional aspect, they *do* work. And the issue with crystals is that they usually come back. To find a diet that works, you may have to undergo some experimentation, which can also be quite expensive in its own right and may mean your cat will have to deal with crystals until you find what works. You may want to at least wait a while before trying something else.

All the complaints I’ve seen about Blue Buffalo causing urinary issues have been about the dry food, which is no surprise really.

 

[leechi]

Bad news, I placed an order for the prescription food from Petco, because he was almost out and the Vet will not approve it! She said he has to be seen again first. I don't have that kind of money...what am I going to feed him now?

Feed him canned. You can always take him back to the vet if need be, but just monitor his litter box habits closely. You know what to look for now, if he starts to have issues again take him back to the vet.

 

[laura14801]

Feed him canned. You can always take him back to the vet if need be, but just monitor his litter box habits closely. You know what to look for now, if he starts to have issues again take him back to the vet.

Yeah. Just going to have to stick with the regular canned food for now. I'm hoping this works...in the meantime going to switch Vet's....it's starting to sound like the one he has right now is just in it for the money.

 

[leechi]

If you want to take some extra precautions, you can try these.

Switch his water bowls to either filtered water or bottled spring water in case your tap is too high in minerals. You can also get a pet fountain, but chances are he won't drink much water on all canned anyway, he won't need to.

Add a little bit of extra water to his canned food. Be careful though, if he doesn't like the food this way and doesn't eat it, than discontinue. You can also use chicken or other meat broth, but only if it's unseasoned and low sodium, so would probably have to be home made.

Add Tinkle Tonic to his food. It's an herbal supplement that helps to sooth and reduce inflammation in the urinary tract. Again though, if it makes him not eat his food, than don't add it. You can also use the dropper to give it directly in his mouth, if you feel comfortable doing that.
Animal Essentials Tinkle Tonic Herbal Dog & Cat Supplement

 

[laura14801]

If you want to take some extra precautions, you can try these.

Switch his water bowls to either filtered water or bottled spring water in case your tap is too high in minerals. You can also get a pet fountain, but chances are he won't drink much water on all canned anyway, he won't need to.

Add a little bit of extra water to his canned food. Be careful though, if he doesn't like the food this way and doesn't eat it, than discontinue. You can also use chicken or other meat broth, but only if it's unseasoned and low sodium, so would probably have to be home made.

Add Tinkle Tonic to his food. It's an herbal supplement that helps to sooth and reduce inflammation in the urinary tract. Again though, if it makes him not eat his food, than don't add it. You can also use the dropper to give it directly in his mouth, if you feel comfortable doing that.
Animal Essentials Tinkle Tonic Herbal Dog & Cat Supplement

Quick update: After speaking with the veterinarian. She isn't quite sure that the prescription diet was the right choice for my cat. The funny thing is, I was told a few months ago that he needed to be on it for the rest of his life. They want me to take him in to test his urine ph, which would most likely mean another overnight stay in the hospital. In short, it's money I don't have right now.

 

[leechi]

Here are a couple of threads I found about home urine ph testing.

Urine pH test strips
Testing urine PH at home - Cat Forum : Cat Discussion Forums

I'm sure there's more info out there as well if it's something you want to try doing yourself. Also ask your vet what they want the ph to be. Btw since those are old threads I don't think the links in them are to the same products they originally were. I think the test strips they are referring to are something like this
Solid Gold Supplements Urine Testing pH Strips, 50 count

 

[Ladybug_]

Hello everyone!
I have a soon to be 15 year old beautiful, long haired tabby cat who was taken to the vet a few months back for urinary crystals. After spending around $300 (ouch!), which included an overnight hospital stay to get a urine sample from him, the vet recommenced I put him on Hills Urinary Care c/d Stress for the rest of his life. The thing is I'm a low income individual. on Social Security and working part time, and make just over 11k a year. He is doing really well on this very expensive food, but after doing some research I found out the ingredients are mostly junk. And, I don't really want to spend $70 for a 13 pound bag, or $40 for a 24 pack of the wet food, which doesn't last a whole month because the cans are so small. I feel like this is honestly a rip off, and there has to be a cheaper solution to this. I don't have thousand to spend on expensive surgery, but want to keep my baby boy happy, and healthy for the last few years of his life!

Hello everyone!
I have a soon to be 15 year old beautiful, long haired tabby cat who was taken to the vet a few months back for urinary crystals. After spending around $300 (ouch!), which included an overnight hospital stay to get a urine sample from him, the vet recommenced I put him on Hills Urinary Care c/d Stress for the rest of his life. The thing is I'm a low income individual. on Social Security and working part time, and make just over 11k a year. He is doing really well on this very expensive food, but after doing some research I found out the ingredients are mostly junk. And, I don't really want to spend $70 for a 13 pound bag, or $40 for a 24 pack of the wet food, which doesn't last a whole month because the cans are so small. I feel like this is honestly a rip off, and there has to be a cheaper solution to this. I don't have thousand to spend on expensive surgery, but want to keep my baby boy happy, and healthy for the last few years of his life!

What

Hello everyone!
I have a soon to be 15 year old beautiful, long haired tabby cat who was taken to the vet a few months back for urinary crystals. After spending around $300 (ouch!), which included an overnight hospital stay to get a urine sample from him, the vet recommenced I put him on Hills Urinary Care c/d Stress for the rest of his life. The thing is I'm a low income individual. on Social Security and working part time, and make just over 11k a year. He is doing really well on this very expensive food, but after doing some research I found out the ingredients are mostly junk. And, I don't really want to spend $70 for a 13 pound bag, or $40 for a 24 pack of the wet food, which doesn't last a whole month because the cans are so small. I feel like this is honestly a rip off, and there has to be a cheaper solution to this. I don't have thousand to spend on expensive surgery, but want to keep my baby boy happy, and healthy for the last few years of his life!

What about buying good cat food and asking the vet to write out a script for do methionine?

 

[Stinky15]

I had a male cat that stopped up twice and Vet. pushed CD on me. At nearly $2.00 a can I said no way. I transitioned him to mostly wet Fancy Feast "Classic" varieties and filled in with Purina Urinary Care formula (available at Walmart and others). He never stopped up again. Maybe I was lucky. He wouldn't eat the CD anyway. YMMV

 

[Jem]

the vet recommenced I put him on Hills Urinary Care c/d Stress for the rest of his life.

BUT.....

because he was almost out and the Vet will not approve it! She said he has to be seen again first.

NOW...

After speaking with the veterinarian. She isn't quite sure that the prescription diet was the right choice for my cat.

They want me to take him in to test his urine ph

OK, Maybe I'm just being cynical because I'm in a bad mood , but I honestly would find a new vet.
I'm not sure what your conversation was like when you got the "this may not be the right food, you should bring him in for a "different test". But if the conversation when a little like this......
YOU: I can't afford this food and why do I need to bring him in for a refill when you said he should be in this for life? He should not have to seen just to get a refill. (CD (although not the highest quality food) is safe for cats to be on even if they don't have crystals.)
VET: Oh, um, well this may not be the right food anyway, so you should still bring him in so we can do a different test".
Do you see where I'm going with this?

Our boy was on CD and CD stress for life, and NEVER did we have to have an exam or retest his urine, just to get a refill, because he needed it for life.

Now if this vet IS trying to work with you, and I'm just being cranky because you did mention to her that the food is too costly for you then that's great. Because if it shows that the PH is too high (low acid), that could be one reason for the development of crystals, and you may only need to add an acidifier to his food and not have to buy the expensive prescription food.

Anyway just my two cents on that.

As I mentioned above, I had a cat who had to be on the CD, we tried several times to switch to others foods that should have been OK according to a lot of information and research I did on ingredients, high protein, filtered water, moisture rich and so on.... But the CD is the only thing that kept his crystals away. IF you choose to try and transition him to a different food if it is recommended that he be on the CD, do so with CAUTION, and WITH a vet who will be able to ensure that things are still OK. That means, bringing in urine sample for analysis regularly and having and eagle eye for ANY changes in behavior, even non pee related behavior.
When it comes to testing PH, you can get PH testing strips and use them yourself for maintenance.
I forget the name of this litter, and I did hear it is expensive, but there is a litter out there that changes color?? or something depending on what is "reads" in the urine (blood, PH....). That could be something that you can try for a while, or at least while you are doing any type of food transition.
I would also recommend that YOU DO NOT change the food at all until your kitty is free and clear of urinary issues for several weeks. Give kitty a chance to really heal before trying anything new.

Again, this info is based on MY experience. We ran into so many problems with our boy trying to get him off the "crap" food, some that became chronic (and more expensive in the long run), that I find sometimes it's just safer to just feed the prescription food.

 

[Stinky15]

BUT.....



NOW...




OK, Maybe I'm just being cynical because I'm in a bad mood , but I honestly would find a new vet.
I'm not sure what your conversation was like when you got the "this may not be the right food, you should bring him in for a "different test". But if the conversation when a little like this......
YOU: I can't afford this food and why do I need to bring him in for a refill when you said he should be in this for life? He should not have to seen just to get a refill. (CD (although not the highest quality food) is safe for cats to be on even if they don't have crystals.)
VET: Oh, um, well this may not be the right food anyway, so you should still bring him in so we can do a different test".
Do you see where I'm going with this?

Our boy was on CD and CD stress for life, and NEVER did we have to have an exam or retest his urine, just to get a refill, because he needed it for life.

Now if this vet IS trying to work with you, and I'm just being cranky because you did mention to her that the food is too costly for you then that's great. Because if it shows that the PH is too high (low acid), that could be one reason for the development of crystals, and you may only need to add an acidifier to his food and not have to buy the expensive prescription food.

Anyway just my two cents on that.

As I mentioned above, I had a cat who had to be on the CD, we tried several times to switch to others foods that should have been OK according to a lot of information and research I did on ingredients, high protein, filtered water, moisture rich and so on.... But the CD is the only thing that kept his crystals away. IF you choose to try and transition him to a different food if it is recommended that he be on the CD, do so with CAUTION, and WITH a vet who will be able to ensure that things are still OK. That means, bringing in urine sample for analysis regularly and having and eagle eye for ANY changes in behavior, even non pee related behavior.
When it comes to testing PH, you can get PH testing strips and use them yourself for maintenance.
I forget the name of this litter, and I did hear it is expensive, but there is a litter out there that changes color?? or something depending on what is "reads" in the urine (blood, PH....). That could be something that you can try for a while, or at least while you are doing any type of food transition.
I would also recommend that YOU DO NOT change the food at all until your kitty is free and clear of urinary issues for several weeks. Give kitty a chance to really heal before trying anything new.

Again, this info is based on MY experience. We ran into so many problems with our boy trying to get him off the "crap" food, some that became chronic (and more expensive in the long run), that I find sometimes it's just safer to just feed the prescription food.

I tend to agree with you. Once when my Vet. was out of the C/D I needed I called another near by and told them my Cat was on C/D and did they have any. They sold it to me on my word that the Cat really was on it and it was cheaper.

 

[Bel]

I am so sorry to hear that! My boy had a UO back in 2016 and it was also very expensive to get cleared out. Now I can't say this definitively my cat started to have cat allergies and the so or c/d weren't options for me at that time because of the allergies. My vet said that any wet food would work as long as it's a wet food (as in an all wet food diet). I mean you could probably us the C/D as a topper if you want as well. So I would suggest looking for a mid-range-brand that could be more cost effective. Before my cat started having allergies he was on Authority cat food with Petsmart (they are good for having sales). As long as it's not total junk food I think anything should be fine. And I know America has more food options than we do here...