1 Diabetic and 1 UTI....a good food for both?

[GaryC]

Hello,

Our cat Sylvester was diagnosed a few weeks ago with diabetes and we are in the process of trying to regulate it...with a lot of help from information on there, thank you!

We just had to take our other cat, Zed, to the vet and he was on the catheter to have crystals removed. He's doing OK now and it wasn't a bad block. My wife is due to give birth on Friday so I'm trying to find a food that both cats can eat while we are away for a few days. Just trying to make it manageable for the people coming in to feed them. Feeding different foods, high protein, low carb, for Sylvester the diabetic and Royal Canin s/o for Zed with the UTI recovery. Zed actually hates the Royal Canin food so if anyone has had success with other options after a UTI recovery please let me know!

Any help much appreciated and thanks for the information already on here!

Gary

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Welcome! Wow, you've got a lot going on!

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about UTI-appropriate foods. I suggest you go ahead and post your question in the Feline Health forum-- it will get more eyes there, hopefully someone there will have some good suggestions.

Good luck with both kitties, and with the impending addition to your family!

 

[Critter Mom]

Welcome Gary, Sylvester and Zed.

Here's a link to a very well-respected, vet-authored site about species-appropriate cat nutrition. I recommend you check out the sections on urinary tract health and feline diabetes in particular.

http://catinfo.org/

In theory, you should be able to feed both cats a low carb wet food. The extra moisture consumed in the wet food helps keep urine sufficiently dilute to reduce likelihood of urolith formation (see Dr Pierson's site above for more detailed info).

Diet can influence urine pH. For the urolith issues, it's a good idea to do regular home urinalysis spot checks to make sure that the pH is neither too acidic nor too alkaline. You can use human urinalysis strips for this (e.g. Bayer Multistix).


Mogs
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[GaryC]

Welcome! Wow, you've got a lot going on!

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about UTI-appropriate foods. I suggest you go ahead and post your question in the Feline Health forum-- it will get more eyes there, hopefully someone there will have some good suggestions.

Good luck with both kitties, and with the impending addition to your family!

Thank you!

 

[GaryC]

Welcome Gary, Sylvester and Zed.

Here's a link to a very well-respected, vet-authored site about species-appropriate cat nutrition. I recommend you check out the sections on urinary tract health and feline diabetes in particular.

http://catinfo.org/

In theory, you should be able to feed both cats a low carb wet food. The extra moisture consumed in the wet food helps keep urine sufficiently dilute to reduce likelihood of urolith formation (see Dr Pierson's site above for more detailed info).

Diet can influence urine pH. For the urolith issues, it's a good idea to do regular home urinalysis spot checks to make sure that the pH is neither too acidic nor too alkaline. You can use human urinalysis strips for this (e.g. Bayer Multistix).


Mogs
.

Thank you for your reply, I'll take a look at the link. Good to hear that the low carb wet food should work for both cats, from what I've been reading the key seems to be water consumption for Zed, Just got a case of 'Fussie Cat Chicken and Chicken Liver with Pumpkin soup".....it seems to be a hit so far!!

 

[Critter Mom]

@GaryC -

How I wish I had found Dr Pierson's site years ago. I would have been more than happy to have fed all of them on wet food but when I adopted my first two rescues the vet strongly advised me that dry food was much better for cats - and I blindly trusted him (although it did seem very counter-intuitive to me at the time). Feeding wet would have prevented a lot of problems for my little ones. Nothing like 20/20 hindsight ...

BTW, if you do start home urinalysis checks for Zed keep an eye to the specific gravity as well as the pH. (It gives an indication of the level of urine concentration.) Your vet should be able to provide you with the optimum reference ranges for SG and pH.

Hope your two enjoy - and thrive on - their new nosh.


Mogs
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