Cat with bladder stones - special diet?

[ang79]

My 11 year old cat Lucy was diagnosed with bladder stones last month. We did a specialized diet of Hill's Prescription SD for a month and thankfully the stones dissolved and went away, so no need for surgery. But now they want to keep her on a different Hills Prescription food (CD) so that the stones don't come back. If that is what is needed to keep her healthy, then we will do it. But, it is much more expensive than the high quality food we buy for the other cats, and we have to feed them separately which is a hassle (the other two cats want her special food and try to get into the cabinet for it). Also, the ingredients in the food is not that great. Has anyone else had a cat with similar issues? Do you do the prescription food or did you find something else that works as well?

[essnce629]

Do you feed your cats dry food? Everything I've read is that dry food is the worst for cats and contributes to dehydration and bladder stones. I would switch to an all wet food diet. After losing my childhood cat, who was fed dry food, to diabetes, I now feed our cat frozen raw medallions and add an extra 2 tablespoons of water to each meal to make sure she's getting enough water.

https://www.thesprucepets.com/good-f...ystals-3976993

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[ang79]

Do you feed your cats dry food? Everything I've read is that dry food is the worst for cats and contributes to dehydration and bladder stones. I would switch to an all wet food diet. After losing my childhood cat, who was fed dry food, to diabetes, I now feed our cat frozen raw medallions and add an extra 2 tablespoons of water to each meal to make sure she's getting enough water.

https://www.thesprucepets.com/good-f...ystals-3976993

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We do a combo. Wet food (with extra water added) given in the morning and dry food left out for them to nibble at during the day. Now that she is on separate food, we are still doing a combo with the prescription food. She seems to like the dry a bit better, at least she did with the SD prescription, now they are changing it to the CD prescription food. I am trying to give more wet though and just small amounts of dry throughout the day. And always add extra water to the wet food. They have two water bowls in different locations and we refill at least each day, more if needed, with fresh water. I am considering getting a pet fountain, as that is supposed to increase drinking and I read that more water in her diet will help her urine PH at the correct level to stop new stones from forming.

[chlobo]

Do you feed your cats dry food? Everything I've read is that dry food is the worst for cats and contributes to dehydration and bladder stones. I would switch to an all wet food diet. After losing my childhood cat, who was fed dry food, to diabetes, I now feed our cat frozen raw medallions and add an extra 2 tablespoons of water to each meal to make sure she's getting enough water.

https://www.thesprucepets.com/good-f...ystals-3976993

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Can I ask what food you use?

[Kindra178]

My dog eats hill’s Id for gastro reasons. The ingredients kill me, it’s insanely expensive but her stomach is fine. Even whole dog journal recommends it in certain instances.


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[zukeypur]

You need to stick to the cd or be prepared for stones to come back. If you can’t separate food, you could switch all of them to cd..

[essnce629]

Can I ask what food you use?

We use Small Batch Cat. My cat likes the beef medallions best. She has 1.5 medallions in the morning and evening. We've never left food out for her during the day. One huge benefit of a raw diet I've noticed is her poops don't really smell! I remember my childhood cat's poops smelling up the entire room every time she'd go!

https://smallbatchpets.com/cats_frozen/

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[Indianamom2]

The CD diet works well, but I totally understand the frustration of separate feeding and expense. The only other food that we have tried with good success and many other positive reccomendations was Purina Pro Plan Focus Urinary Tract Health Care wet food. I like thenPurina kind because it it is not prescription and is a bit cheaper, plus Pet smart and Petco carry it, so I use it as a backup if I run out of the Hills CD food. Sometimes I use it just to change things up a bit too. Our cat with bladder issues has done well with both kinds.

[JElaineB]

My cat has been on Hill's c/d too, as he has had at least 3 bouts of urinary tract inflammation (idiopathic cystitis) over the past few years to the point where he can't urinate and blood comes out when he strains. Thankfully no blockages but the vet wants him on the special diet. My go to site for cat feeding is Catinfo.org and if you read there you will see why you need to discontinue all dry food. Cats are supposed to get the vast majority of their water from food and not bowls of water. My cats have unfortunately now rejected the large cans of the Hill's c/d chicken formula, and I prefer not to feed food with fish as the main ingredient too often because of potential toxins. The smaller cans are so expensive, but they do like both the Hill's c/d chicken stew and tuna stew. My cats are 13 and 15 pounds so got through a lot of food and it gets expensive. I can't separate them when eating, either. I got the vet's ok just today to try some other foods, including Dave's Restricted Diet (they love the pork flavor but I only tried it once) which I've added to my Chewy.com autoship, Purina ProPlan Veterinary Diets UR (bought a couple cans at the vet's office to try and they seem to like the can I just opened) - the vet said this one is ok to give to both cats though I am not so sure it is supposed to be a long term food, I need to look into it more. He also said the Purina ProPlan Urinary Tract Health food would be fine too, which you can get at PetSmart or Petco (I'm going to look for it today). This one if the cheapest and I'm not sure it works as well as the prescription foods, but it has got to be better than the Fancy Feast and Sheba cuts from a urinary health perspective. I also bought some Royal Canin SO in the large cans from the vet today, but based on past experience they probably won't like that. I might try the smaller cans of Royal Canin SO morsels which are minced type in gravy that they usually like, but I'll have to get a whole case of that from Chewy and I am not sure if I want to pay that much.

[ang79]

I did see the Purina ProPlan listed on a website, along with the Royal Canin. Maybe I will pick up some cans of the Purina to alternate with the Hills CD that we currently have. She loves the dry, but I've been trying to do just a little of that once a day, and then wet twice a day. We currently have the Chicken Stew in the small cans, sometimes she eats it, other times she doesn't. I also bought a few cans of the Tuna Stew, as she liked the sample she had of that. My vet did not have individual 5.5 oz cans to try those flavors and I'm hesitant to buy a whole case if she doesn't like it. She has managed to slip out and eat a few bites of the Natures Balance dry food that the other cats eat The other cats like her food, but I don't want to feed that to them exclusively, as we have a bunch of other food from a recent Chewy shipment that I want them to finish up. And I don't really want to put them all on her food long term, as that would get really pricey!

For those that feed the Hill's CD, did your cats have runny stools when they first started? She has since she was on antibiotics for UTI in December. We have tried two different kinds of probiotics from the vet (and doesn't like either) and medicine to stop the runny stools but she is still having it, so I think the food is causing it.