Best food for overweight cat with urinary issues on mixed diet?

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.

The best way to maintain his weight at 12 lbs is to measure his food and count the calories. A typical 12 lb cat should eat about 230 calories total in a day. Look at the calorie content of the food your vet prescribed and feed based on the calories per cup or per can. It is probably fine to switch to urinary care with weight management but you should check with your vet first since it is prescription diet. I would also recommend asking your vet about feeding some canned urinary food as most cats with crystals should be fed canned food, too.

In mild cases, any wet food may be sufficient to keep the urine suitably dilute to prevent recurrence but i would recommend 6weeks of the specialist urinary wet food to stabilise and maximise recovery. If symptoms recur then i would recommend urinary food only thereafter

I would strongly advise against this. I would keep him on some form of food labelled for urinary crystal prevention. Urinary blockages can be a fatal emergency. Royal Canin, Hills, and Purina ProPlan are the three foods that use the most science in their nutrition. I have never heard of young again. Any of their foods that are labelled "S/O" are meant to prevent the formation of urinary crystals. Many urinary diets do have an increased caloric amount, and I sympathize that can be a struggle, but it is related to what keeps their urinary tracts healthy. You can try feeding canned food that is watered down to lower some calories. The extra water and hydration is great for the urinary tract as well. Feeding the food out of toys and feeders, instead of bowls in meals, to encourage their working for food and hunting behaviors can also help with their food intake.

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.

These (below) are valid short term options. The most important element is the presence of water, you must privilege it above anything else. Purina One Urinary Health Hill’s c/d – Multicare – Prescription Diet - Feline Purina Pro Plan Adult This blog (scroll down up to the last articles) can give quite useful tips! https://catinfo.org/feline-urinary-tract-diseases/

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 :-)