urinary blockage

I also pay more than that, but it has been well worth it. I have to order
over the Internet because the closest place that carries Wellness is a drive
of 75 miles each way. I order from petfooddirect.com. A case of 24 cans
(5.5 oz.) costs $30.49, so I pay about $1.27 per can. Petfooddirect has
some good sales, so I watch email for their 20% and 22% discounts. That
essentially covers the cost of shipping. I order 3 cases at a time and mix
the varieties.

MaryL


"blkcatgal" wrote in message
. ..
Wow! I want to shop where you shop. I can get a 5.5 oz can of Wellness
for $1.09; the 3 oz can is .89. But the petstore I buy it at will give me
a little bit of a discount for buying a whole case at once...which I
always do. But it still doesn't equal out to .99 per can.

Another petstore (chain) sells the 3 oz can for .99. I never buy it
there.

S.
--
**Visit me and my cats at http://www.island-cats.com/ **
---
"Rene S." wrote in message
...
On Mar 31, 11:35 am, "cshenk" wrote:
"Rene S." wrote

My personal opinion is that prescription cat food of any kind is
primarily garbage. If you look at the ingredient list, there is some
scary stuff on there. Prescription or not, it's just not a healthy
choice. I prefer a high-quality, grain free wet diet. As MaryL
mentioned, Wellness is excellent (make sure to get their grain free
versions), as is Nature's Variety (canned or raw) and Innova.

Is 'Fancy Feast' reasonable? For a cat that is not blocked and never has
been?

At one time, there was a debate about the quality of Fancy Feast on
this group (which I won't get into). I'm not a fan of it myself, but
many people swear by it. I know they now make FF grain free flavors,
but it's not just the grains that concern me. It's the other
ingredients in the can (by products and fillers). Wellness does make
FF-sized cans if can size is a concern, but cost wise it's not as
great of a deal. Actually, Wellness is *cheaper* on a per ounce basis
compared to FF, at least in my area. You get 3 oz for around .78, and
Wellness is .99 for 5.5 oz, making FF .26/oz vs. Wellness .18/oz.
Something to think about.

Wendy, please talk this over with your vet.

You have probably posted about this problem but I'm not keeping up with
the group -- do you know the reason your cat was blocked? Was it a
certain kind of crystals? I know watching the Ph of the food is very
important, not just the moisture.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Wendy wrote:
Is it necessary to use prescription wet food for a cat who's blocked or will
any quality wet food do as well?

The cat has been to the vet, been unblocked and sent home on antibiotics and
anti-spasmodics.

W

Yea, I would normally agree but I don't buy what the vet said. She said that
the infection started first and then the crystals developed. In a cat this
young (not quite 4) that still doesn't explain what caused an infection. She
told me he needs to be on exclusively prescription food and should be
getting 2 5-oz. cans a day. That's excessive. I have him on an all natural
wet food now and he only wants maximum 1/2 a can at a meal (2 a day). The
vet also blamed his blockage on the fact that he's gained a little weight in
the last year. My husband passed away last April and there are only 1 set of
eyes now to referee meal times and keep him out of everyone else's bowl.
I've improved my methods (Boots eats in a closed bathroom, Isabelle eats in
a locked dog crate, Diego eats where ever the other two aren't) but he
hasn't yet lost the weight he put on when I was distracted.

I wonder if some of Diego's problems didn't start when the dh died. He was
my husbands cat almost exclusively. He rarely came to me for attention. He
was quite the sad sack for a long time after the dh passed and spent much of
his time sleeping on his side of the bed. Maybe stress played a role. Maybe
he wasn't drinking as much water. I missed the clues that Diego was the one
with the problem. I didn't notice any increase in trips to the box for him
and attributed the peeing outside the box to my cat, Isabelle, who I know
has kidney problems and who has been known to avoid the box. This meant that
Diego's problems went untreated for months. Hindsight is 20/20 but I really
thought it was Isabelle peeing on the floor. She's already on prescription
food btw and her problem was diagnosed when we had an ultrasound done. At
any rate his problem was worse than it should have been had I known about it
sooner.

He had struvite (sp? too lazy to look it up) crystals. Now as to why? who
knows. Is it a ph issue or just not sufficient fluids in his diet. The vet
refuses to prescribe C/D dry and is pushing for wet only. That makes me
think she suspects a moisture problem more than a ph one.

W



"Rhonda" wrote in message
...
Wendy, please talk this over with your vet.

You have probably posted about this problem but I'm not keeping up with
the group -- do you know the reason your cat was blocked? Was it a certain
kind of crystals? I know watching the Ph of the food is very important,
not just the moisture.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Wendy wrote:
Is it necessary to use prescription wet food for a cat who's blocked or
will any quality wet food do as well?

The cat has been to the vet, been unblocked and sent home on antibiotics
and anti-spasmodics.

W

Is it necessary to use prescription wet food for a cat who's blocked or will
any quality wet food do as well?
The cat has been to the vet, been unblocked and sent home on antibiotics and

If it is struvite crystals and it just recently happened, then yes, you
definitely need to feed him either Hill's s/d (struvite diet) or any other
diet from the vet that is made to dissolve the remaining crystals in his
bladder. You only use that for a short period of time though - I think it's
a month or so. After that, they will probably want him on Hill's c/d as it
is low in minerals but you may be able to put him on a different (store
bought) canned food. You will have to see how your cat does in the future;
you don't want him to block up again though right now, so I would follow my
vet's instructions for the time being.

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...ealth/200804/1

Cats can develop urinary infections due to stress. Your husband's passing
may have cause your cat some stress. Just a thought.

S.
--
**Visit me and my cats at http://www.island-cats.com/ **
---
"Wendy" wrote in message
. ..
Yea, I would normally agree but I don't buy what the vet said. She said
that the infection started first and then the crystals developed. In a cat
this young (not quite 4) that still doesn't explain what caused an
infection. She told me he needs to be on exclusively prescription food and
should be getting 2 5-oz. cans a day. That's excessive. I have him on an
all natural wet food now and he only wants maximum 1/2 a can at a meal (2
a day). The vet also blamed his blockage on the fact that he's gained a
little weight in the last year. My husband passed away last April and
there are only 1 set of eyes now to referee meal times and keep him out of
everyone else's bowl. I've improved my methods (Boots eats in a closed
bathroom, Isabelle eats in a locked dog crate, Diego eats where ever the
other two aren't) but he hasn't yet lost the weight he put on when I was
distracted.

I wonder if some of Diego's problems didn't start when the dh died. He was
my husbands cat almost exclusively. He rarely came to me for attention. He
was quite the sad sack for a long time after the dh passed and spent much
of his time sleeping on his side of the bed. Maybe stress played a role.
Maybe he wasn't drinking as much water. I missed the clues that Diego was
the one with the problem. I didn't notice any increase in trips to the box
for him and attributed the peeing outside the box to my cat, Isabelle, who
I know has kidney problems and who has been known to avoid the box. This
meant that Diego's problems went untreated for months. Hindsight is 20/20
but I really thought it was Isabelle peeing on the floor. She's already on
prescription food btw and her problem was diagnosed when we had an
ultrasound done. At any rate his problem was worse than it should have
been had I known about it sooner.

He had struvite (sp? too lazy to look it up) crystals. Now as to why? who
knows. Is it a ph issue or just not sufficient fluids in his diet. The vet
refuses to prescribe C/D dry and is pushing for wet only. That makes me
think she suspects a moisture problem more than a ph one.

W



"Rhonda" wrote in message
...
Wendy, please talk this over with your vet.

You have probably posted about this problem but I'm not keeping up with
the group -- do you know the reason your cat was blocked? Was it a
certain kind of crystals? I know watching the Ph of the food is very
important, not just the moisture.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Wendy wrote:
Is it necessary to use prescription wet food for a cat who's blocked or
will any quality wet food do as well?

The cat has been to the vet, been unblocked and sent home on antibiotics
and anti-spasmodics.

W