Dry C/D food?

Hello,

My 5-year-old boy cat recently had a bout of UTI. (Actually the vet
said it was "cystitis", which I gather isn't necessarily an infection,
but might just be an inflammation with an unknown origin.) I've had
him on C/D canned food, eating separately from the other cats. He's
just completed a course of antibiotics and "cystospaz". And I've taken
him off dry food, which means that nobody gets to free-feed on dry
anymore.

He seems better, although he seemed better the last time this happened
(about 2 months ago) and he had an earlier course of the same meds.

One of my other cats has lost a bit of weight, and I'm kind of assuming
this is because she's not chomping on dry food all day anymore. She was
a bit chubby, so I worry about fatty liver syndrome, although she seems
fine, and I make sure to give her large helpings of the canned stuff when
I feed her in the morning and at night, so she won't lose too much weight
too fast. But I'd prefer to have some dry food available for her (and my
boy, too) to munch on during the day, because I work long hours, so they
have to wait a long time for their second meal.

I heard there's a C/D dry food. Just wondering if anyone here has used
it and if it's OK to give a cat who has chronic urinary tract problems.
Also, is it OK for healthy cats to eat?

I'm going to ask my vet next time I have a chance, but I thought I'd
also get feedback about it from people who've experienced this problem.

Thanks!
Joyce

--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

Canned food is better for your cat with cystitis. The extra moisture in
canned food will help. So you would be better off sticking to the canned
c/d. And obviously it has helped your other cat lose some weight. Dry food
is higher in calories. Yes, there is a dry c/d formula food. You can get
it from your vet. I have a friend that feeds the dry c/d to her cat who has
suffered from urinary problems. (She claims her cat won't eat canned food;
personally, I think she's never tried hard to switch him to canned.)

S.
--
**Visit me and my cats at http://www.island-cats.com/ **
---
wrote in message
...
Hello,

My 5-year-old boy cat recently had a bout of UTI. (Actually the vet
said it was "cystitis", which I gather isn't necessarily an infection,
but might just be an inflammation with an unknown origin.) I've had
him on C/D canned food, eating separately from the other cats. He's
just completed a course of antibiotics and "cystospaz". And I've taken
him off dry food, which means that nobody gets to free-feed on dry
anymore.

He seems better, although he seemed better the last time this happened
(about 2 months ago) and he had an earlier course of the same meds.

One of my other cats has lost a bit of weight, and I'm kind of assuming
this is because she's not chomping on dry food all day anymore. She was
a bit chubby, so I worry about fatty liver syndrome, although she seems
fine, and I make sure to give her large helpings of the canned stuff when
I feed her in the morning and at night, so she won't lose too much weight
too fast. But I'd prefer to have some dry food available for her (and my
boy, too) to munch on during the day, because I work long hours, so they
have to wait a long time for their second meal.

I heard there's a C/D dry food. Just wondering if anyone here has used
it and if it's OK to give a cat who has chronic urinary tract problems.
Also, is it OK for healthy cats to eat?

I'm going to ask my vet next time I have a chance, but I thought I'd
also get feedback about it from people who've experienced this problem.

Thanks!
Joyce

--
To send email to this address, remove the triple-X from my user name.

wrote in message
...
Hello,

My 5-year-old boy cat recently had a bout of UTI. (Actually the vet
said it was "cystitis", which I gather isn't necessarily an infection,
but might just be an inflammation with an unknown origin.) I've had
him on C/D canned food, eating separately from the other cats. He's
just completed a course of antibiotics and "cystospaz". And I've taken
him off dry food, which means that nobody gets to free-feed on dry
anymore.

He seems better, although he seemed better the last time this happened
(about 2 months ago) and he had an earlier course of the same meds.

One of my other cats has lost a bit of weight, and I'm kind of assuming
this is because she's not chomping on dry food all day anymore. She was
a bit chubby, so I worry about fatty liver syndrome, although she seems
fine, and I make sure to give her large helpings of the canned stuff when
I feed her in the morning and at night, so she won't lose too much weight
too fast. But I'd prefer to have some dry food available for her (and my
boy, too) to munch on during the day, because I work long hours, so they
have to wait a long time for their second meal.

I heard there's a C/D dry food. Just wondering if anyone here has used
it and if it's OK to give a cat who has chronic urinary tract problems.
Also, is it OK for healthy cats to eat?

I'm going to ask my vet next time I have a chance, but I thought I'd
also get feedback about it from people who've experienced this problem.

Thanks!
Joyce

I'd stick with just the canned food if I were you. You might want to
purchase a baby scale so you can measure the weight loss in your chubby cat
(you're right to worry about her losing too much too fast, but she may not
be - it's best to know for sure). I got one very inexpensively at
Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Redmon-Weigh-G...5763256&sr=8-2
or

http://tinyurl.com/2urom6

Also, I wouldn't worry about being late with their second meal, cats, being
predators, can miss a meal (when a hunt is unsuccessful) without suffering.
As long as they're getting enough KCals every day to maintain their weight,
they'll be just fine.

Canned food is WAY better for boy cats especially just because of problems
like you're experiencing with your boy. My clowder of three girls were
eating mostly canned, but free-feeding on a little bit of dry too. When I
got my two boys, I weaned them off of the dry food altogether.

Hugs,

CatNipped

Just following up on my question from a few days ago. I called my
vet today and asked if they sold dry c/d. They do, but the vet
recommended against it, for at least a few months. So, no dry food
for the gang for a while.

I have no problem with feeding the cats separately (my cat on the
c/d eats in a separate room with the door closed). I was just a bit
worried when it looked like one of my other cats had lost a bit of
weight. The vet didn't seem alarmed about that, and in fact he suggested
that when I'm feeding them, I can give my healthy cats some dry food,
and then take it up again before opening the door between them and
the boy kitty on c/d. So I might do that.

Thanks for the responses!

Joyce

Joyce,

Thanks for providing the update on your cats. I must agree with
Catnipped in saying that I would avoid all dry food for all your cats
from now on. It's perfectly fine to space out meals about 12 hours
apart--that's now I feed mine and they do just fine. Here is an
excellent article explaining the negatives of dry food: http://www.catinfo.org/.
This book is also excellent and talks a lot about dry food:
http://www.amazon.com/Your-Cat-Simpl...72866&sr= 8-1

It's perfectly normal for a chubby cat to lose a little weight when
switching from dry food. I actually put my cat on canned food to lose
weight! I second the idea of buying a scale to weigh your cats. I
bought this postal scale: http://www.toplinedigitalscales.com/...24&item_id=166

Rene