Cat Food (wet) for Cystitis prone cat

Jemima09 · 25 January 2018 at 6:43PM

Has anybody got any recommendations for a wet cat food, for an 11.5 year old cat who is prone to cystitis?

She's been on Royal Canin Urinary for a couple of years now, she has both wet and dry, and that's really helped the problem.. Dry food we're totally fine with, and she has a water fountain and drinks plenty.. but she's totally gone off the wet food (there is only two flavours, chicken and beef, so she's probably bored!), and given the situation I don't really want her to only ever have dry food. So I'd like to replace the wet food, but obviously with something that won't aggrevate whatever it is that causes the problem!

The vets have never actually given a cause, they've said it's most likely a combination of stress, and scarring from previous bouts.. every time she gets it it's a bit worse than the time before, but keeping her on the food really does seem to make the problem less frequent which is good.

What do I need to be looking for? just the most natural/grain free products? Or is there an additive they use in the urinary products?

Thanks!

marliepanda · 26 January 2018 at 1:19PM

I feed MAC's which is a German cat food brand I buy from The Happy Kitty Company.

It is grain free with a very high meat content which is ideal for all cats. In an ideal world I wouldnt feed a cat with urinary issues any dry food as even with drinking, you need them to be as 'flushed out' as possible.

They have about 10 varieties of the MAC's, including one with cranberries. I can't claim to know if it is any good for urinary health in cats (is it in humans or is that a myth) but there are plenty of others to keep her happy.

Jemima09 · 26 January 2018 at 2:26PM

marliepanda wrote: »

I feed MAC's which is a German cat food brand I buy from The Happy Kitty Company.

It is grain free with a very high meat content which is ideal for all cats. In an ideal world I wouldnt feed a cat with urinary issues any dry food as even with drinking, you need them to be as 'flushed out' as possible.

They have about 10 varieties of the MAC's, including one with cranberries. I can't claim to know if it is any good for urinary health in cats (is it in humans or is that a myth) but there are plenty of others to keep her happy.

Oh brill, thanks, that's not a brand I had heard of so I will order a couple to try out! I am going to try some hill's too just because they have a salmon one.. maybe she's just fed up of chicken and beef!!

Unfortunately, I'm also balancing out an intolerance to too much wet food!! If I actually fed her the recommended serving each day her tummy goes very very wrong! Although maybe with a grain free it wouldn't.. but anyway, in the meantime she has to keep having dry food so that she is eating enough, but it's a prescription food which stops any crystals from forming.

It is annoying you can't just make them drink some cranberry every day :rotfl:That's what I do when I feel it coming on!!

paddypaws101 · 29 January 2018 at 4:43PM

Cranberry isn't good for cats as vitamin c can encourage crystals and stones to form. If infection is at play then you can use D-Mannose which is a fine tasteless powder and can be added to food, cat milk or broth.
If inflammation is an issue with inflammation you could try alcohol free Cornsilk tincture.
You can also get supplements like Cystease or Cystophan which contain agents to calm the cat and soothe the bladder

Jemima09 · 29 January 2018 at 4:54PM

paddypaws101 wrote: »

Cranberry isn't good for cats as vitamin c can encourage crystals and stones to form. If infection is at play then you can use D-Mannose which is a fine tasteless powder and can be added to food, cat milk or broth.
If inflammation is an issue with inflammation you could try alcohol free Cornsilk tincture.
You can also get supplements like Cystease or Cystophan which contain agents to calm the cat and soothe the bladder

Oh that's good to know! Deffo don't want to encourage crystals!! We've seen a few different vets at different episodes and they all seem to agree it's most likely to be stress related not infection.. it didn't used to bring on crystals but the last few times there has been crystals and bleeding, it seems to get worse each time which they said could be caused by previous scarring.. so really it's all about trying to stop attacks where we can!

I do give her cystaid when she has a flareup or when we know she's likely to be stressed (e.g. when I moved house), as that's got an anti stress thing in it.. we also use feliway at those times as well to keep stress down!

I'll look in to the cornsilk, they do usually give her an anti inflammatory (metacam) when she has a flare up. Would you use cornsilk in place of the metacam or alongside? I'm assuming you'd only use it when there was a flare up?

donnac2558 · 29 January 2018 at 6:30PM

Actually giving one cystaid plus a day as a maintenance might really help. My vet decided to keep my cat on these, if she has a flaw up of cystitis she goes on two a day for a week. Is helps suppose the bladder function and will do no harm.

Jemima09 · 30 January 2018 at 9:33AM

donnac2558 wrote: »

Actually giving one cystaid plus a day as a maintenance might really help. My vet decided to keep my cat on these, if she has a flaw up of cystitis she goes on two a day for a week. Is helps suppose the bladder function and will do no harm.

Thanks, maybe I will start doing that again then.. If I can get her to eat her wet food.. I don't like giving her tablets if she's not going to wash it straight down!!

paddypaws101 · 31 January 2018 at 11:22PM

Jemima09 wrote: »

Thanks, maybe I will start doing that again then.. If I can get her to eat her wet food.. I don't like giving her tablets if she's not going to wash it straight down!!

I thought you were supposed to empty the capsules out and sprinkle it on food?

Jemima09 · 1 February 2018 at 12:09AM

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I thought you were supposed to empty the capsules out and sprinkle it on food?

Thats an alternative if they aren’t good at taking tablets.. but that just makes her completely ignore her food!

donnac2558 · 1 February 2018 at 1:18PM

I am good at getting tablets etc in my cat. I just push it down her throt to make sure she actually taken it. Five sceonds all done and dusted. The did tell me if she did not take mixed in food then put if I could get the capsule into her whole.

GwylimT · 3 February 2018 at 9:14AM

The main cause of crystals in cats urine is dehydration from dry food, for every bit of kibble they eat they need to drink around 20ml of water to prevent dehydration. So for a small meal you're looking at almost 500ml! Dry food is also covered in something called animal digest which makes it like crack for cats!

Any wet food is good at reducing the chance of crystals forming, we feed the following wet brands.

Smilla tetrapaks (sugar and grain free, chunks in jelly so very high moisture content).
Macs
Granatapet
Feringa

We also raw feed, we make our own as it's cheaper

Cat Food (wet) for Cystitis prone cat

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