Cat food recommendations?

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows of an alternative to Purina One's Urinary Tract Formula cat food in the UK?

Last year, my cat was diagnosed with a serious urinary tract infection, which involved a trip on the weekend to the nearest emergency centre, x-rays of his bladder, and multiple follow up visits and a lot of medication.

Yep, we'd love to avoid another UTI at all costs. My vet was trying to get us on Hill's Science Diet S/D and C/D formula but at nearly $20 for a 4lb. bag, I thought there HAS to be an alternative. Since then, George seems to be doing very well on Purina. Not sure if they have this in the UK, but I'd love to hear any suggestions. 

    You might try "Pets at home" that's the biggest pet store I've seen out here.

 You could also email Purina and see what's available in the UK. They do have Purina here, just not the same exact foods as they have in the US.


http://www.petsathome.com/shop/cat/cat-food/dry-cat-food/?pag=1

They do have Purina here, just not the same exact foods as they have in the US.

And even when things are supposedly exactly alike, sometimes they're not.  Our cats are on Hills Prescription D/D food and the UK version is very different than the US version -- and only one flavor is available.  Luckily, my cats were okay with the difference, so it wasn't a big deal.  

Ditto on emailing Purina to ask about a similar product -- even if it's not advertised as such!

One good thing about Rx pet food in the UK -- you don't need to produce a prescription like you do in the US.  We were paying a fortune buying food at the vet in the US, but here, I order it online and not only do I not have to lug it, it's considerably less expensive than getting it at the vet.  It's still not cheap, though.

I'll be watching this thread... my cat recently had a very bad UTI and is suspected of having crystals in his urethra. The last few days, I have only fed him wet food mixed with a bit of water, which seems to help, but he is hungry all the time (he ate 4 pouches of wet food yesterday and was still starving)! The dry food just seems to fill him up more. But I don't think we can really afford £20 for a bag of dry food. 

PetPlanet has lots of different catfoods too - you might see what options they have for UTI-prone kitties.

My boy is on Hill's Prescription weight-loss food and he loves it. It is expensive, though, but he won a £500 voucher for PetPlanet, so we're doing well! 

My cats started eating Feline C/D after they both (male and female) had urinary tract/bladder problems. Fortunately, both were forming the same type of crystals, so they could both eat C/D. It would have been a royal pain for them to eat different types of food from separate bowls. Yes, it's bloody expensive, but neither had a problem since switching foods. When I was in England I used a website called nutrecare.co.uk and it was MUCH cheaper than getting it at the vet, even with the shipping charges.

His first Christmas here, my cat ended up in the vet emergency with a UTI.  This and the previous UTI he had about a month or two before cost us well over a thousand pounds (we put off getting pet insurance when we moved here).  At first, we used the vet prescribed Hills, but the dry made him ill (vomiting and loose bowels) and the wet was too expensive and he still vomited a bit with that.

What we've done, and this has prevented a flare (over a year) so far (touch wood) was:

1)Weight loss.  He's still chunky, but he's taken off a bit of weight.
2)Switched to mostly wet diet.  We were using Sheba for a while, but now we're feeding him the Purina pouch food (I think it's Gold or Pearl or something).  I know a lot of cats who are used to dry food will refuse wet food for a while.  Mine is addicted (and yes, I use that term purposefully) to dry food.  It's like candy to cats.  They are obligate carnivores and most dry food (and some wet) are really aimed at vegetable centred omnivore diets.  Cats do no need the sugar (starch), and do not do well with it.  We thought he'd never get used to eating wet, and it took a couple days of him totally turning his nose up at wet until he got hungry enough.

If you must stick with dry, I'd suggest adding water to it.  Enough to add some moisture, but not enough to totally make it soggy.

Because I followed the advice of American commercials and tv vets on what to feed my cats (Oh, he must need the rice and stuff!) he has obesity problems, pica, and got ill with UTI.

If you can find a regular supply, Encore or Hilife are extremely good foods.  Unfortunately, the supply is sketchy here, and I don't like to switch foods on him all the time.  These two foods are mostly meat.  You could also look into BARF (biologically appropriate raw food).  We may turn to that if he gets ill again.

With a mostly wet diet that is meat heavy/exclusive, your cat will have fewer problems with blood sugar and you will be ensuring he or she is taking in a lot of moisture.

It takes a lot to get used to for both you and your cat.  We usually feed our cat two pouches of wet a day and then a small snack of dry at night. I really wish I hadn't added the dry as he has started to get a bit mental again, obsessive about food, and chewing things.  This is with more food, not less.  I was concerned that he was losing too much weight, but now I am considering just giving him 3 pouches of wet a day.

3)Reduce stress/use Feliway

4)Exercise him or her regularly, especially if he or she is an indoor cat.

If you can afford Hills or specialist diet food and your cat tolerates it well, great.  We found very good results upping his moisture, lowering his starch intake, increasing his exercise, reducing his stress, and lowering his weight.

No matter what you choose, good luck.

ETA: The high meat food I was talking about:
http://www.hilifepet.co.uk/osb/showitem.cfm/category/1
http://www.encorecatfood.co.uk/index.html

My boy is on Hill's Prescription weight-loss food and he loves it. It is expensive, though, but he won a £500 voucher for PetPlanet, so we're doing well! 

Holy cow!  That's awesome!   

We order from viovet.com for wet and dry Hills Prescription food -- if you order over a certain amount, delivery is free and it usually arrives inside 48 hours.  Luckily, our vet is only a few blocks away, so if I do run out (erm, hypothetically of course), I can dash down the street and grab a can or two to tide us over. 

It would have been a royal pain for them to eat different types of food from separate bowls. Yes, it's bloody expensive, but neither had a problem since switching foods.

Yeah, we have 2 cats and so far, have managed to feed both the same food.  I dread having to feed them separately, as they've always free-fed.  We currently feed D/D for skin sensitivities, and it hasn't helped, but it did reduce vomitting in our fat cat, AND both cats will eat it -- so at least that's a plus. 

When we moved, I did a comparison and Hills Prescription was cheaper here via internet ordering than it was at the vet in the US.  One of the few things that's happened for! 

We order from viovet.com for wet and dry Hills Prescription food -- if you order over a certain amount, delivery is free and it usually arrives inside 48 hours. 

PetPlanet is the same - free delivery if the order is over a certain amount. My delivery charges are not included in the voucher, so I always make sure I get free delivery. I generally buy two big bags of the food at a time, but I think the free delivery is good even with one bag.

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone knows of an alternative to Purina One's Urinary Tract Formula cat food in the UK?

Last year, my cat was diagnosed with a serious urinary tract infection, which involved a trip on the weekend to the nearest emergency centre, x-rays of his bladder, and multiple follow up visits and a lot of medication.

Yep, we'd love to avoid another UTI at all costs. My vet was trying to get us on Hill's Science Diet S/D and C/D formula but at nearly $20 for a 4lb. bag, I thought there HAS to be an alternative. Since then, George seems to be doing very well on Purina. Not sure if they have this in the UK, but I'd love to hear any suggestions.  

When I lived in the States that's the same cat food I feed my 2 cats mainly cause my Siamese he had several bouts with UTI's & 1 seriously bad kidney infection that included surgry for the  seriously bad kidney infection as well at the same time as the UTI's that was a very expensive trip to the vet that week.      so now that we live in the UK we give our cats Purina 1 an our cats like it not as much as the Purina Urinary Tract Formula they had in the States but they still eat it an it helps with his UTI problems. the Siamese & our Tabby kitty both have filtered or bottled water since his Kidney infection several years ago we aren't taking any chances with him or her. The vet suggested the bottled water for him I just never stopped giving it to them. The Purina 1 cat food here in the UK for a 3KG bag costs us around £12-£13 sometimes £8 if we get it on sale an it usually lasts us about a month or close to a month. giving the cats filtered water doesn't cost us anymore money cause we already use filtered water for ourselves.    

Good luck with whatever you choose!!    

Thanks for the advice shugga.

I'm sorry to hear that your cat needed surgery. I was afraid we would have to go that route, but thankfully the crystals hadn't formed into stones.

I went ahead and sent an email today to Purina asking what the closest formula is in the UK to the Urinary Tract formula here. I'll be sure to let everyone know what they say.

I use dry food because it's cheaper. But my cat drinks loads of water anyway, so I'm sure he's getting more than enough fluids. My cat isn't picky either about food, thankfully. When he's hungry he'll eat!

Thanks everyone for the website recommendations, I'll check them out.

Thanks for the advice shugga.

I'm sorry to hear that your cat needed surgery. I was afraid we would have to go that route, but thankfully the crystals hadn't formed into stones.

I went ahead and sent an email today to Purina asking what the closest formula is in the UK to the Urinary Tract formula here. I'll be sure to let everyone know what they say.

I use dry food because it's cheaper. But my cat drinks loads of water anyway, so I'm sure he's getting more than enough fluids. My cat isn't picky either about food, thankfully. When he's hungry he'll eat!

Thanks everyone for the website recommendations, I'll check them out.

Sure no problem!!      Glad they caught yours before your cat needed surgery!!  We tried the email route as well they told us they didn't carry the Purina UTI formula cat food here in the UK anymore they did at one time but stopped carrying it cause it wasn't selling. Our cats are spoiled they are picky about what they will eat even if they are hungry there are some foods they refuse to eat period!!  Our neighbors were reaping the benefits of our cats being really picky there cats will eat anything unlike our picky cats.      

Our cats eat dry food as well cause it cheaper & it helps prevent his UTI's reoccurring an also our Siamese has bad gas if he has to much wet food it isn't a pretty sight trust me lol!!      They only get wet cat food as a treat an they share a pouch between them maybe a couple times a week.

Hopefully Purina gets back to with some good news about UTI formula cat food here in the UK.
 

Purina US, were no help and just redirected me to the UK site. It's silly, since they are the same company.

Anyway, here's what Purina UK said:
 
Thank you very much for contacting us regarding our products.
 
We would like to advise that as your cat has been diagnosed with a urinary tract infection we would recommend a veterinary formulated diet called Purina Veterinary Diets Urinary St/Ox (PVD UR St/Ox). This is available at veterinary surgeries in a wet and dry format and is especially formulated for cats who have, or are prone to, urinary tract problems.
 
If your cat has now recovered from the urinary infection and is not prone to urinary problems you may like to consider our Purina ONE or ProPlan ranges. Information for these can be found on their websites-
 
www.purina-proplan.com/uk
www.one.co.uk
 

As the owner of a kitty who had to have his penis chopped off because of recurring crystal problems, my recommendation (via our vet) is to buy the best quality wet food you can afford.   Increasing moisture (and hence water intake) keeps kitty's bladder flushed!  Dry food is full of carbs and sugars that cats don't need, and even though it is easier, it's usually not as healthy.  Our vet also said it was important to avoid high ash content foods.  I find that UK pet food labels are less informative than their US counterparts with respect to listing ingredients - but cheaper foods and dry foods are usually higher in ash content.

We feed our boy Applaws canned food - it looks better than some of the canned chicken I can get in the human stores!!   Our vet recommended avoiding fish-based/flavored foods as they contain the mineral that contributed to our boy's crystal formation (can't remember if they were struvite or calcium.... it was 4+ years ago now).  We only need to feed our boy 2 cans a day - remember to compare the cost on the basis of recommended serving sizes rather than price tag!!! 

As the owner of a kitty who had to have his penis chopped off because of recurring crystal problems, my recommendation (via our vet) is to buy the best quality wet food you can afford.   Increasing moisture (and hence water intake) keeps kitty's bladder flushed!  Dry food is full of carbs and sugars that cats don't need, and even though it is easier, it's usually not as healthy.  Our vet also said it was important to avoid high ash content foods.  I find that UK pet food labels are less informative than their US counterparts with respect to listing ingredients - but cheaper foods and dry foods are usually higher in ash content.

We feed our boy Applaws canned food - it looks better than some of the canned chicken I can get in the human stores!!   Our vet recommended avoiding fish-based/flavored foods as they contain the mineral that contributed to our boy's crystal formation (can't remember if they were struvite or calcium.... it was 4+ years ago now).  We only need to feed our boy 2 cans a day - remember to compare the cost on the basis of recommended serving sizes rather than price tag!!! 

I am so sorry about your cat.  They were able to catheterize mine to remove the blockage that could have killed him within hours if they hadn't found it.

That's interesting about the fish based food as my cat doesn't tend to like them.  Unfortunately, it seems every pack of higher quality meat food from the supermarkets have at least one fish one.

My vet, like yours, pushed the lower carb, higher meat, high moisture food.  She said the only cats that get cystitis are overweight, dry food based foods, who are usually indoor cats.

As for costs, I would gladly pay about £25-30 a month on higher quality food to avoid the vet bills we were riddled with due to two episodes of this.  I am sure my husband still has the £800+ receipt I can scan in.  Even if we had the vet insurance, we would be locked into that one provider after something like this or do what we're doing now which is no coverage for anything UT related for a few years.

Right now we're fortunate because he's doing so well on wet food that he's not on Cystease.  However, as I said before, I have been filling out the wet with some dry food, but your post just has driven home that that is probably not the thing I should be doing for him.  We can get low carb dry food, but the supply is sporatic, so I think I will just go to feeding him three servings of wet a day once he's down to goal weight.