Urinary Tract Diet For Cats

The Best Cat Foods For Urinary Health

Because each cat food tackles urinary disorders in different ways, and has different nutritional values, were going to take a closer look at each and explain why theyve earned a place on our list.

With cat foods aimed at curing specific ailments, you can expect to pay a slightly higher price than a regular cat food. Premium cat foods should always provide a nutritionally complete meal for cats, but these foods go a step above and target the issue at hand.

With this in mind, heres our list of the top cat foods for urinary health, with effectiveness and value for money in mind.

Best Treats: Get Naked Urinary Health Crunchy Treats For Cats

All cats love treats- just because your pet has troubles with their urinary health doesnt mean that they dont get to indulge from time to time! However, you shouldnt go overboard, especially with treats that are not formulated to meet the needs of cats with urinary problems. Get Naked Urinary Health Crunchy Treats For Cats is a healthier alternative to the feline version of junk food and, to boot, it is designed to help with urinary issues rather than exacerbate them. These functional treats are made with real chicken cranberry juice, which is thought to help cleanse the urinary tract and acidify the urine, and are grain-free, so no wheat, corn, or soy in sight. The best part is that each treat is under 2 kcal, so you dont have to worry about occasional treats ruining your pets figure.

Signs Of Urinary Tract Infection In Cats

Under normal circumstances, the urine is formed and stored in the bladder, and in the course of time, the urine flows out of your feline companion through the urethra. But when the bacteria come into the urethra or bladder, the chances are higher that the bacteria will grow or reproduce in the urethra that in turn will result in the development of struvite stones in the bladder.

When your furry friend suffers from urinary tract infections, here are the most common symptoms:

• The cat urinates at short intervals, but the amount of urine decreases to a degree since it can not urinate each time and the toxic waste products arent released through urination.
• The cat urinates here and there. In the majority of the cases they urinate outside the litter box.
• They excrete the urine that is tinged with blood.
• With UTI, your feline friends urine is filled with struvite stones. It may experience pain while urinating and your feline friend may scream and have tearful eyes while urinating.
• When your cat is suffering from urinary tract infections, in most of the cases, the urine is filled with waste products and hence the urine has a strong ammonia odor.
• It licks the genital area over and over.
• Your cats thirst increases by leaps and bounds and in turn, the water intake will step up.

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Royal Canin Feline Calm

Theres no need to worry about your kittys stress levels when you have Royal Canin Feline Calm on hand. This specially formulated cat food is designed to help your feline friend maintain a healthy weight, while also reducing stress and promoting a sense of calm. With a balanced blend of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, Royal Canin Feline Calm provides your cat with all the nutrients they need to stay happy and healthy.

Recipe : Chicken Pot Luck Recipe

• Take a boiling pot and add three ounces of chicken.
• After that peel off the sweet potato and let it boil for ten minutes.
• Now take a saucepan and grease it with butter or oil, and add finely chopped chicken to the pan.
• Let it simmer for a few minutes.
• You can add oatmeal with the chicken or else can boil and serve it separately.

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Get 30% Off And Free Shipping On Cat Food

As cats age, they develop different urinary problems and because your kitty is sneaky about it, you wont notice the symptoms unless you are very attentive. Sometimes this can be dangerous because if there is a blockage in the urethra, it can be fatal.

More often than not, the problem could be caused by Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease , which is a collection of various symptoms. There are several reasons for urinary health issues in cats but the most common ones are kidney stones, debris in the bladder and/or urethra, blockage in the urethra from urine build-up, and inflammation.

Stress, injury, congenital abnormality, and problems with the spinal cord can also be the contributory factors. However, theres one aspect that often goes unnoticed but it could be playing a major role in aggravating urinary problems and its symptoms.

It is the dietary intake of your cat. If your furry feline isnt getting proper nutrition, it will show up in form of health issues. Ingredients in cat food influence the pH of urine, its concentration, and volume.

In fact, manipulation of the pH of urine through food has proven to be effective in treating and preventing several urinary health issues in cats. There has been a study on this and it concluded the source of protein has a significant impact on urinary composition in cats.

Does Augmenting Urine Volume Have A Role In Managing Or Preventing Any Of The Lower Urinary Tract Diseases Seen In Cats In The 1990s

Most research relating diet to lower urinary tract disease in cats has focused on mineral content, or more recently, on the effect of diet on urinary pH much less research has been devoted to the effect of diet on urine volume or specific gravity. It can be predicted from theoretical considerations that increasing urine volume for a given solute load has a greater influence on the likelihood of struvite crystal formation than a reduction in urinary magnesium concentration . This concept has also been demonstrated experimentally in studies of struvite activity product in feline urine .

Epidemiologic studies of signs of lower urinary tract disease conducted in the 1970s implicated dry cat foods as a risk factor more recently, consumption of dry foods has been implicated as a risk factor specifically for idiopathic lower urinary tract disease . Multiple diet-related factors may be involved with this increased risk, but included within these is the tendency for cats to produce smaller volumes of more concentrated urine when fed dry foods . Explanations originally offered for these observations were that cats might not repair a water deficit as well as dogs, and that cats fed dry foods take in less water. These interpretations clearly require further discussion.

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How To Get A Cat To Drink More Water

All is not lost even if your cat absolutely refuses to eat canned food despite your efforts. There are other ways to increase your cats water intake besides feeding wet cat food.

Try different kinds of water dishestry plastic, metal, and ceramic. Use differently shaped dishesshallow, deep, large, small. Try locating water dishes in various areas around your home so theres always one convenient when your cat feels thirsty.

A lot of cats love drinking from a flowing fountain and there are many products available to choose from these days. The cute flower fountain shown below is a favorite amongst the cats I know. Just be sure to disassemble and thoroughly wash the entire fountain every few days or your cat might not want to drink from it.

You might try adding a flavored liquid to your cats food or as a side dish. Tuna water, chicken broth, beef broth or clam juice are popular flavors. You can try diluting the flavoring ingredient with water. Freeze the extra flavored water in ice cube trays and thaw when youre ready to use them.

Myths About Feeding Cats

by Dedham Veterinary Associates | Feb 12, 2020 | Nutrition

Our team often receives questions about cat food and the ideal diet for cats. Plus, certain supermarket brands perpetuate misconceptions about cats dietary needs. So before you clip your next cat food coupon, be sure youre up to speed on these common myths and realities:

1. You should always avoid canned cat food to promote your cats dental health.

Truth: Canned food alone will not cause dental issues, and there are actually several reasons why cats can benefit from consuming some canned food. Moist canned food helps to support kidney and urinary function. Its also more filling, which can help cats to stay slender. Finally, every cat should be exposed to canned and dry food textures at a young age, so they learn to accept both. Later in life, many cats will need to assume a canned diet for medical reasons familiarity will ease the transition.

The gold-standard for maintaining dental health is tooth-brushing. Ideally, you should brush your cats teeth daily, but if this is too demanding on your schedule, even intermittent tooth brushing can be beneficial for your cats oral health. In addition, it is recommended to provide daily small portions of dry food designed to remove tartar while the cat chews. Both Hills Science Diet and Royal Canin make feline diets with excellent tartar removal technology.

2. Cats need a variety of shapes, colors, and food brands to be happy, consistent eaters.

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How Proper Nutrition Can Help Prevent And Treat Urinary Tract Disease In Your Cat

While it is often hard to imagine, our modern housecats are the descendants of desert felines, who lived in places where water was scarce. As a result, they evolved to get most of their hydration from their prey and did not rely on a separate water source. These felines ate small prey like mice, which are high in protein and moisture, and low in carbohydrates. The only carbohydrates that a cat ate in the wild is whatever was in their preys stomach.

Cats evolved like this for tens of thousands of years until the last 50-100 years or so, when we started keeping cats indoors and feeding them commercial pet foods. While the lifestyles of cats changed drastically in a short period of time, however, their biology has not.

When you take a look at modern cat food, it is often dry kibbles that are high in carbohydrates, low to moderate in protein, and void of any moisture, the exact opposite of cats natural diets. Not only do these foods fail to add any hydration to your pets bodies, but they require water from the body to process. This causes many housecats to live for years in a chronically dehydrated state.

There is a misnomer that cats with kidney issues need a low-protein food. This is only true when the proteins you are feeding are of inferior quality, such as by-products or plant-based proteins, which are hard for the kidneys to process. In reality, cats with kidney disease can often process moderate amounts of high quality proteins with ease.

Is Wet Food Better For Cats With Bladder Inflammation

Wet food seems to help most cats with FIC/bladder inflammation. At least one study supported the use of canned food over wet food but the study was small and had some design flaws so its not clear if this applies to all cats.

Vets recommend feeding an all wet food diet because it increases urine volume. More urine keeps the bladder flushed out so the mineral, protein and mucus content of urine is more diluted. Keeping the bladder flushed decreases the chance of urethral obstruction.

Cats as a species are very sensitive to change. That includes the type of food they prefer. Some cats simply refuse to eat wet food. This may be due to habit, preference for the texture of dry cat food or because of flavor enhancers added to dry food that are missing from moist cat food.

Another drawback to feeding an entirely wet food diet to your cat is that moist cat food is more expensive than dry food. Wet food is more likely to go to waste if not eaten right away and its not as convenient as dry cat food.

Considering that there are millions of cats who eat dry food who dont have any urinary problems, its reasonable to conclude that wet/moist cat food is not necessary for a cat to have a healthy bladder. But if your cat has a history of bladder problems, wet food is definitely worth trying.

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Why Trust The Spruce

This piece was written by Lorraine Wilde who has had at least two cat companions in her home for the past 35 years including some special needs kitties. Two of her cats lived happy and healthily into their early 20s. Her current feline companions have been challenged by digestive and urinary tract health issues. When researching these brands, Lorraine evaluated the type and quality of the ingredients, the companys research and development of the food, and their business ethics.

Because she has only the highest of standards for what she feeds her pets, Lorraine recently switched to Evangers EVx Restricted Diet Urinary Tract and Evanger Organics Turkey and Butternut Squash canned food to help improve her older cats’ health issues. Lorraines family will consider adding the supplement Under the Weather Urinary Support Soft Chews for the benefits imparted by D-mannose.

Dr. Danielle Bernal is a Global Veterinarian with Wellness Natural Pet Food. She holds a Bachelors of Veterinary Science from University of Sydney and is a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in the U.K. She has more than 15 years experience in veterinary care, animal nutrition and related communications. She travels across the United States and other countries to educate pet parents on the role that premium, natural nutrition plays in pets health and longevity.

What Does Crystals In Cat Urine Look Like

These tests will assess your cat’s overall health and rule out other medical conditions that may be contributing to your cat’s urinary signs. “On radiographs, struvite stones typically look like smooth rocks or pebbles within the bladder.” Finally, your veterinarian will likely recommend abdominal radiographs .

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Best Supplement: Under The Weather Urinary Support Soft Chews For Cats

Courtesy of Amazon

Key Ingredients: N-Acetyl Glucosamine from shrimp and crab, D-mannose, cranberry extract | Calories per Serving: Not listed| Balance: Not listed | Life Stage: Adult | Texture: Soft chews

• Incorporates D-mannose ingredient known to decrease urinary tract infections

• Several inactive ingredients

Although most urinary health cat foods are designed to offer your cat complete nutrition without supplements, an additional supplement could be used in combination with non-prescription foods to give your cats health an extra boost in the right direction.

Under the Weather Urinary Support Soft Chews for Cats is just one of many supplements made by this brand. The ingredients include N-acetyl glucosamine that supports a normal pH balance in the urinary tract as well as D-mannose and cranberry extract that promote normal urinary tract health.

Research in humans and animals has shown that D-mannose, a common sugar, helps prevent bacteria from sticking to bladder and urinary tract, reducing and preventing the reoccurrence of bacterial urinary tract infections.

Made in Vermont, this supplement is veterinarian formulated and free of corn, artificial flavors and dyes. A bonus is that a portion of ever sale is donated to the Ruffy Rescue Fund that supports spay and neutering of pets in overpopulated areas of the U.S. and transportation to Vermont for adoption.

What Is The Best Food For Cats With Urinary Problems

Special urinary diets are restricted in certain minerals to reduce the risk of stone formation. They may also alter the pH of the urine to reduce the risk of stones. Increasing the water content of the diet by feeding wet food, or adding water to the food, also helps to dilute the urine to reduce the risk of stones and make the urine less irritant to the bladder. If your cat is overweight, they will be more prone to urinary problems, so a lower calorie diet may be needed to help with weight loss. Some urinary diets also contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, which may help to reduce inflammation in the bladder. Substances such as L-tryptophan and milk thistle are associated with reduced stress levels these may sometimes be added to urinary foods to help if stress is a component.

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Why A Urinary Tract Diet May Be Right For Your Cat

If a cat has Chronic Kidney Disease , it is acceptable to feed the kidney diet to all cats in the house it is a high-quality maintenance diet for regular cats. The pet should only consume one kidney diet, but it is unusual for cats to do so. What are the key ingredients in healthy human cat food? If your cat is given cat food that is specifically designed for urinary health, it will reduce the amount of minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium that will contribute to urinary crystal and stone formation by increasing the urinary pH. If your cat has urinary tract problems, it is critical that you feed her the appropriate cat food. Nutrition plays an important role in controlling mineral levels, maintaining a healthy urine pH, and reducing inflammation, all of which are critical for safely managing urinary issues. Royal Canin Renal Support is a high-quality diet specifically designed for cats with IRIS Stage 2CKD onwards, and phosphorus must be restricted. There is, however, a lower protein diet with high energy density that cats can consume if they want to.