Does a cat who had a urinary tract infection have to eat C/D forever?

Question

My vet says he does, but other people I've heard say he doesn't. How does the food work?

I'd just like to add that my Mom's cat also had a UTI and he's been on C/D for a couple years now, and he still had two more UTI's after the food switch.

Zed It's not about being cheap, I would certainly not want to see him go through that pain again and would rather shell out money on cat food than on an ER vet bill. However, my cat is eating enough money to feed an African family, and I think a question on whether the food actually works and how is valid and doesn't mean I'm irresponsible or would dump my cat in the woods because he's inconvenient.
My Mom's cat was on the food and still got more UTIs, whereas an answerer below said she took her cat off it and he had no more. Obviously, there are questions to be raised here. I do listen to my vet, but I was hoping to get a some info from people who don't have their hands in my pockets so I can raise these concerns with my vet.

Answer 1

I am not going to say to keep him on the c/d or change him. And I think it is good that you are researching food and its relation to your cat's health.

I am going to attach a link to cat nutrition written by a veterinarian and a cat lover. She explains in easy to read terms about what cats need to live long, healthy lives. There is one section that she addresses illnesses including urinary tract problems. After you read what she has to say, you can make a decision or discuss a food change with his vet.

Let me add this. I have a diabetic kitty (5+ years now). Up until a few months ago she ate the Purina DM diabetic food and was on insulin. I trusted the vet's information on it. What bothers or raises most diabetics BG? Yes, carbs. Well, what is in this vet only prescription food..corn! No wonder I couldn't keep her BG down without insulin. Well, she is off the 'vet diet' and on a totally grain free primarily canned food diet. No insulin, and I just spot check her BG with a home meter twice a week. She's is more active, playful, weight is good, coat is healthy..more like the days before her diagnosis. We are both happy. Plus my other cats are healthier, too.

Purrs to you and kitty.

Answer 2

Guess what! A cat shouldn't even eat that crap if they have have a uti. TRhis is very poor quality food. Want to cut down on risks of utis diabetes, kidney problems allergies?????
Feed a species appropiate food which means no dry


Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Food_Ingredient_Label
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms
The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process them. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in
Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Answer 3

I had a cat go through this at the age of 7...and I changed his food and stuck by the vet's advice, and he is 19 years old now (and on his way out now because of old age, not urinary tract infection). I would take your vet's advice and not other people's...because you don't want your cat getting another infection, developing crystals, and having to have his penis removed and his urethra shortened surgically...which will cost you hundreds of dollars at least, put the animal through incredible pain, or you will have to make the decision to put the cat down...knowing it is your fault for just being cheap.

Generally the food stops the formation of crystals in the urethra which can cause infection in the urethra and bladder...and if severe enough, cause blockage in the urethra and bleeding into the bladder. My cat was in agony trying to urinate within thespace of a few hours...and had 350ml of blood filling its bladder when operated upon. Thankfully the penis did not have to be removed, but he has been on a different diet to other cats we have had for the last 12 years. The important thing is to always have water available, and my vet even told me to add a little salt to his food to make him drink more water...not necessary now he is old. And to never give him commercial supermarket dried food ever again. It still cost me close to $AUS1000 for the surgery and aftercare...no way was I going to put down an animal I was responsible for because it was an inconvenient cost. And 12 years later he is still with me. Pets are a responsibility, not just until tney are inconvenient.

Listen to your Vet!

Answer 4

My cat has feline herpes and also has urinary tract infections once in a while and had crystals in the past. The vet at petsmart told me to feed her that food. Well, I have since gotten a new vet (Thank GOD!). I don't really trust Banfield for much of anything. My kitty now eats chicken soup fo the soul dry food and canned merrick, when I can get her to eat canned. You might also want to get one of those fancy water dishes that filter the water. I have found that my calliegirl drinks more water with it and this helps. Callie has not had an infection in over a year.

Answer 5

I guess it depends on the cat and how likely he is to develop uniary tract infections.

I've had problems with one of my cats twice, when some well-meaning sitters (not the same ones both times) went against my feeding instructions and gave him cat junk-food. Both times my vet put him on a special diet which I had to give him for just about 1 month after treatment.

The last time was 8 years ago. He's now 12 and according to my vet in excellent condition for his age. I watch out for the magnesium contents in his food and give him a regular good-quality fish based dry food and he hasn't had problems since and neither have any of my other neutered male cats.

Answer 6

A high end canned food that was more species appropriate would actually be better then Hills.. My vet even thinks Hills is a joke..
The idea behind C/D is, to keep the urine neutral and provide a food with low magnesium and ash levels..
http://www.hillspet.com/zSkin_2/products/product_details.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441760660&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302037389
Brewers Rice, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken Liver Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Sulfate, Iodized Salt, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with BHT and BHA, Beta-Carotene.

The ingredients though, are total crap.. Brewer's rice is horrible for cats.. Cat's are obligate carnivores, that means their food should consist of meat, bone and organ meat AND nothing else.. BHA and BHT are known to cause cancer and are banned in several other countries for use in human food. Though, you'll still find them used here in the USA..
The only thing special about this food is an ash level less then 3% and a magnesium level of .09% or less..
Just about any quality canned cat food would be able to meet those specifications..
I personally feed Innova Evo, which when purchased in the big can costs less per ounce then a low grade food like Friskies..
Here's the info page on Innova Evo canned food..
http://www.evopet.com/products/default.asp?panel=ga&id=1501
It has the same ash level, 3% and an even lower magnesium level, .03%..
In general, those are the ingredients that effect urine PH which in turn causes 'crystals'.
That along with too low of a water intake are the biggest factors known to cause urinary tract problems.. Thus the reason for feeding canned, it has the higher moisture content that cats need..
One of my cats was surrendered to the shelter by it's previous owner over urinary tract issues.. He's been just fine and hasn't had a flare-up in over a year..

Answer 7

The answer is no. My cat was diagnosed with "crystals" and the vet said he needed to be on C/D cat forever. That was over 5 years ago, my cat is now 9 years old. So not true. She is now on wet food (high quality: "Instinct" which has no grains or by products) and I put a little water in and mixed it with her food with 2 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) which prevents it from spoiling as she is a free style eater. She only gets 2-5 pieces of dry cat food and is adjusted daily after seeing how hard/soft her stool is. Currently, she's had problems with her gums, and her stomach can't handle antibiotics, so I've been giving her syringes (not a needle) of bottled water mixed with 10 drops of GSE. It is a natural bacteria killer and has kept the infection down, is healing it however slower than regular medication, but at least she has no side effects and is eating. I've also mixed in Trader Joe's natural (no antibiotics or nitrates) sliced low-sodium turkey into bits in her wet food, and she is doing well. Try hydrating your cat. If you have questions, you can email me directly. I get the GSE from this website.

Answer 8

Kudos to you for questioning this! You are right to do so.

I believe that technically the food works. I am not up on the subject but I think it changes the ph balance or something like that....

However, it is BAD food. The ingredients are heinous and no cat should be subjected to eating it long-term. If someone's cat started having problems and they went with this food while looking for a better solution, that would be fine.

On top of that, if one is feeding the dry version of that food, it's not good. For both cats and humans the key to preventing urinary problems is drinking enough water. Cats will not drink enough water - they aren't designed that way. They are meant to get water IN their food. That's why wet diets for cats is so important (wet being canned or raw meat).

But the canned version of c/d (assuming there is one) is still crappy food.

As I mentioned, this isn't my area, but I'm pasting in from my blog on the topic. I think you can use this as the basis for finding a better solution for both cats:

CATS AND URINARY ISSUES
This is not my area of expertise, but this has been my experience: As a kitten, Poppy developed both a weight problem and a UTI. My vet told me to start feeding her special food which he happily sold me *gulp*. Poppy refused to eat it. Back then I was less aware of how to get cats to eat new foods, so I just said the hell with it and bought Purina One's urinary health food, mixed with weight management. She ate that from then until she was 2 years old. She never had another UTI. Does this mean that this food is as good as the overpriced prescription food, or did I just get lucky? I don't know the answer, although I suspect the former statement is probably true.

For various reasons, I soon thereafter began researching cat nutrition. I learned about the benefits of wet food, and found that in many cases, that's all that's required to prevent future UTI's. Even the crappy brands like Friskies would be better than dry food!

I don't claim to be a vet, vet tech, vet student or anything like that. But I know how to research and examine results. I've read a bit on this topic which is how I've reached the conclusions I have.

At the very least, were I to have another cat with urinary problems, I'd sooner try them on a GOOD QUALITY canned food before shelling out the dough for a "prescription" dry food (or even their canned varieties). That's because I believe that good nutrition and species appropriate food is much more likely to keep a cat healthy than inferior ingredients which have been tweaked to change their chemical composition.

What should YOU do? If your vet recommends a prescription diet, I can safely recommend that at the very least you get the canned version of that food. That way your cat will get the extra hydration it needs. And don't feel bad about giving your cat this food - temporarily. It will do what it's designed to do, so you can be sure that your cat will do well while you do more research. And I would encourage you to do so. Don't take my word for it - read up on these things for yourself. Stabilize your cat with the prescription food while you look for something better. If canned food (or raw) alone is not helping enough, there are other supplements you could research. I have not done so, but I know that Wysong makes a supplement for urinary issues. "Biotic pH- is designed for cats or dogs needing assistance generating and maintaining an acidic urine to help prevent struvite crystal formulation."

I can't endorse this particular product, but know that it's out there. And if it is, there are sure to be others. Again, I would sooner feed good food, with a supplement such as this, than the crappy prescription foods.

Answer 9

There are other foods that protect urinary health, mostly foods from good brands (Royal Canin, Hill's, etc.), designed for neutered cats. If the cat has no problem with those, you can change to those, but for the first months or so you have to check his urine PH with urine reagent strips, to see that these foods keep his PH below 7. C/D is also fine, as long as he likes it and is not getting too fat.

Answer 10

Get a second opinion.

Some Vet's say forever, other Vet's say 6 months to a year and then switch to a regular high quality food.