Suggestions on Urinary Health Cat foods.

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Sev

Sev

Member Since 2011
Hi guys.
Been a while.

Needing some suggestions on some foods for urinary health.
As some of you may recall Shadow had a urinary blockage last Christmas. He has since recovered completely from the ordeal.
Initially I was feeding him Hills c/d to keep his PH in line.
Then I started grinding my own raw food for the boys. I figured Shadow would be in the clear. Brought him to the vets for a urinalysis only to discover his PH was 8.0. It was suggested that Shadow may have a biofilm that is creating enzymes that are raising his PH.
I went back to Hills briefly and then moved to Friskies special diet along with feeding him raw. No FLUTD problems.

Unfortunately Purina decided to shelve the product. I had stocked up but am no down to my last few cases.
The problem with Hills c/d is that the carbs are off the charts. Friskies had about 50% less with their stew recipe. I was blending the pate' recipe in order to lower the carbs more.

Now I was just going through the Hills prescription foods. The s/d brand has about 50% less carbs than the c/d. Based on Tanya's list analysis it comes in at 18 on the carbs vs 34 for the c/d brand.
However I am not sure it would be appropriate to feed the s/d to Shadow.


So basically folks I am looking for a reasonably priced urinary health food for shadow that is at reasonable carb levels.
The s/d is about 40 a case on Chewy.
Purina Pro Plan Focus is running about 16.00 a case. However I know nothing about it.

Thanks guys.
 
Heffernan had 2 urinary blockages prior to being diagnosed as diabetic. He was on Royal Canin s/o for about 9 months and I'm convinced that's what pushed him from borderline diabetic to diabetic. The carb content is so high. Since he's been switched to all wet food (I rotate FF, EVO and now Soulistic) with occasional EVO dry food, knock on wood, he's been good.
 
BJM said:
You might benefit from a paid consult with Dr Pierson at Cat Info, to adjust the recipe.
Click to expand...

Could be be.
However both cats are male and only 1 has had urinary problems. Hate to solve one problem and create another.
The sticking point could be the biofilm I mentioned. Testing for specific bacteria can get expensive.
A meat diet should have produced a suitably acidic urinary environment. Now if there is a method to modify the recipe with out lowering Silky's urinary PH while creating an environment that will disolve struvite crystals I am all for it.
I could always make separate batches of food for my boys. I can just see my dyslexia kicking in during feeding time. Oiy. :)

What is interesting is that Shadow never had a urinary problem until I started feeding him Wellness products. The problem seemed to arise when I switched from Instinct kibble to Wellness kibble.
I have read that there appears to be great suspicion but no actual confirmation of a link to urinary problems in cats and Wellness brand.
 
Laura & Heffernan said:
Heffernan had 2 urinary blockages prior to being diagnosed as diabetic. He was on Royal Canin s/o for about 9 months and I'm convinced that's what pushed him from borderline diabetic to diabetic. The carb content is so high. Since he's been switched to all wet food (I rotate FF, EVO and now Soulistic) with occasional EVO dry food, knock on wood, he's been good.
Click to expand...
Neither of the cats are diabetic. My concern is the very high carb content. I have prevention on my mind. However the cat food industry does not appear to be concerned with such in this particular area of concern.
 
Do a bit of reading on d-mannose. It is supposed to help bind bacteria so they leave during urination.
 
Check out Wellness NO GRAIN, around 4%. They put cranberry in their formula to make the urine more acidic and to prevent crystal from forming. My civvie cat had 2 of them before I started sprinkling organic blueberry powder over his food (does the same thing as the cranberry) Then, when I discovered Wellness with cranberry, I stopped the blueberry and I haven't had a problem ( knock of wood since). Hope this helps.
 
BJM said:
Do a bit of reading on d-mannose. It is supposed to help bind bacteria so they leave during urination.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. I was under the impression the d-mannose also lowered the PH.
I will look into it further. Perhaps I had gotten some bad information.
 
http://www.felinecrf.org/holistic_treatments.htm

D-Mannose Back to Page Index


A human study at the Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine, Establishment of a persistent Escherichia coli reservoir during the acute phase of a bladder infection(2001) Mulvey MA, Schilling JD & Hultgren SJ Infection and Immunity 69(7) pp 4572-9, found that in some cases the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections can burrow so deep into the bladder lining that they cannot be detected in the usual tests. If your CKD cat is prone to persistent, ongoing or repeated UTIs, speak to your vet about using D-mannose, which is supposed to be very helpful when dealing with infections where the bacteria have burrowed into the bladder wall.



D-Mannose is a simple sugar, in fact it is actually the active ingredient in cranberry but without the downsides associated with cranberry. It does not kill the bacteria as an antibiotic does; rather, it works by attracting the bacteria to bind with itself rather than with the bladder wall; the bacteria can then be passed out with urination. D-Mannose will only work for urinary tract infections caused by E coli, but this accounts for 90% of all urinary tract infections in humans, and is commonly the cause of feline urinary tract infections too.



I have heard from a number of people who have tried this treatment on their cat, and all of them thought it was effective. A commonly used dose is 250-500mg twice a day. With most (but not all) brands, a ÂĽ of a teaspoon of the powder is 500mg, so this would mean giving â…›-ÂĽ teaspoon twice a day, but check with your vet. Some people find it works better if they divide the total amount over 3-4 doses a day. Keep giving it for a week after the symptoms have disappeared. Since it is a type of sugar, D-Mannose has a pleasant taste. It can be easily mixed with wet food or mixed with water and syringed into the cat's mouth.



Since D-Mannose does not get absorbed by the digestive tract, it should be safe for diabetic cats, but check with your vet before using if your cat has diabetes



Although D-Mannose appears to be effective, it seems to work best for cats with a recurring UTI. If your vet prescribes antibiotics, you must use them, because untreated urinary tract infections can rise into the kidneys and cause permanent damage, which is the last thing a CKD cat needs.



D-Mannose is widely available from health food shops (it is often in the women's health section). You want pure D-Mannose. It can also be bought online:



Amazon sells the Now brand at US$17.33 for 3 oz.

Iherbsells the Now brand. 3 oz cost US$20.38

Vitacost sells 2.5 oz of the Kal brand for US$27.33. This brand is stronger than some others so the dosages mentioned above need to be amended accordingly.



Amazon UK sells the Now brand at ÂŁ20.37 for 3 oz.

D-Mannose UK sells 50g for ÂŁ17.50. This company will ship to other countries.


The British Medical Journalhas information about a human study which showed that lactulose (which is normally used for constipation) may help prevent urinary tract infections in humans.


Cautions


Cranberry

You should avoid giving cranberry or food containing cranberry to CKD cats - it is too acidic for CKD cats, who tend towards acidosis anyway. Cranberries also contain benzoic acid, which cats lack the pathways to metabolise. The active ingredient in cranberries is D-Mannose, so you could consider giving D-Mannose to a cat who is prone to urinary tract infections.


Nutrient Requirements of Cats, a 1986 publication from the US Board of Agriculture, explains why benzoic acid is not good for cats.

The International Programme on Chemical Safety reports on a case from 1971 when 28 cats were fed meat containing 2.39% benzoic acid. Seventeen of the cats died. Toxicity may develop with quantities greater than 0.45 g/kg given in single doses or 0.2 g/kg when the item is fed on an ongoing basis.

The Boston Globe reports on the recent trend of adding cranberries to cat food, and has a comment from a vet at Tuft's University School of Veterinary Medicine that there is no evidence that cranberries have the same benefits for cats as they appear to have for humans.

A market analysis of the US pet food industry to determine new opportunities for the cranberry industry (2005) from the Center for Business Research may help explain why cranberries are suddenly a popular choice as a cat food ingredient.
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Check out Wellness NO GRAIN, around 4%. They put cranberry in their formula to make the urine more acidic and to prevent crystal from forming. My civvie cat had 2 of them before I started sprinkling organic blueberry powder over his food (does the same thing as the cranberry) Then, when I discovered Wellness with cranberry, I stopped the blueberry and I haven't had a problem ( knock of wood since). Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
Pasted a caution about cranberry on my previous post.
 
Sev said:
Could be be.
However both cats are male and only 1 has had urinary problems. Hate to solve one problem and create another.
The sticking point could be the biofilm I mentioned. Testing for specific bacteria can get expensive.
A meat diet should have produced a suitably acidic urinary environment. Now if there is a method to modify the recipe with out lowering Silky's urinary PH while creating an environment that will disolve struvite crystals I am all for it.
I could always make separate batches of food for my boys. I can just see my dyslexia kicking in during feeding time. Oiy. :)

What is interesting is that Shadow never had a urinary problem until I started feeding him Wellness products. The problem seemed to arise when I switched from Instinct kibble to Wellness kibble.
I have read that there appears to be great suspicion but no actual confirmation of a link to urinary problems in cats and Wellness brand.
Click to expand...
My civvie got interstitial cystitis on Wellness, but my other kitty didn't. I have also heard rumors though.... ECID!
 
SpecklesandMe said:
Here's a product I found thaqt has dl-methionine in it: http://www.vegepet.com/Vegetarian Cats/Vegecat_phi.html
Here's a study on one of that product's other acidifying ingredients: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14620912
I think you can use an acidifier with a high protein wet food and then retest the pee for pH in a couple weeks. I would ask the vet about the best acidifier for your kitty.
Click to expand...

Thank you.
Not to sure on the Vege Pet as I am grinding raw for them.
 
I just found this thread when doing a forum search for info on using d-mannose for UTIs. I have an issue with the logic behind this section of the info from Tanya's Site (quoted above by member @Sev):

Sev said:
Since D-Mannose does not get absorbed by the digestive tract, it should be safe for diabetic cats, but check with your vet before using if your cat has diabetes
Click to expand...
[Emphasis mine]


Maybe I'm being really dense here but how on earth does an orally administered treatment get excreted in the urine if it is not first absorbed into the body through the GI tract???

I went online to get some clarification and I thought I'd post the fruits of my search here in the hope it will be helpful to others who may dig up this thread in the future.

I found the following info from a vetinfo.com article on d-mannose to be a bit more helpful in terms of how the sugar moves through a body:

D-Mannose does not only adhere to bacteria, but also to harmful substances and kidney or bladder stones. This way, the lining of the bladder and of the urethra is cleared up and the infection is treated. Even though it is a type of sugar, D-Mannose is very safe for diabetic cats, as only a negligible amount is used by the body, with the rest being passed with the urine. In other words, this means that the blood sugar levels of the cats will not be influenced in any way when administering D-Mannose. [...] As D-Mannose is natural, there are no adverse reactions to it, unless the cat is sensitive to this type of sugar. [...] More than that, D-Mannose does not get digested, so administering high doses is never harmful.
Click to expand...
[Emphasis mine]


Presumably d-mannose is a simple sugar, the molecular size of which makes it small enough to pass through the gut wall without the need for digestion (i.e. the action of a digestive enzyme upon it).

Here's the link to the vetinfo.com article:

https://www.vetinfo.com/d-mannose-for-cats.html

In closing, I balked at the dosage recommendations contained in the vetinfo article. I've found in the past that sometimes vets can be a tad too generous in some of their dosage recommendations for cats. Therefore I myself would talk to my own vet with a view to following the dosage suggestions from Tanya's site if treating a cat of mine with d-mannose.



Mogs
.
 
Found another web article about d-mannose treatment which provides useful clarification on the dosage differences between vetinfo.com and Tanya's Site: the former appears to recommend dosage for acute treatment and the latter dosage for chronic administration of d-mannose.

From the article:

D-mannose can be administered preventatively for any cats who may be predisposed to urinary tract disease. It can also be used acutely, during flare-ups of urinary tract symptoms. In acute situations D-mannose can be given in dosages as high as one level teaspoon (2 grams) every hour for up to four doses. It can be easily dissolved in water or added to food. In more chronic situations dose at 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon (250 to 500 mg) daily. It can be safely added to the long-term diet at this dose and is even safe to use in pregnant or nursing cats. Because it is not digested or metabolized in the cat's body, problems with toxicity associated with the use of D-mannose have not been observed.
Click to expand...


The whole article is well worth reading.



Mogs
.
 
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I took Menda to the vet couple days ago and asked to check urine. There were no ketones seen and his urine was fine. Only issue was ph 6 which I think is a little on a low side. While taking sterile urine they did quick ultrasound which showed speckles around bladder. Doctor thinks some crystals are forming. I would like to avoid issues. Male cats are known to suffer fro crystals more than females and since he has been on Friskies for last few months I'm little worried.
Would this cranberry powder be good for my cat and do you suggest taking something else on top of it?
 
Magda said:
Would this cranberry powder be good for my cat and do you suggest taking something else on top of it?
Click to expand...
Cranberry powder is acidifying - it would drive the pH even lower (and therefore increase risk of calcium oxalate urolith formation).

Here is a helpful page from vet-authored site catinfo.org:

Urinary Tract Health

You might find information there to help you.


Mogs
.
 
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