Diet After Uti

[xx18xx]

Over the past three days it has been determined one of my cats(Mia) has a UTI. She is now on antibiotics and cosequin for two weeks. I knew going into the vet they would recommend a prescription diet which they did & it would be Hill's Prescription Diet c/d Multicare Urinary Care Stress. There isn't really any way I can afford this food especially having 7 cats to feed. So I wanted to come here to see what other people feed for their uti prone cats if you don't feed a prescription diet. Anyone feed the Purina One Urinary formula?

Also any recommendations on a water fountain?

 

[cheeser]

We tried the prescription foods that the vet recommended (as well as the non-prescription Purina One urinary health formula that was also mentioned as an option), but our cat still kept relapsing every 3 months.

Then one day when I was searching the internet to see if there were any other foods available that might help our cat, I stumbled across this article about cat urinary tract diseases at catinfo.org. The site also includes this handy chart to help you find some low carb options, many of which are budget friendly.

To make a long story short, we eliminated fish from our cat's diet per Dr. Pierson's recommendation, transitioned him over to a strictly wet food diet, and he hasn't had any further urinary tract symptoms. We did buy a fountain to encourage our guy to drink more water, and were pretty concerned when we noticed him drinking less than before. What we didn't realize at the time was that by feeding him only wet food (with a little extra water added to each meal), he was getting all the moisture he needed from his diet. Wish we would have known that at the time, as it would have spared us a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

 

[cheeser]

Oops. Almost forgot...

If you want to buy a fountain, get one that's ceramic or stainless steel. Our cats are pretty big and rambunctious, so we bought the Pioneer Pet Big Max ceramic fountain. It's easy to keep clean, and there's a video to show you how to clean the pump.

But there are plenty of other excellent options, and sometimes the best option is not to buy one at all. As long as your cat stays well hydrated, you may find that a fountain isn't really necessary after all. :-)