New diet after crystals nightmare

[emuhawk]

My 5 y/o kitty recently went through an awful experience with urinary blockage due to crystals.  We thankfully caught it super early so he never experienced toxin buildup or any of the other horrible things that can happen from blockage, but he ended up needing a PU surgery because he kept re-blocking and he had atypical anatomy that made it almost impossible for the doctors to insert a catheter (a surgeon had to do it the first time because the ER doc couldn't get it in).  That anatomy also put him at hugely increased risk for re-blocking.

We're now about 10 days out from the surgery, and I have been feeding him Hills C/D (wet only) as prescribed by the hospital where he had the surgery.  I am familiar with the complaints against Hills food generally (by-products, grains, etc.).  Prior to this he was eating a combination of Wellness Chicken canned food (grain free, by-product free), and Blue Buffalo indoor freedom dry (also grain free, by-product free).  The majority of his food was the wet, but he has a strong preference for the dry so he was getting a carefully measured amount of that every day.  He also loves to drink water and I have several bowls out and a fountain, so I have a really hard time believing that the crystals were caused by a lack of moisture and/or poor diet, as so many people seem to suggest.

With that background, I'm struggling with what to feed him on an ongoing basis.  The vet says he will need to be on C/D for the rest of his life, and if that is what is best for him I will do it.  But I'm concerned about it causing other health problems with all the by-products and grain.  At the same time, I don't want to risk further bladder complications by going back to a high-quality but non-prescription diet.  

Any thoughts or suggestions?  Are there any high quality diets out there that are formulated to regulate urinary pH the way that the prescription diets are?  If so, I can't find them!  Thanks for reading and for any ideas!

 

[vball91]

In your kitty's case, it does seem that his blockage was more a result of the anatomical anomaly than diet. Here is what one vet has to say about diet and urinary tract health. There's a section on prescription foods near the bottom of the page. http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth

Oh, and I hesitate to mention this because it's all anecdotal, but there have been quite a few reports of urinary issues in cats who are eating BB dry. I have no idea how coincidental it is. http://www.thecatsite.com/t/202809/blue-buffalo-and-crystals

 

[emuhawk]

Thank you very much for the link.  A lot of info there to digest, but it's all good to consider.  It's also interesting to hear that there is some anecdotal evidence that Blue Buffalo causes problems.  I did make the switch to Blue Buffalo/Wellness mix within the past year (prior to that his diet was all dry Science Diet - go figure that he develops these problems after moving him to a grain-free high quality diet of primarily wet food), so it isn't outside the realm of possibility that BB played a part in this.  

When he was in the ER they did an ultrasound and said that his bladder looked like a snowglobe, there was so much debris in there.  If we can get that cleared up on the prescription diet, I might try moving him to one of the low-phosphorus grain free wet foods and see how that goes. 

Thanks again for the info.

 

[sevenwonders]

Obviously this is not scientific, but I have serious doubts that Blue Buffalo in and of itself causes Uninary Tract issues.

I fed BB to 5 Kitties for over 5 years with absolutely no problems.

We only had troubles after switching to 100% Grain Free,

to include a few other very reputable brands (which I will not mention as I don't think it is related to the brands.)

I think that the proportion of DRY food in their diet  is the main issue,

as well as the amount of FISH based foods,

and (perhaps) the amount of peas and/or potatoes might have had an influence...

I mention the peas and potatoes only because we had no issues when they were eating mainly dry food with brown rice and barley.

Anyway, after reading Dr Lisa Pierson's catinfo.org site,

and going to 100% low carb canned food with a little warm water added, everyone has been very healthy and happy!

EVO 95% is very low in carbs and much more affordable than many "Premium" brands that include ingredients that have no real value to Kitties. 

 

[emuhawk]

I haven't tried EVO yet, maybe I'll look into that as a possibility.

He always had chicken flavored food (weirdly never liked fish), so that wasn't the issue.  As for proportion of diet, it was about 75-80% wet food, the rest the Blue Buffalo Indoor Freedom dry.  

The additional wrinkle in all this is that my other cat (female) has some pretty serious GI issues that cleared up beautifully when I switched to the BB/Wellness grain free combo.  The thought of reopening that can of worms makes me want to cry, but I guess I just have to keep trying.  Obviously anything that is causing crystals like Mickey had is not an option for us going forward, even with the benefit of the PU surgery.    

 

[sevenwonders]

Wow - oddly, I also have a Girl with GI issues -

she has been doing fine on Evo, but I have noticed that there is some gas from a few of them

after I feed the Duck version... it is really $$ anyway, so I rarely buy it.

Please take a look at this post / thread as well for a few other tips.  

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/268242/urinary-s0-combined-with-another-brand-of-dry-food#post_3447981

Best deal I have found on EVO is from DoggieFood.com

I pay around $1.81 per 13 oz can (for the 'Chicken & Turkey' and Beef Flavors)

with Free S&H when your order totals $49. or more.

 

[sevenwonders]

Oh, just thought I should mention...

my Boy who got Blocked was only getting around 20 to 30 pieces of kibble per day...

I thought for sure that was "safe" but not in his case.

I have recently started to add about 5 pieces once per day to his wet food,

as my Wife feels strongly that the crunching is good for his jaws and brain stimulation...

(Happy Wife, Happy Life!)

 

[emuhawk]

Really glad to hear the EVO has worked for your girl with the GI problems!  Gives me hope that there might be a solution out there that works for both of my kiddos.  

I would guess they were getting about the same number of pieces of kibble you describe - maybe 20 - 30.  Both my cats have needed to lose weight, so I was measuring by weight (and total calories) rather than pieces, but that sounds about right.  If that was the source of the issue, it's amazing that so little dry can cause such huge problems!  Not at all doubting it is possible, I just never would have expected that before this.  

Thanks for all your thoughts and advice - much appreciated!