Affordable wet food for my cat with UTI after prescription?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. You can try and switch to Royal Canin Urinary SO and see if this helps at all. There is dry and wet of this diet. It is a prescription diet so you will have to get a prescription from your veterinarian. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Regular food is much less effective in preventing recurrent urinary tract issues in cats which are very prone to repeat episodes - it is impossible to say how sensitive he is and without trying you will not know but there is a chance he could relapse on ordinary canned food. Urinary diets tend to be adjusted to maintain urine pH to prevent crystals and are restricted in minerals and use only high quality protein sources to minimise the risk of urinary tract issues as well as providing an important source of fluids compared to dry food. The very best option in affected cats is urinary canned food but in many cases a high quality, commercial canned food is sufficient - if he relapses on this you will have to source the urinary prescription food as a treatment and prevention

Without a full diagnosis of the actual health conditions it is almost impossible to advise on a suitable diet - kidney failure, urinary stones/crystals, urinary tract inflammation, incontinence and bladder tumours can all cause urinary tract symptoms in older cats and each require slightly different management - I recommend you contact your vet to discuss exactly what types of food are most likely to help Patches. When it comes to kidney and urinary issues however, high quality, specialist prescription diets are preferred as they are tailored to prevent progression and reduce severity of clinical signs and are worth the investment, even if you can only stick with them for 8-12weeks to allow stabilisation

In cats with urinary irritation, wet food is preferable to help reduce urine concentration and flush out the bladder. I strongly recommend a urine exam in order to determine exactly what is going on and to guide the most appropriate treatment (infection/inflammation etc). A sample can be collected using special urine collection litter which does not absorb urine. Petco provide a home kit for detecting UTI which can help to monitor such conditions

Well done in researching this so well! Any dryfood would be recommended to be urinary focused as wet food in itself contributes to urine dilution and is more forgiving in this regard. I would recommend royal canin urinary moderate calorie (which comes in wet and dry) and can be very effective in weight reduction whilst promoting urinary health

I would recommend using the food that Lil Man's vet recommend, at least at first. Once the issue is under control, you could consider experimenting with other diets. It could be fine, but better to start with the diet that your vet is comfortable with and feels will be helpful based on their experience.

Great question! I'd recommend feeding Bailey Royal Canin Urinary diet s/o. It promotes bladder and urethra tract health to help prevent UTIs from continuing, and it comes in both a wet food and a dry food. That way, Bailey will still be able to eat a dry food to fill him up, but also it will be good for his urinary health :-)