Thursday, March 20, 2008

Is diarrhea one of the side effects of urinary tract health food for cats

Is diarrhea one of the side effects of urinary tract health food for cats?
Our cat had a urinary blockage a few months back and at our vet's suggestion we purchased Purina One's Urinary Tract Health Formula. This took care of his strained (sometimes non-existent) urination, but he has now developed fairly frequent diarrhea. He doesn't exhibit any other signs of distress/illness, so I'm fairly convinced that this isn't the sign of something more serious. I'm wondering how serious the diarrhea itself is and if there's anything simple we can do to treat it. I have considered switching the food, which I'll try after this batch runs out. Thanks in advance! This isn't the recalled food. It's dry food, and to the best of my knowledge, the recall is for wet food only. Plus, the Purina One brand wasn't affected. Thanks for the answer though.
Cats - 3 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
you don't have that recalled food do you? i hope not!!!!
2 :
I would check with your vet...If your going to try and change food, dont do it all at once...Add the new food with the one your baby is eating now...Then slowly decrease old food...
3 :
I don't know that it's a given that that food will cause it. However, I did feed that to both my cats for the first 2 years of their lives. I mixed it with Purina's Weight Management about 1/2 and 1/2. Poppy ALWAYS had loose stool. Not diarrhea, but always loosey goosey. Sophie has always been fine. When I switched them to Natural Balance canned, Sophie stayed the same but Poppy improved IMMENSELY. No more weekly butt washing for me! We were both happy about that. I recently had to give in and give her some dry food again (she went on strike). Since I wasn't about to completely lower my standards, I mixed it in with Evo. I had to buy Purina, and I chose the UTI one since that was partly what I fed before. She's been getting about 1/4 cup per day of the two mixed together, and almost immediately her stool softened again. So I guess my point is - it's not a hard and fast rule, but it quite likely disagrees with your cat, just as it did with mine. I'm now decreasing the amount of dry food they get, and I'll be cutting back on the Purina portion as well. What I recommend to you is to first take a stool sample to the vet for analysis to rule out anything else. If nothing is found, I really recommend doing some research and changing your cat's diet. It's well documented that cats who eat moist (canned or raw) diets are less likely to suffer from urinary tract issues. This is because they are taking in adequate water in their food. Cats have low thirst drives and most do not drink enough water. Just like humans, water intake is important to urinary health. So if your cat is getting enough moisture in his food, his urine will be less concentrated (and less smelly!) and UTI's will be less frequent.