Which Cat Food Should I Choose? Need Help

[wera]

My cat suffered from acute renal failure due to urinary blockage, he had PU surgery about 3 weeks ago and has a tube now on his genitals for a minimum of 2 months so that the hole would not close while he still healing, he is ok now all is good with his recent lab test as well and is on his way to recovery. I am just confused which of this cat food should I feed to my cat I only have limited choices where I lived. Acana Wild Prairie/Pacifica or Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountains or Monge Super Premium Cat food? Can you recommend which one should I feed to him? I don't see much good quality wet food where I lived. The choices are fancy feast, meow mix and kitcat grain free wet food. He is 8 years old btw

 

[Kieka]

Fancy Feast is a fairly good wet food option for cats. The classic line is very low in carbs and they don't have a lot of fillers when compared with other options. If your cat will eat it, the higher moisture content would be beneficial over dry food. Given his health issues I would do the Fancy Feast over the dry foods.

Out of the dry foods Taste of the Wild has better protein but a slightly higher fat content. However, if your cat is not used to a higher protein that may be a little too rich for the system. Acana is the best option if he is used to lower protein and then maybe wean onto the Taste of the Wild over a few months so his body can adjust to the increase in protein. I don't recognize the third one and from what I could find online the first ingredient is rice which isn't the best for cats.

Honestly, I am surprised your vet didn't recommend a prescription diet, at least in the short term. You might want to partner with your vet to figure out the best option moving forward to prevent a reoccurrence. I know you said that options are limited but there are many online providers that will deliver food. I buy all my cat food online and have it shipped to my house.

Here are some threads about diets for urinary health and renal issues that may help you:

Inexpensive urinary diet food?
Urinary Health Diet?
Tips for making a cat in renal failure comfortable?
cat with stage 2 kidney failure -- diet advice please help :(

 

[wera]

Hi the solution they made was doing PU surgery by enlarging his urethra and removing his penis and converting him to a female cat to avoid any blockage in the future. I gave him a renal diet during his acute renal failure period then he had surgery and we performed another blood test after and his recent bloodwork showed that his creatinine is normal again. I switched him to a normal all wet food with a variety of fancy feast, kitcat, royal canin instinctive for the first 4 weeks after surgery, he is urinating well now and very active and eating a lot. The vet said I could just give him whiskas but I am worried whiskas is a low end food. I want to alternate giving him wet food and dry food everyday but will give mostly wet. Should his case need to be in a special diet since his creatinine is normal now? Is fancy feast an ok food to feed long term? Mostly online store where I lived that offers high quality wet food is ebay and it will take 2 weeks for me to get the item if I order online but we have lots of high quality dry food here.

This is the main ingredient of monge super premium cat food:
Guarantee the well-being of your cat thanks to their very high-quality nutrients, which are the result of Made in Italy research.

The main ingredient is chicken and they are enriched with XOS (xylo-oligosaccharides), natural prebiotics which keep the intestine healthy.

They have an optimal calcium and phosphorus ratio for a balanced growth and they are rich in Omega 3/6 for healthy skin and coat.

 

[Kieka]

This is the ingredient list I found for the Urinary Rich Monge Superpreimum

Rice, corn gluten meal, chicken (fresh 5%, dehydrated 18%), fish (dehydrated salmon), animal fat (chicken oil fat content 99.6%, preserved with natural antioxidants), oats, hydrolysed animal proteins, dehydrated peas, whole egg powder (rich in complete proteins), fish oil (salmon oil), taurine, XOS (xylo-oligosaccharides 3 g/kg), hydrolysed yeast (MOS), yucca schidigera.

Rice and corn gluten are the first two, both grain products that cats are better without. It doesn't give me much faith in the food. This study Xylooligosaccharide supplementation alters gut bacteria in both healthy and prediabetic adults: a pilot study is on humans with the probiotic they quote. I am unable to find anything to show that it is more beneficial to cats than probiotics in any other cat food. Add on that my personal experience with probiotics is they help in digestion but too much can lead to problems. None of which is helpful for a cat who has a history of urinary problems because that is a different function of digestion.

I would still stick with the Fancy Fest/wet food diet. Especially since your guy did well on a wet food diet in recovery. I would agree that Whiskas is not the food to go with and would reaffirm my previous statement about Taste of the Wild and Acana.

 

[Sarthur2]

I saw Dr. Jeff, the Rocky Mountain Vet, perform this exact same surgery on a small dog. It worked beautifully!

Your cat may never have another problem, but keeping with a mostly wet food diet will help guarantee this.

Fancy Feast Classic pates are meat first wet foods and are good quality.

I recommend that you mix some of his dry food that he loves into each wet food meal. This way he gets both, but with plenty of moisture.

It's awesome that he is doing so well now!

 

[NewYork1303]

Wet food is always a better option when a cat has kidney/bladder issues. That said, cost has to be accounted for. Where do you live (in general if you don't mind us asking)? That might help us see what options you have.

My cats eat both wet and dry food as well. I don't know about the dry brands you are looking at. We use Nature Variety Instinct.

 

[catpack]

I went through the same thing beginning of the year with one of the cats in our rescue. He was on a canned/dry diet prior to the blockage and I switched him to a low phosphorus, canned-only diet and he is still crystal free 6 months later.

Can you post the ingredients for the KitCat canned food? Does it list the guaranteed analysis?

 

[wera]

Hi I'm from Philippines. It's hard to find wet food like weruva or wellness here. My only options for wet food are fancy feast, meow mix, Kitcat, Lechat, whiskas and friskies I am avoiding whiskas and friskies

The ingredients for Kitcat grain free:

Quality ingredients (Grain free) fresh caught tuna, water sufficient for processing, gelling agents, natural colouring, shredded chicken, taurine, F O S (Fructo Oligo saccharide, Essential vitamins and minerals
Crude Protein: 12 % (min)
Crude fat 0.5% (min)
Crude fiber 1% (max)
Moisture 85% (max)
Ash 3% (max)

Hairball control, Rich in omega 3, omega 6
no pork no lard
reduce risk of kidney stones and urinary tract infection

 

[Sarthur2]

Fancy Feast wet food, as has already been suggested, would be best.

 

[catpack]

I agree that I would go with the Fancy Feast if your cat does well on it. Stick with fish-free varieties if at all possible.

 

[shadowsrescue]

My cat had PU surgery in May. He blocked and the block was flushed, he blocked again, but then would not urinate so the surgery was performed. It wasn't exactly an easy recovery, but we got through it. He healed beautifully!

I feed home cooked food that I make myself with supplementation from vitamins and minerals. I add plenty of extra water. I still rotate canned one once a week and add 1 T. of additional water to the food. Adding additional water is really the key. I also have a pet fountain to encourage drinking more water.

I completely stopped feeding dry food. I only give soft or dehydrated treats.

I check the litter box frequently to be sure all is well.

 

[bonepicker]

I feed my cats only canned food and I add water each time, they are 9 now with no issues so far!

 

[NewYork1303]

Fancy Feast sounds like the best option definitely. Just stick to classics rather than those with chunks and gravy. Avoid fish if you can.

 

[lalagimp]

My cat went through PU surgery as well and with the quality type cans, it just ended up being more cost effective to get involved and make him the food myself. The boys go through about 25 lbs of turkey and rabbit in a month. He eats a ton. Right now he's on 6 1/2 oz per day and Stew is on 5 oz. He's a svelte 13 lbs and I'm trying to get Stew down a half lb because he's supposed to be 12 and he's getting very close to 13.

The girls are on low carb dry, and wet. The cans I get them at 5.5 oz and 200 calories. I'd try them on Fancy Feast for my budget, but they are a little picky so I keep them with what they're on. If I could push them into homemade, I know I can make chicken cheaper than their chicken cans and there'd be no extra veggies.

 

[wera]

Hi can you share your recipes about homemade diet? With the exception of rabbit or turkey ingredients because we don't have it here. He likes eating homemade chicken like roasted chicken or boiled chicken or chicken broth

I am buying him fancy feast now but all the classics here are fish flavored like the savory salmon, ocean fish and seafood feast the only non fish flavor are beef with gravy and turkey feast but they are not classic. Should I buy him that?

My cat also has frequent urination he has 1 tube the 1/4 end of the tube is inserted on the hole to avoid the closing of the hole until he is fully healed and the other end is like a passage of his urine. They will remove the tube until he is fully healed for about 2 months or more. We asked the vet about the frequent urination he said it might be temporary because he is still healing.

It's been 3 weeks now since his surgery and the healing will take a minimum of 2 months or more. other than that he is very active and has big appetite

 

[neuromantically]

Hi! I'm from the Philippines too. Just wanted to let you know that Bow & Wow carries a lot of premium, grain-free brands like Wellness, Tiki Cat, Weruva, Merrick, Nature's Variety, etc-- they cost around P110-P150 per 5.5oz can. They have stores in Greenbelt 5 and Edsa Shangrila.

 

[wera]

Hi, I know that place I've been planning to go there but there is no branch closer to where I lived. If I have a chance will definitely go there