CreatureTeacher and Mordy.....

[bogolove]

A coulpe of years ago my cat had a bladder stone and had to have surgery because her urine looked like red Kool-Aid. They said it was from her food, and that I had to switch her food so that she would not get it again. She is on a special food for cats prone to urinary tract infections and bladder stones. It is the Royal Canin SO.

She has gained a lot of weight since then, and I don't know if it is from the surgery or the food. She weighs about 16 or 17 pounds and will be 4 years old in September. She loves the food though, and is very demanding about asking for it. I have tried to put her on a wet/dry food diet, but she will have absolutely nothing to do with the wet food, she won't touch it, and in fact looks at me like I am crazy.

I guess my question is what can I do about her weight? And are there foods out there that would be better for her and not give her another bladder stone?

Thank you so much for your help.

 

[CreatureTeacher]

Boy, that is completely beyond my qualifications. I'd like to know the answer too, though. My cat's got problems with bladder crystals, and right now I'm feeding him half raw and half Wysong Uretic formula. Mine won't eat canned food either. He hates it!

My vet told me to use the prescription foods for ph adjustment and then to switch to a maintenance food to maintain the ph. Then another vet told me that I didn't have to stick to the crappy brand making the maintenance food he was selling me. He said the important thing was to watch closely and mete out the ph adjustment when needed. Otherwise, he said to use whatever uretic maintenance formula I prefered.

I've got a question for Mordy too. Instead of taking my boy in to the vet and paying $35 to have them test his urine ph, could I just use some litmus (sp) paper in my own home? I don't see why that wouldn't work, but I thought I'd ask. And what ph should the urine be at normally to avoid crystal formation?

 

[Mordy]

bogolove - was the pronblem struvite or calcium oxalate urolithiasis? that's one thing i need to know before making recommendations. struvite crystals/stones can be prevented by acidifying the urine, oxalate requires alkalinizing the urine. the former is relatively easy, the latter is not.

emma - yes you can get the strips and do the testing yourself. solid gold for example has 100 count tubes of testing strips with a color chart.

 

[bogolove]

Hmmmm....I guess I will have to call because I can't remember. I remember that when it happened and after the surgery they tested it and said it was the kind that would have eventually broken up. She had been on Kit and Kaboodle food (which now I am comlpetely ashamed to admit, this was before I knew anything about nutrition).

I am due to take her in for her shots, so I will ask when I go in there.

Thanks Mordy.

 

[Mordy]

feel free to email me when you have the info.