Urinary Problems -- Switching to Raw

[Matthias]

I'm new here, and I'm in the middle of a few life changes, but I want to begin feeding raw. We will be moving shortly (1-2 weeks) into our own space and I want to make transitioning to a new home and a new diet easy for my boy.


Facts and Backstory:
My cat is about a year and a half, and had some urinary troubles about 3 months ago. He's back to his healthy self now, but my vet insists the only appropriate food for him to eat, given his urinary upset, is Science Diet C/D prescription. His illness was brought on, I'm sure, by lack of water (definitely my fault) and constant access to meow mix, which I could not prevent. He has spent a fair amount of time at the vet's, so they have had control of his feeding for a while.

I have about 3lbs or so of the SD C/D kibble that I've already paid for and 1.5 cans of the wet. I have 3 pouches of Natural Balance wet (from before his illness) that is in chunk/gravy form (which he prefers over pate). The vet insisted that feeding him anything but the C/D would incur a relapse of the urinary problems. I will be purchasing a fountain once we have moved, to encourage him to drink more water.


My Questions:
What is the best way to transition him to raw, given the food I currently have and his previous illness:
Should I transition straight from the prescription to raw once we've moved, and get rid of/donate the Natural Balance pouches?
Should I wet down the remaining kibble so he gets more water and avoid purchasing more wet C/D and wait to switch him until after he's settled in the new place?
Should I begin the food transition now and never mind what dry food I already have for him?
Is there another option/combination I haven't thought of?

Thank you in advance for your input!

[brezofleur]

If you want him to go on raw (best choice! ), then immediately stop feeding it to him. Just throw it out and get him on wet. Dry takes longer to digest so he'll need it out of his system before he goes on raw. Since he already likes wet, then you should be good.

I would slowly introduce raw to him. Some take a while to get used to the tastes and others still, like my Ody, immediately take to it. Ody was just a year when he started on raw so maybe it'll be the same for your boy. I gave him some chicken and then some beef. Gobbled it all up and that was that.

Since your boy is still young, his teeth might be strong enough to give him chicken necks. Just make sure you watch up though.

[Matthias]

Do you think I should wait to switch to raw until after we've moved? It'll be about 2 weeks until we're settled in our new place.

[brezofleur]

I think that would be a judgement call on your end. Does he stress easily?

I'm no vet and don't really have experience with relocation stress (my boy was 100% fine after an hour of looking around our new place, but we moved from a 1 bedroom apartment to another 1 bedroom so its fairly small space, lol).

I really don't see the harm in it if you think it's the way to go. If it was me, I would go ahead and do it, but maybe someone with more experience might be able to anser for you.

But who knows? Maybe he'll take to it quickly and then there's nothing to worry about come 2 weeks for the move!

[beckyhiker]

Most people suggest transitioning a cat to canned before transitioning it to raw. Also, a cat with urinary problems needs to have a high water intake. Because cats naturally have low thirst drives, the best way to get water in them is in their food; that means kibble is a really poor option for these cats. IMO, get rid of the dry SD, switch to all canned, then work on the raw. Do not add water to the kibble. Supposedly it only takes about 20 minutes for bacteria to start growing on damp kibble.

[beckyhiker]

Please read catinfo.org, specifically look at black box on the right side, scroll down to the Feline Health section and first thing under that is Urinary Tract diseases. You'll find a lot of helpful information on this site.

[Matthias]

Thank you for responding! It's nice to get some intelligent input and support, as I have little at home (and is part of why I'm moving). Ignorance can be frustrating.

I actually found catinfo.org previously and the information has been invaluable. He's on a 90% canned diet already and I only mix in the kibble because he seems to consume more wet if I serve his food mixed. I will obtain more canned, remove the kibble, and introduce him to raw chicken this week and see how he does. If he takes to it readily, I'll continue to broaden his diet and explore raw with him before we move.

I also appreciate the info regarding water and kibble, that's a really important piece of information!

Thanks again!

[chris10]

You may know this already but here is the comparison with the two feeding options concerning urinary problems. Your current rx food is formulated to help prevent crystals by limiting certain things and adding others to help prevent the formation of crystals. Raw food is providing a high moisture diet. Which normally provides a more diluted urine and allows the bladder to empty more frequently.

[Matthias]

Well, I tried giving him some raw chicken breast and he loved it. I'll be picking up some more things to try him on today.

Are there any supplements I can give him to help prevent crystal formation or are they unnecessary while on raw because the higher fluid intake flushes his system?

[beckyhiker]

Originally Posted by Matthias

Well, I tried giving him some raw chicken breast and he loved it. I'll be picking up some more things to try him on today.

Are there any supplements I can give him to help prevent crystal formation or are they unnecessary while on raw because the higher fluid intake flushes his system?

Although I have not had to deal with this problem personally, I would say don't fool around with supplements in an attempt to alter your cat's urine pH.

I don't know which kind of crystals your cat had, but struvite crystals form when the urine pH is above 7 and dietary magnesium is too high and calcium oxalate crystals form when the urine pH is below 6.7 I believe. Apparently at one point when feline nutritionists realized that cat food was supplying too much magnesium much of it was reformulated which cut back on the struvite crystals, but increased the amount of oxalate crystal cases being seen. If the nutritionists had a hard time with this problem, you should be really careful about adding supplements to control things yourself. I believe that many people have found that feeding an all canned or an all raw diet alone prevents the re-occurance of crystals in their cats.