AboutGail Vigneault Expertise Canine and feline nutrition - brands of dog and cat food for specific problems, home prepared diet evaluations and recommendations, raw food diet plans, health-specific diet plans, herbal recommendations.
Experience Owner of Pawsitive Pet Nutrition, a holistic pet supply store, owner and nutrition planner of Newfound Naturals, Inc. dehydrated pet foods and treats.
Education/Credentials Pursuing a degree in canine and feline nutrition, work with vets to develop diet plans for specific conditions.
Question QUESTION: Had to start a new question,,,It wouldn't let me do anymore follow ups(lol). Any idea about what kind of standards I should be looking in a food for his certain situation? I have found a list Cat Food Standards by the AAFCO but it's just in regards to normal catfood. I just feel so lost about all of this. How many carbs, grains no grains, certain fats.....sheesh. It's no wonder noone can figure out what's best. Thought I would send a pic with this one so you could put a face to all the questions...lol IMAGE: Kit the Kat
ANSWER: LOL. That's OK.
You should make sure that the label on the cat food reads that the food has been formulated in accordance to AAFCO standards for either adult maintenance or for all life stages. This will ensure that the proper ratios of all nutrients, fat, protein, etc. are present in the food. If the label states it is for intermittent feeding only, then it is not complete and balanced.
You will very rarely see a listing for the amount of carbohydrates in a cat (or dog) food as there is no nutritional need for carbohydrates so it isn't required be listed. Because of this, it's not easy for most people to figure out just how much carbohydrates are in the foods. We can go over how you can figure it if you'd like.
For canned foods I would look at, yes, Wellness, Evo, Nature's Variety Instinct line, Organics, Weruva (not all are grain free) and Fromm for starters. This should give you enough variety to find something that Kit likes.
Quite often, the foods that don't have grains and are low carb will have a higher fat content to make up for the calories that the carb sources would have provided so don't worry tremendously if the foods have a higher fat content. A cat's natural energy sources are fat and protein.
Thanks for the picture. Kit is very beautiful!
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QUESTION: My confusion in all of this is that my vet told me that protein was causing the issues with the urinary problems. I had asked her if we could give him some boiled chicken once when he wasn't feeling well and that's where the protein issue came in. So protein is good....carbs are not so good....grains are not so good as well....and canned food is better? Anything else that could help with the UTI stuff especially since he is more vulnerable now cause of the surgery?
Answer Protein is really only problematic when it is fed in dry form with lots of carbohydrates. Meat protein, in it's natural form, does help to maintain proper PH and provides cats with the nutrition they are designed for. It has been previously though that the mineral content in the meat meals was too high, ie. high ash content. This is not problematic if not fed with the high carb contents of kibble.
Being on the canned food should alleviate the problems, even after surgery. If you find he does continue to have some problems, monitor the PH of his urine and we can change his diet to naturally alter his PH levels to make the urinary tract inhospitable for bacterial growth.
Adding probiotics can also help maintain proper urinary PH. Cranberry helps by not allowing bacteria to adhere to the walls of the urinary tract. It is up to you if you want to include these things in his diet now or not.
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