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Old March 4th 10, 12:53 AM posted to alt.med.veterinary,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.community,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
jmc
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Posts: 610
Default Male cat FLUTD UTI problems

Suddenly, without warning, jamina1 exclaimed (3/3/2010 6:38 PM):
On Mar 3, 12:03 am, "Kelly Greene" wrote:
"jamina1" wrote in message


Feed only as much wet food as he'll eat in 20 minutes or so. Refrigerate
the rest.



What do I do when I have to leave for work? I have two cats - one will
eat anything I put in front of her, and Wallace, the one who is ill is
the one who will only eat dry. If I leave wet food out all day, Pagan,
my other cat will eat ALL of it and Wallace will die from Liver
failure because he isn't eating the wet. I understand the need to get
more water into the cat, but I don't know how it will work out when
one cat will chow down through any wet food I leave down.


If you're only giving them food for 20 minutes at a time... feed them
first, separated. Go about your morning routine. Pick up any leftover
food and refrigerate it. Go to work.

I understand where you're coming from - I was in denial and made excuses
for a while too - but truly, wet food is the best thing for your cats.
You're going to need to make some changes, but with time and patience it
can be done.

Is your convenience more important than your cat's health? I expect not.

The methods in the link provided:

http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_

Worked for Meep. She's *still* a dedicated carbivore, constantly hopes
for dry food, but she eats her wet food every night, and every day now,
cleans it up. We went through a period of time where she was a bit
underweight and would eat little or none of the food, but over time this
changed.

One trick I used was to sprinkle just a couple kibbles on top of the wet
food, especially if she hadn't eaten the previous batch - she'd eat the
kibble then because she was hungry, couldn't stop herself and would
start eating the wet food.

You may have to try a lot of different brands of wet food. To start, it
doesn't matter if it's "good" or not. If the only thing he'll it is
Whiskas to start, then so be it. Try Fancy Feast - Meep will eat any
variety that has liver or giblets in it.

I do hope you'll think about the advice you're getting here, and commit
to changing your cat's diet. It really will improve his health, and is
very likely to lessen, or eliminate, his UTI episodes.

You're getting advice from folks who've been through this - Meep had her
first cystitis attach at 7, continued to have them every 2-4 months
while I made excuses why I couldn't switch her to wet, then the
frequency increased as she went more and more to a wet diet. She's been
cystitis free (except for 1 episode where I'd added dry back to her
diet, for less than a month) for nearly 4 years now.

jmc