Cat mystery

[Remudamom]

Yet another of our cats has come down with a UTI in less than two weeks. Thirty years of cats here and nothing, now this. Anyone have any idea what in the world they could be getting into?

[OnTheBrink]

Has anything changed? Food, litter, chemicals used outside on the lawn?

[Cheryl in NM]

Are they all about the same age? What kind of litter do you use? What kind of food? With mine, I had to switch to Science Diet K/D (prescription) and they are fine now. Still in chronic renal failure and one has a kidney stone that finally quit bothering her! As they age their bodies can't handle food so well (at least that's what I think, FWIW).

Good luck!

[Mamagistra]

What are you feeding? I've read something about Nutro dry foods making news because of alleged illness in dogs and cats.

I'm sorry that I don't have the story handy, but you could Google it. There is also a website somewhere (again, escaping me) that has all the latest updates on pet food recalls, contamination, etc.

Just a thought. :001_smile:

[Remudamom]

They have been eating Special Kitty cat food from Walmart, but now we've switched to something called C/D. One of the cats is 13 male, has always eaten Walmart cheap food and never uses the cat box. One of them is about an eight month old female, uses the cat box and outside, one is a two year old male, uses outside.

I'm waiting for our yr old female to join them. She uses the cat box and outside.

They all eat table scraps. Milk. No change in litter. No yard chemicals. All are spayed or neutered.

[Cheryl in NM]

They have been eating Special Kitty cat food from Walmart, but now we've switched to something called C/D. One of the cats is 13 male, has always eaten Walmart cheap food and never uses the cat box. One of them is about an eight month old female, uses the cat box and outside, one is a two year old male, uses outside.

I'm waiting for our yr old female to join them. She uses the cat box and outside.

They all eat table scraps. Milk. No change in litter. No yard chemicals. All are spayed or neutered.

I would stop the table scraps and milk and see if that make a difference. Other than that I have no idea! They are all such different ages it would have to be either their food or something environmental. BTW, the C/D sounds like a Sci Diet prescription food.

[OnTheBrink]

Mine eat Special Kitty from WM, too.

[elbac]

We switched off of Special Kitty after dealing with a UTI issue in one of our cats. I can't confirm it was the food, but I have my suspicions. We've since switched to Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul (I agree, lame name, lol) which the cats love, and is very healthy.

Unfortunately, I can't get the food anywhere in town, and I haven't been out of town for over a month now, so I had to get something from the local store. It was something new, and is "supposed" to be better, however, I know it's not as good as the Chicken Soup... but the cat's like it!

[Jean in Wisc]

They have been eating Special Kitty cat food from Walmart, but now we've switched to something called C/D. One of the cats is 13 male, has always eaten Walmart cheap food and never uses the cat box. One of them is about an eight month old female, uses the cat box and outside, one is a two year old male, uses outside.

I'm waiting for our yr old female to join them. She uses the cat box and outside.

They all eat table scraps. Milk. No change in litter. No yard chemicals. All are spayed or neutered.

Well, I can tell you what I've learned from my vet--

No more table scraps. No nothing other than CD and water. Everything else can cause UTI, especially in cats that have already had UTI.

I had to cover my compost bucket in the kitchen after they discovered it. I also close up everything and leave no dirty dishes ANYWHERE or they will find them in the night. (Ugh.) Since I've done that (along with absolutely nothing else in their diet), the UTI's have FINALLY stopped. Oh--I have to make sure they never get into the outside cats' food when they go out, too.

Walmart cheap food (actually, most any cat food) will leave a higher level of ash in their system. This can be a problem in a cat's urinary tract. My vet told me the CD has more protein and low ash, and CD lowers their urine's pH, which, when raised by their eating the wrong foods, adds to the UTI problem. We use CD for both inside cats. Table scraps are probably the worst offender in your fuzzy friends' diets, but now, even the other-than-CD catfood will irritate enough that just that alone could cause them to get another one.

Also--couch potato cats get more UTI's than ones that have more exercise.

We lost a very special cat to a UTI; that is when I studied up enough on them to keep the rest of my fuzzy friends alive. :-(

FWIW,
J

[Soph the vet]

Well, I can tell you what I've learned from my vet--

No more table scraps. No nothing other than CD and water. Everything else can cause UTI, especially in cats that have already had UTI.

I had to cover my compost bucket in the kitchen after they discovered it. I also close up everything and leave no dirty dishes ANYWHERE or they will find them in the night. (Ugh.) Since I've done that (along with absolutely nothing else in their diet), the UTI's have FINALLY stopped. Oh--I have to make sure they never get into the outside cats' food when they go out, too.

Walmart cheap food (actually, most any cat food) will leave a higher level of ash in their system. This can be a problem in a cat's urinary tract. My vet told me the CD has more protein and low ash, and CD lowers their urine's pH, which, when raised by their eating the wrong foods, adds to the UTI problem. We use CD for both inside cats. Table scraps are probably the worst offender in your fuzzy friends' diets, but now, even the other-than-CD catfood will irritate enough that just that alone could cause them to get another one.

Also--couch potato cats get more UTI's than ones that have more exercise.

We lost a very special cat to a UTI; that is when I studied up enough on them to keep the rest of my fuzzy friends alive. :-(

FWIW,
J

Good post, Jean. C/D is a great diet for cats with UTIs caused by crysalluria (crystals in urine). Urine pH lowers and crystals go away, at least with most common struvite crystals. There are other diets that are ok too as long as they have "urinary acidifiers" in them.

Did you switch to C/D after the UTI diagnosis or before? If it was after then it certainly could have been the Walmart brand contributing to the problem.

Soph