I am so frustrated right now. One of my cats has been to the vet twice for severe UTI (he spent a week in the hospital the first time), and I have had to have four others treated. Now the whole lot, six cats, are on Science Diet c/d, on the advice of my vet. I love my vet, but I hate Science Diet with a passion.
A bit of background. I had been feeding Taste of the Wild, with no noticeable issues. Then we switched to 4Health for indoor cats. Budget was, and continues to be, a factor. After the switch, I started having problems. The vet said before making the switch to SD, to try 4Health all life stages. It didn't work, and the cat who had been in hospital got UTI again. We put him on SD. Recently, two more cats presented with litter box issues. One had UTI, the other had no infection, but did have high pH urine, so we were advised to put all the cats on SD.
I have always paid close attention to ingredients in my pets' food, and I do not like what I see on the bag with the SD. I started doing some serious looking around for information on cats and urinary health, and most sites seem to say that wet food is better than dry. One, catinfo, even said that the worst canned is better than the best dry. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of commercial food at all - in my perfect world, I would be able to feed prey model raw to all my pets, but that simply isn't feasible right now, for many reasons.
So...I am looking for an acceptable canned food for my cats. I've looked at how many calories they need each day, figured out how many feedings there are in a bad of SD food, and am now searching for wet food that will be comparable in cost to the dry SD. Unfortunately, I don't have only budget to contend with, but the fact that my housemate is the one paying the bills. We are not a couple or anything, but we do have a bit of a domestic arrangement, almost like mother and daughter. I do the cooking, cleaning, have taken care of her when she was sick, and look after our pets, and she pays the bills. Most of the time it works well, and she is a very kind person who loves animals. Unfortunately, she is not one to question anyone she sees as an authority figure, including our vet, who is not a fan of anything other than kibble, on the grounds that kibble is "more sanitary." He's a good man, and dedicated to animals, but he is older, and I think we've learned a lot about animal nutrition since he got his schooling.
I would like to get away from kibble entirely, except perhaps as an occasional treat (in one of those treat balls meant to make your cat work for it), and go to canned altogether, perhaps with a bit of raw now and then. My main concern is, are there any canned foods that will make a UTI-prone cat worse? I know to avoid most of the fish-based foods. Please don't mention things like Wellness, I cannot afford it. I am talking about food I can get at the grocery store that would be better than SD kibble.
A bit of background. I had been feeding Taste of the Wild, with no noticeable issues. Then we switched to 4Health for indoor cats. Budget was, and continues to be, a factor. After the switch, I started having problems. The vet said before making the switch to SD, to try 4Health all life stages. It didn't work, and the cat who had been in hospital got UTI again. We put him on SD. Recently, two more cats presented with litter box issues. One had UTI, the other had no infection, but did have high pH urine, so we were advised to put all the cats on SD.
I have always paid close attention to ingredients in my pets' food, and I do not like what I see on the bag with the SD. I started doing some serious looking around for information on cats and urinary health, and most sites seem to say that wet food is better than dry. One, catinfo, even said that the worst canned is better than the best dry. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of commercial food at all - in my perfect world, I would be able to feed prey model raw to all my pets, but that simply isn't feasible right now, for many reasons.
So...I am looking for an acceptable canned food for my cats. I've looked at how many calories they need each day, figured out how many feedings there are in a bad of SD food, and am now searching for wet food that will be comparable in cost to the dry SD. Unfortunately, I don't have only budget to contend with, but the fact that my housemate is the one paying the bills. We are not a couple or anything, but we do have a bit of a domestic arrangement, almost like mother and daughter. I do the cooking, cleaning, have taken care of her when she was sick, and look after our pets, and she pays the bills. Most of the time it works well, and she is a very kind person who loves animals. Unfortunately, she is not one to question anyone she sees as an authority figure, including our vet, who is not a fan of anything other than kibble, on the grounds that kibble is "more sanitary." He's a good man, and dedicated to animals, but he is older, and I think we've learned a lot about animal nutrition since he got his schooling.
I would like to get away from kibble entirely, except perhaps as an occasional treat (in one of those treat balls meant to make your cat work for it), and go to canned altogether, perhaps with a bit of raw now and then. My main concern is, are there any canned foods that will make a UTI-prone cat worse? I know to avoid most of the fish-based foods. Please don't mention things like Wellness, I cannot afford it. I am talking about food I can get at the grocery store that would be better than SD kibble.