Does otc uti related food work?

[candie]

My cat got tired of prescription can food. So I'm wondering if OTC works as well as the prescription. She's currently eating the Purina one can food

 

[FeebysOwner]

Ir kind of depends on why the vet prescribed the RC food. Does she have crystals/s/stones? Repeated bacterial infections? Does she fall into the category of FLUTD or FIC? At any rate, the Purina One urinary tract care is supposed to help with those issues as well. Canned food will always be better for cats with urinary tract issues, as it helps to keep the bladder flushed so sediment isn't as likely to build up and cause crystal/stone formation. The other thing to consider, is a prescription food doesn't do much if a cat isn't willing to eat it.

If she is prone to bacterial build up in her bladder, pure D-Mannose can help with that. Many forms of bacteria adhere to the D-Mannose and are then flushed out of the bladder during urination, leaving less bacteria to collect. D-Mannose is considered helpful for overall bladder health too.

Once a cat shows a pattern of urinary tract issues, periodic urinalyses are warranted to help monitor the situation.

 

[candie]

She had uti twice. It happen a few days after she finished her antibiotics . So she got an antibiotic shot this time. I got prescription food to keep it from coming back but she got tired of it. Even though I was mixing it in the OTC version. Does d mannose really help? I have tried it before but she still ended up with it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Was a urine culture done following the urinalysis, to determine what kind of bacteria, so the best antibiotics for it can be used? If not, then the UTI doesn't necessarily get eradiated. The other common thing is that antibiotic treatments are not of a long enough duration to actually kill the bacteria.

There is no harm in giving her D-Mannose. It is intended to get rid of many types of bacteria. D-Mannose can be used long term, in order to get the best result. A few days of it doesn't help.

You really need to know more about her urinalyses results, e.g; blood in the urine, sediment, crystals/stones, low USG, etc. to help figure how why she might have a UTI recur.

 

[candie]

Yes they ran it at their clinic. She had blood in her urine. No crystals though. She was diagnosed with feline idipothic cystis. Is that how it's spelled?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Maybe this would help - as her issue goes above and beyond bacteria alone.
Feline Idiopathic Cystitis - How To Improve Your Cat's Quality Of Life - TheCatSite

 

[candie]

So that means uti food may not work for fic cats¿

 

[IndyJones]

Depends whats causing it. IC can be caused by stress or other factors as well. Its better if you can find the stressor and eliminate it or remidy it imo.

IC is just bladder inflimation from an unknown cause.

When Indy has a flair up cranberry helps her but again there is no one size fits all fix for it.

Personaly I try to avoid rx food because it is way overpriced for the qualty it is and I have two cats so its easier to feed them the same food.

 

[Alldara]

Urinary food won't help with FIC but it can help prevent infections. FIC is a stress disorder ans needs treated with environmental changes ans enrichment, as well as infection prevention (as the bladder swelling caused by FIC can make risk of infection greater).

The prescription urinary food is usually for dissolving stones.

Feline Idiopathic Cystitis | VCA Animal Hospital | VCA Canada Animal Hospitals

Feline Idiopathic Cystitis (FIC) | International Cat Care

 

[candie]

If I can't find a cause then are there supplements that may help prevent fic?

 

[Alldara]

If I can't find a cause then are there supplements that may help prevent fic?

FIC is a stress disorder in cats. You need to support your cat to lower its stress. That means "catification" as Jackson Galaxy would say. Basically, your cat's environmental needs must be met. You can give some of his catification videos a watch. Or if you need something more specific, let me know a bit about your environment and I'll see what types of videos I can find.

The biggest preventers of FIC episodes are:
- Changing to a mostly wet diet and adding water to the food
- Increasing the enrichment for the cat
- Lowering the cat's stress (through things like routine) and adequate resources
- This could include changing where the resources are, such as ensuring your cat has a lower traffic area of your home to use the litter
- I also had to change my litter to be neither pine or clay. I use paper litter or other wood pellet litter that is made for cats.


FeebysOwner mentioned a supplement. I believe it's for preventing infection.