Food Change Help! Hill's C/d Urinary To Purina Pro Plan Focus Urinary

[cats4eva18]

Hello! Few questions. I have 4 cats, and I recently fostered, and being the sucker I am, kept 2 kittens, making my total 6 babies!! About 4 years ago one of my cats developed a UTI and was found to have oxalate & struvite crystals in urine. It's been a LONG time, and all has cleared up, but since that day have always kept my 4 on Hill's Prescription C/D Urinary care. (Urinary issue's terrify me) We have had no more problems since then. With the addition of the 2, that makes 6 mouth's to feed, and I was wondering if any of you had experience with Purina Pro Plan Focus Urinary Tract? The food would save me quite a bit of money if I find it to be safe. My babies health is above all else and I would weigh this heavily, but just exploring a more cost effective option! Pros & cons of Purina please? How did it work for you and your cat with urinary issues? Please no comments on homemade food as I don't have time for all that (I know you mean well lol) Thank you!!

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Can you compare the ingredients in each bag?

You could also explain your financial situation to your vet and see what they recommend.

 

[Azazel]

The number one most important element for urinary health is water. Since your cat hasn’t had crystals for a long time, I would suggest switching everyone to all wet diets. These are generally healthier for nutrition because they are higher in protein and also high in moisture so they keep the urinary tract clean.

Kibble urinary diets work by changing the acidity level of the urine. This acidity level shouldn’t need to be changed if a cat is already eating a high protein diet with lots of moisture. Urinary diets are often a correction for improper diet. All wet food is what I recommend. You can read more about it on catinfo.org.

 

[cats4eva18]

Thanks everyone! I feed wet as well, they have both out all day long. Financially the expense only grows slightly with 2 more kitties, so not to big of a deal if I keep the same. Just saving some cash would be a nice bonus if the Purina food behave's the same with my cats and I can switch. I spoke to my vet and she said she was happy with either or, so I suppose I will transition with a small bag of the Purina mixed in and see how it goes!

 

[cats4eva18]

Also! Looking for any negative experience anyone has had with Purina for Urinary issue's. Just trying to get opinions on it!

 

[Azazel]

If I’m to be completely honest, I wouldn’t feed the Purina urinary food long term. Urinary diets are meant to be short term for severe cases of crystals or UTIs. They are very low in animal protein and in my opinion are not nutritous for long term. They are also over prescribed by vets.

More honesty... feeding dry kibble to a cat with urinary issues seems illogical to me. Cats are meant to obtain water from their food, this is why they have low thirst drives. Cats fed kibble are far more likely to have urinary issues. Feeding urinary kibble just masks the issue but doesn’t ensure that a cat is well hydrated. This can lead to bigger issues down the road like kidney disease.

 

[cats4eva18]

Thank you! Advice is always appreciated

 

[betsygee]

Two of my four have had UTI problems and the vet prescribed Hill's. It was easier to just have all four of them eat the same thing so we had them all on it. That proved expensive, plus they were sticking their noses up at it half the time.

I switched to the Purina Pro Urinary food several months ago. They like it fine and we haven't had any negative experiences with it. There have been no UTI problems. I don't know if the food has helped or if it's just a coincidence.

We don't feed dry at all, and have three water fountains throughout the house to encourage drinking more water.

Interesting that you mention the short-term use of these kinds of food, A Azazel . I've been wondering about that. I'll be taking one of the cats in to the vet soon for her annual check and will be asking the vet what she thinks about it.

 

[Purr-fect]

Thank you! Advice is always appreciated

No experience with the purina you are considering.

But im fairly certain long term feeding of hills science diet CD, for crystals, resulted in my cat getting diabetes. That food was very high in grain carbs.

When I switched to a high quality grain free wet food, our cat did much better.

 

[cats4eva18]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[walli]

I have a Feral that had the Urinary Crystals and I used the Royal Canin
Calm plus Dry Food, It totally worked and she got better!
She is not food motivated and prefers dry food to canned so I had to get creative
When you can't get a cat to the Vet very often this is a miracle.
I know you were not looking for this info but I couldn't help it!
It is expensive, but just info in case you ever need it.

 

[Azazel]

Here is what Dr. Pierson has to say about prescription diets, urinary issues, and long term use. Source: Cat Urinary Tract Diseases: Cystitis, Urethral Obstruction, Urinary Tract Infection

I do not use use ‘prescription’ diets except in rare cases as noted below. They are expensive and contain low quality, species-inappropriate ingredients, and are not necessary in most cases of feline urinary tract disease.

I only consider the temporary use of Hill’s canned s/d if I know that the patient has urinary tract stones (“uroliths”), or a large amount of crystals – with a high index of suspicion for them being struvite versus calcium oxalate (CaO).

I tend to reach for canned s/d more readily in a male cat than a female. This is because males are much more prone to a urethral obstruction than females due to their long, narrow urethra.

In these cases, I will consider the use of canned s/d (the most acidifying diet on the market) for a short period of time until the patient shows radiographic or ultrasound evidence of stone dissolution/crystal clearance. This can take as little time as a few days but may take 1-2 months for large stones.

If the stones are not showing any signs of dissolution once the patient has been on the acidifying diet for 2 – 3 weeks, there is a very good chance that the stones are CaO and keeping them on this diet is only going to make matters worse. This is why it is so important to monitor the patient with radiographs or ultrasound and urinalyses and to not just leave them on s/d.

Remember, CaO will not dissolve with diet manipulation and Hill’s s/d will actually promote the formation of CaO – creating a dangerous situation. Surgery is the only way to remove CaO stones and if they form in the kidney (more common than the easier-to-access bladder), they cannot be removed without significant risk to the patient.

‘Sludge’ (cellular debris, mucus, proteinacious material, etc.), can be addressed with simply a water-rich diet (canned or homemade diet with added water) to flush it out but it is possible to have small stones hiding in this mixture that could be missed on radiographs or ultrasound and which could result in urethral blockage.

If your cat has a large amount of sludge in his bladder that you are now addressing with diet (s/d or simply canned/homemade food with added water), be sure to watch him carefully for any signs of a urethral blockage. I would not want to leave a cat like this unattended for more than ~12 hours in case he blocked.

Also note that meat-based diets promote an acidic urine (but not overly acidic like Hill’s s/d) and that carbohydrate-based diets promote an alkaline urine. Keep in mind that carbohydrates have no logical place in the feline diet.

Other prescription diets such as Hill’s c/d, Royal Canin SO, and Purina UR are diets that do not aggressively acidify the urine like Hill’s s/d does.

Therefore, c/d, SO, and UR can be fed for life but I would not recommend it due to their cost and unhealthy ingredients and species-inappropriate composition.

Hill’s s/d, on the other hand, is NOT safe for long-term feeding and should only be used temporarily.

When urinary tract prescription diets were first formulated, they mainly focused on urinary pH manipulation and magnesium restriction. In recent years, some of the manufacturers such as Purina and Royal Canin have added salt to their diets to encourage higher water consumption in order to dilute the minerals (crystals). There is controversy surrounding this practice.

Prescription urinary tract diets come in dry and canned forms but after reading this webpage, hopefully the reader will understand just how illogical it is to add salt to a dry food diet to get the cat to drink more water when the cat should be eating a water-rich diet of canned food in the first place.

For dry food addicts, please see Tips for Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food.

As stated in the first section of this webpage, manipulating the pH of urine is not the most important factor in preventing feline urinary tract diseases yet it is so heavily focused on.

I am finding it increasingly frustrating to watch the veterinary community continue to be fixated on the pH of cat urine and the presence of urinary crystals instead of focusing on the much more important issue of dietary water content.

Veterinarians are exhibiting a serious lack critical thought when prescribing a water-depleted diet to any cat but especially one with urinary tract issues, including kidney disease which is very common in cats.

Instead of reflexively reaching for the prescription diets when patients present with urinary tract issues, I would like to see the emphasis switch to getting the patient off of all dry food and onto a meat-based canned food with added water.

This diet will help maintain a species-appropriate urine pH and will keep the bladder flushed out.

When I say it is illogical to feed “any” cat a diet of dry food, think about practicing preventative nutrition. Do you really want to wait until your cat develops urinary tract problems before you implement the feeding of a water-rich diet to a species with a naturally low thirst drive?

Think about closing the barn door before the horse is running down the roadway.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in - whatever of the urinary care foods you use be it Royal Canin SO, Hill's C/D, or Purina Pro Plan (all in both wet and dry), I would stick with them for any cat who has had stones/crystals - not short term but long term. Here is why I am saying that:

Feeby had to have bladder surgery 8 years ago because her stones were so bad. She has since been on urinary care foods mentioned above (unfortunately not the Purina because it wasn't available back then), and she is still stone free as far as I know. She has not yet acquired diabetes, and I am hoping that at 14+ now, she never will.

I won't change her diet at this stage of her life. However, anyone who wants to avoid using urinary care foods, needs to research very thoroughly for a LOT of data/documentation to dispel the need for these foods - more than just an article or two here and there.