Food for both low sugar and UTI?

Hello all, with the recent switch to DM friendly food we are thinking of switching both our cats to it. Mainly because cat #2 although healthy has a sensitive stomach and is prone to UTIs. Occasionally (like yesterday) she'll go through a vomit cycle, bolt her food, barf, get hungry, bolt her food again, etc. Sometimes this is hairball driven, but often not. Problem is our newly diabetic Jai will eat her barf (when we are not there to clean it up asap). Are there foods we can put both cats on so that I can feel better if Jai gets a special barf meal? Can anyone point me to literature for food composition levels good for either diabetics or UTI-seceptible cats? (unmentioned but cat #2 sensitivity we think is driven partially by chicken, which limits our options a lot). Thanks!

 

Hi there,

The best think for the UTI prevention/ management is to add some water to every wet meal - it'll be good for both you diabetic and another kitty. The dry kibble is too be avoided, especially for the girl with UTI history.

Dr. Lisa Pierson's blog is the best source for me and many others here. HERE is the link.

Being limited to no chicken for both cats might leave you no other choice but go fish flavor if you wish to stay on the budget. Some fish foods, if not all, are higher in Phosphorous count than the poultry varieties are, and P in excess isn't good for diabetics. There are tests to pin point the allergy causing foods so you'll know what to avoid.

Was it ever investigated by a vet?

 

Allergy to chicken for Cat #2 was never investigated by vet, more we notice she barfs less (non-hairball vomiting) on fish flavors. I think we'll go through another sampling of wet foods to see if we can find something they both tolerate without worry about chicken to start with. If we find #2 is vomiting more again then we'll go to our vet and see what they say. Thanks for the reply!

 

I totally agree that the best for UTI is wet food with extra water, you could take Dr Lisa's list ( http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf) and try some of the low carb in there to see if one of those suits them.

 

I will definitely try adding the extra water in with wet food. Thanks for the food list, between phosphorus, carbs and price I expect there to be about 4 choices left! We'll try them out to see if they work.