Urinary Tract And Bladder Infections In Cats-Could Diet Be The Cause?

Cats like their human and canine counterparts can be quite the characters. But they like humans and dogs are prone to many different health conditions; particularly so as they grow older. Urinary tract infections which are usually the result of crystals forming within the bladder of a cat, is one problem that older cats can develop. Urinary crystals not only cause much pain and discomfort for your pet while they are trying to pass urine through the ureter; but can at times lead to an unexpected trip to your vets. Possibly your feline friend has had this problem in the past, or maybe you have noticed recently; that your pet seems to be straining when trying to urinate in their litter box.

Cats are finicky eaters to begin with; so you may think that what they have been eating over the past years is doing them no harm in any way. On the other hand they may be appear to be more verbal than usual. When a cat is overly verbal, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are hungry or want to go outside to stalk the birds at your feeder. Besides having one cock-a-poo and a Bijon mix which I spoke about in a previous article. I also own a few cats as well. One of these felines happens to be part siamese and is very verbal. His name is Toby and believe me toby is quite the actor, as you may have noticed by viewing the photos of hime displayed within this article.

Toby like a lot of other cats usually meows when he wants to be fed, or wants attention from the rest of the family. Toby can be very adorable and also has a mischievous side to him. But if he isn't feeling his old self; this will be quite obvious, because he can often be found lying flat on his stomach, with all fours stretched out on either side of him. He will remain there, on top of the couch; or on another fairly hard surface. This behaviour in cats like toby is suggestive that their stomachs and/or bladders bother them from time to time, but not always.

In toby's particular case, lying on a fairly hard surface, like the top of a couch; is one way felines like himeself benefit by alleviating internal pressure; that arises as a result of discomfort within the bladder area. We thought this to be normal behavior for our cat at first, but after the constant and continual loud verbal meows, we came to the conclusion that toby was definitely not performing at his fullest and may be experiencing something more serious.

After awhile we also noticed that he was urinating in very small amounts. For many minutes he would strain and finally urinate. The urine was of a small quantity and had an occasional red tinge to it. This was the result of tiny crystallized stones that had rubbed along toby's bladder wall when he tried to urinate. Small amounts of blood causing the reddish tinge was the result of the continual irritation . We found this out when we had taken toby in for a check-up at the vets. Even though stones like this could be treated and dissolved without surgery. It was eventually suggested by our vet, that we change the diet toby had been eating over the past several years.

The same foods that can cause a dog to develp skin allergies, can in turn cause urinary tract and bladder infections within the feline population. So the same canned chicken dog food that is causing your dog to break out in skin rashes or welts for example, could also be causing crystals or small stones to develp within the urinary tract. A change in diet as suggested by our vet, would be just what the doctor ordered for your own pet feline. In the case with our toby, the vet told us to give him a prescription cat food called C/D. C/D comes in a few different favors, but our toby having the undistinguishable trait of your typical finicky cat, peferred his old favorite...chicken. So chicken C/D it was and so far this prescription diet cat food is achieving its intended goa; which is maintaing a healthy bladder in our cat. Prescription C/D is available in dry and wet cat foods. It can only be purchased at your local vets office.

Don't get too hung up on just the C/D though thinking that this is the only choice for the cat with urinary tract issues. Because if you go to a local grocery store like walbaums, if you have one in your area. Than you will find that Purina has a good quality special care cat food that will pretty much do the same job. It is called Purina One urinary tract health formula for cats and a large bag will cost you roughtly about $11.00. I use this dry mix formula for both toby and two outdoor felines that we have adopted. When you have a cat lover in the house it is easy not to argue with them over keeping too many cats. Especially if you don't want to end up sleeping outside with the cats.

The urinary tract formula is a good substitute for the vets prescription C/D formula and may even save you a few dollars too. We have also found that Wellness chicken flavor cat food, is also a good substitute for a cat like toby, who is afflicted with urinary tract problems. Wellness cat food does come in turkey and a few other flavors. But if your cat is as finicky as our toby and has urinary issues, than you will want to give them chicken.

Wellness cat food like prescription c/d formula does also come as a dry cat food. However it all depends on what your individual feline pet prefers. In our circumstance, we found that toby prefers the wellness chicken wet canned food. So you may have to use the process of elimination to eventually find what variety of dry of wet cat food your particular feline purrfurs. Wellness cat food can be purchased at a popular pet store like petco for example. It is also available for about $2.50 per can at an agway store as well. These prices are comparable in price to the prescription based foods that you purchase from your vets. And a times I have found the canned cat food in particular, to be a bit less expensive.

The important thing that matters the most here is keeping your pet cat healthy and satisfied. Always give them that little extra bit of attention, especially if they appear a little more lethargic or verbal than usual. As previously mentioned this could be more of sign that something more serious is going on internally with them. Just like dogs and humans require tender loving care, so does your feline companion. If you want them to continue entertaining you for years and years to come, than give them the purrr-fection that they deserve.