Food for diabetic male cat with history of blockage

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SweetManSweetCat

SweetManSweetCat

Member Since 2015
I have a relatively newly diagnosed male cat. I actually have 2 male cats in the house, but only one of them has all the health problems. He has a history of a blocked urethra.

After he was blocked the first time, the vet put him on s/d. I used that for a couple years and then transitioned to a mixture of wet and dry food off the shelf. After 1-2 years of 'normal' food, he became blocked again. This was after I had moved to another area, and the new vet put him on c/d. I've been using that for a couple years now. It has more than 50% carb and that just isn't going to work now.

Now that he has diabetes, I obviously want to switch him to something low carb. I'll definitely ask the vet, but I want to find something that is low carb, affordable, and will not cause him to be blocked again.

Is there anyone else with a cat in the same circumstance? If yes, what do you feed your cat?

Please keep in mind that I have 2 large male cats, so one of the cost issues is volume. For their sizes and activity level, they need about 640 calories daily.
 
My Rosa, though obviously not male and who has, therefore never actually been blocked had problems with bladder stones at the age of 4. My vet at the time put her on SO dry food, which I also switched her twin to in case the occurrence at such a young age was partly genetic. Had I known then what I know now about dry food, I would never have gone along with this but, at the time, I didn't know and didn't question it. I firmly believe that that prescription dry food is at least partially the cause of her diabetes - they were on the prescription food for 6 years as the vet said if they were doing well on it to leave them on it!

There are foods that will work for both this and the diabetes. Regular, over the counter, canned wet foods too - cheaper than prescription foods by far. I'm currently feeding Friskies Special Diet Turkey and Giblets Pate - low phosphorus, low carb, high protein. Mixed with water for additional water intake.

You might find this link interesting http://www.catinfo.org/?link=urinarytracthealth
And this one that lists the protein, fat, carb and phosphorus content of a lot of the popular, regular canned foods http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf
 
What April said! :) I have one diabetic cat and one male cat who had urinary issues (diagnosed one week after I got the diabetes diagnosis on the first cat). My diabetic cat Neko has acromegaly which means she is constantly hungry and raiding the other cats dish. That was a disaster when I tried c/d so the vet suggested I try raw food, which is what they both eat now. But really any low carb, low phosphorus canned or raw food with plenty of water added will work. I also give him glucosame chondroitin as there is some thought that it helps firm the bladder wall. Stress can also cause cystitis episodes in my little guy, so I have some Feliway plug-ins in the common places he hangs out.
 
Hi,
Quite a few folks here (and on other forums) have found that their male cats ceased to have urinary tract problems when they switched over to a wet diet. I think it was (vet) Dr Lisa Pierson who said, rather memorably, "The solution to pollution is dilution." Water is SO important. You can certainly add extra water to food. And do you have a kitty water fountain? Water fountains can often encourage cats to drink more. :cat:
 
Yes, I have a fountain, but it causes leaks and spills, so I never plug it in.

This cat is drinking loads and loads of water because his blood sugar is so high. I'm still struggling to bring it down. Now switching to 3 shots per day because I'm finding the Vetsulin lasts only 6-9 hours. So I'm doing 3 shots per day and switching over to M/D, which is a lower carb food. Because the Vetsulin is 35% bolus, I will need to be giving some carbs unless I switch to a purely basal insulin. I like the idea of switching to a basal only insulin that is longer-lasting and even lower carb, though. I hear some people use Lantus. Can a vet write a prescription for Lantus? I noticed that 1800PetMeds does not carry it, so I'm curious if it is approved for cats?

I suggested the wet food idea to the vet regarding being blocked... his response was that, as much water as he is drinking, he doesn't think it matters what he eats - he isn't going to be blocked. So I'm going to finish up the dry food he has (c/d mixed with m/d) and see then where he is at and maybe switch him to a wet food. Wet food is expensive and it didn't seem to do much for his blockage in the past... in fact, it seemed to exacerbate it as I switched him from s/d to dry food at one point, with a bit of wet food every once in awhile. When it happened again, it was after eating wet food again.
 
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