The Importance of Quality Cat Food

A couple of weeks ago, I learned a hard lesson about what to not feed my cats. My favorite cat, Roan, became very lethargic. He wouldn't eat, couldn't use the bathroom and wanted to drink all the water he could, only to throw it back up. This lasted a day. On Monday I rushed him to the vet first thing only to find out he had stones blocking his bladder.

We are not talking about small ones, either. It was a clump of them the size of a small orange. It scared me to death. Roan is a cat that I raised from a small kitten. He's a rescue we took in and I'm very attached to him. So, the thought of losing him was devastating to me. He's just a little over a year old.

For a week, Roan stayed at the vet's office. He put him on an antibiotic and a strict diet of Hill's Prescription SD. He also had to put a catheter in so that he could relieve his bladder. Near the end of the week, Roan was still not eating, so he had to have an iv put in.

We went up to see Roan while he was still hooked up to everything. The doctor was amazed at how he perked up while we were there. He very desperately wanted to come home with us. But, since he wouldn't eat, the doctor wouldn't release him.

By Friday, he still wasn't eating. The doctor told me to come get him for the weekend to see how he would do. Roan was so happy to be coming home that he peed all over us! (Of course, the catheter was part of the reason he did that.) The minute we walked in the house with him, he wanted to eat. I immediately called the doctor back and told him how he was acting. He was very pleased.

It is strange how animals react. Some don't care who they are with as long as they have food. But for Roan, part of his healing came the moment he came home. He needed his family. He was very attached to me for the next few days. I couldn't sit down without him being right on top of me. I've never heard him purr so much.

I have learned my lesson. After talking to the vet, I found out that the food I was feeding my cats was actually making them sick. I have a total of seven cats, so I can't afford to have them all get sick. I changed their diet immediately.

I was feeding them Meow Mix (dry) because I could get a large bag for a cheap price. What I didn't know was that the cheaper food has too much magnesium. This causes a build up in the bladder and often blocks the urethra.

The most common stone found in cats is the struvite crystals and stones. They are made up of magnesium, phosphate and ammonium. They most commonly develop in alkaline urine. This type of stone can be mainly controlled by diet. Watch what you are feeding your cat to avoid these stones.

These can be surgically removed, but that comes with a very high price. With Roan, our vet used the combination of diet and urohydropropulsion. Urhydropropulsion is simply the catheter being put in, the bladder being flushed with saline water and often the vet will hold the cat in an upright position and physically push on the bladder to force the stones out.

Roan also was on medication to help with infection during that time. At the same time, he switched his food to the Hill's Prescription SD. It is specifically for urinary tract health in cats and you can only get it through your vet.

Once we finished that food, we bought Science Diet that focuses on the urinary tract health and kidney health. We use both dry and canned food for all of our cats now. By providing them with the canned food, they get extra moisture that they may not get just from water.

Our cats have been on the SD diet for a couple of weeks now and I can already see improvement in all of them. Their coats are thick and shiny and they are not shedding the ton of hair that they once were. Used to, I could run my hand over their backs and get a fist full of hair. Now, I can run my hand over their backs and get nothing. They are all acting more playful and much more active.

Roan has slowly returned to the cat he was once before, if not better. He is up, active and is very loving. None of the cats seem to be in any type of pain now. If the others were, we were not yet aware of it. I can only imagine that since once was sick with stones, it was only a matter of time before they all were.

Before you buy cat food, consider how it will affect your cat. I never imagined that cheap cat food could cause such a serious problem. The Science Diet is definitely worth paying for in order to keep our cats healthy and happy.