Vet recommended "name brand" urinary tract formula cat foods for my cat?

Question

I asked a related question a few days ago, and appreciated the responses I got.
On Friday, I had to take my cat up to the vet for a follow-up urinalysis after she was on a round of antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. Previous to that, she had a bladder stone. This has been going on since August. It turns out, there was just a tiny bit of infection left so they wanted me to give her one more round of antibiotics.
I didn't get to talk to the vet personally, but had the receptionist ask him if he thought it would help to have her on all or mostly all high quality canned food. I was surprised when she came back and said he wanted me to feed her "name brand" cat food formulas for urinary tract health, and the examples she gave were Purina, Eukanuba and Iams. She stressed that they should be common store shelf brands. I don't understand why he thinks these are better. Are they the only ones that make the special urinary tract health formulas? Also, regarding the canned, wet food vs. dry food, I was told either it didn't matter or to give both because cats tended to gain weight if fed too much canned. I have always tried to find and buy the best cat food I could that I thought was good for them and that they liked and would eat. I don't want to give my cat anything that will hurt her.

Also, I was wondering if anyone thought the Greenies treats might have been to blame? My cats liked these treats but after taking another look at the label, decided to stop giving them.

I have been trying to learn more about urinary tract problems in cats and how to avoid them. In my research on this, it is frustrating at times the amount of conflicting information, especially when individual veterinarians disagree on a lot of things.
I would hate to go against my veterinarian's recommendations, but what is really important to me is doing what is best for my cat. I'm feeling a little lost and alone right now.

Answer 1

If your paying for a vet but not able to talk to the vet I would find a new vet first off. Also some name brand foods are not that bad but there are prescription formula's for cats that have urinary track issues. If shes had one stone the prescription it probably best you can find ingredients online for the prescription one and compare them to the store brands. I don't remember exactly which mineral it is but there is one that needs to be avoided when cats have UTI issues. Also you can look into changing litters also some vets believe that the dust promotes lower UTI issues. Sweet Scoop is a good brand.

Answer 2

My cats' vet is very busy and they don't all work every day (seems they have different days they work) so I don't always get a chance to speak directly to the vet--but their whole staff seem to be animals lovers and are all really knowledgable about the care of animals so I trust them. And if I ask the to "ask the vet about..." they do and will relay the answer to me. Our vets are seeing patients one right after another all day so they don't have a lot of time to be on the phone trying to play tag with me (I can't sit around waiting for a vet call either).



I would suspect that your vet is suggesting you try the off the shelf urinary health food first to see if they help because the food you buy at the vet is usually a whole lot more expensive--and often are made from very similar recipes as the store-bought stuff. My cats use the Hill's renal healthy food that I can ONLY get from the vet and it runs about $26 for 4 pounds. If the store-bough stuff doesn't work for your cat, you can switch to the more expensive vet food. Our vets know vet care if quite expensive and often entail reinfections and revisits so they try to figure out ways to make things a little less money-related whenever possible although they can't not charge for the medical care they give (I think it's office policy they cannot discount the medical stuff). They don't want people to stop bringing their pets in for care when it is needed but since vet bills aren't tax deductible or covered by regular insurance, many people (especially in this economy) are not giving their pets medical care anymore.

Answer 3

I have had ongoing UTI problems with one of my cats. This last time I was told to feed her the Hill's Prescription Diet s/d Feline cat food. I was a bit bummed out because I had been feeding my three cats what I thought was decent food, and now I have to buy this really expensive stuff to feed ALL of them because I can't isolate their food. I think I HAVE noticed, though, that they don't eat as much of it, so it must be really good for them. I've heard from the local pet store that the higher the quality of food, the less they need to eat. The thing that makes me rest easier is that they are all getting very high quality food now, and my two males shouldn't have any problems. Hopefully my female will never have another problem again, too.



P.S. I never buy Iams because I heard some time ago that they participate in animal testing (other than for their food.) I was feeding Purina One Beyond. The ingredients sounded good and my boys were doing fine. I think Pepper had problems way before I switched to Beyond. You could try it, it's a mid price range food.

Answer 4

Hi. My cat, Fudgy having the urinary problems. After going through flushing of the crystals twice, I stop giving him his regular wet cat food, Fusio. I boiled him fish instead and dry food will be Proplan (Purina) and another one which is also good for urinary tract problems. He seems doing well now..