Question about special food

[Felix]

Hi i brought felix to the vet yesterday to get him neutered.The vet told me i should put him on special food.This food is to help prevent F.L.U.T.D= feline lower urinary tract desease.I was wondering if anyone out there can tell me is this is something a neutered cat should have,or should i just keep him on the food he has always had!!im not sure what to do any suggestions???

[ladywizz]

I have to say, that unless the vet has found something - its a bit odd that he has all of a sudden told you to change his food . If your cat is prone to water infections then sure - he would benifit but otherwise I see no reason why the change? Plus you should never just change foods straight away as this can cause more problems. It should be introduced slowly so the cat can get used to it.

[Barbara]

Is this the same vet who wanted that Felix takes meds against parasites?

Today most of the food formulas (and every quality food) is formulated against stones. And stones plus mixed debris of stones and cellular tissue are only the reason for 40% of the UTDs. More than 50% of the UTDs are idiopathic- which means reason unknown. In these cases the special food wouldn't help - but anyway it is not sure that Felix will develop either.

[Felix]

Yes this is the same vet that gave me meds for felix to prevent parisites... he dont have and he is a indoor cat!! So being a new cat owner i bought the meds naturally i will buy anything that will be in the best interest of my cat!(they make it sound as if its critical) So then after he is neutered they tell me i need to buy special food to help prevent F.L.U.T.D.So i did ..very costly that i dont mind if he liked it but he dont like it at all. He will eat the hard but not the soft.See the food i had him on before was canned fancy feast and hard whiskas and he darely loves it ...so thinking im doing the cat good buy giving him the food the vet said to give him im feeling guilty cuz he dont like it.Im on two minds dont know what to do. It hasnt been a week yet on the new food but hes not going for it so i think i might switch him back!!I feel as if i am depriveing him of the food he loves!

I guess what i was hoping to find out is if anyone who got there cat neutered did they put them on some kind of special food.Is this necessary?Im so confussed

[catnapper]

My cats love the Whiskas stuff - but I only give it as treats. I would recommend feeding him something in between the Whiskas and the prescribed stuff. I've noticed that with the slightly more expensive food the cats have less hairballs and their poo smells... ummmm... less smelly. It does make a difference, and even on my tightest budget months, I always manage to buy the "better" food because my nose can't take the "output" from the Whiskas on a fulltime basis. Though the kitties would think they were in heaven to eat it fulltime.

[Barbara]

All of the PT cats I know about are neutered. My Filou and Tigris are 9 years old and are neutered since they were 6 months/9 months respectively.
Tigris this last year developped an iFLUTD (idiopathic .....). He got prednisone (to keep the inflammation down) and antibiotics (against the bacteria infection he had on top of the basic inflammation of his urethra. He has no stones so he doesn't need a special diet.

The main issue for him is drinking so that the urinary tract is rinsed all the time. As he doesn't love that too much (neither chicken broth nor thinned cat milk) I add a tea spoon full of water to his soft food- now he pees purrfectly!

I don't think you have to feed Felix that food in advance. It could happen if he had crystals (there are struvite and oxalate)- but he hasn't I think.

[mruffruff]

I had two cats -at two seperate times-require trips to the emergency room for urinary tract problems. One of those times there was blood in the urine. The vet recommended a food especially for urinary tract health. So now they all (7) get Purina One Urinary tract dry food for breakfast and dinner. They also get 2 tablespoons of very diluted wet food (think soupy) with dinner. Bedtime treats are Whiskas dry.

So far, no recurrences.

Mary

[IRescue452]

I wouldn't buy it unless the vet actually found something. I've never heard of so many cats having urinary tract problems until I came to pet talk. I have tons of friends with cats and I volunteer at a humane society and I've only heard of one case of UTI. What do you PT cat owners do differently thats harming your cats? Do you all feed your cats Nutro or something?