We have two cats. Both are neutered males. The Fuzz is the oldest (about 6) and is a big (12 pounds) black-and-white long-hair. He has always been completely healthy and we feed him nothing but commercially-available dry cat food which we get at the grocery store. It's cheap and convenient. Borris (about 5) has been entirely healthy, except when we feed him the same as with The Fuzz he develops little uric acid crystals. Evidently, they're painful and he crouches around. Worse yet, he leaves small puddles of cat pee in various places around the house, and all you cat lovers know what that can smell like. Well one time he became incapacitated and we had to have him hospitalized for a couple days. The cost was about $700. The Vet prescribed Hill's Prescription Diet C/D Multicare for Feline Bladder Health and this has solved the problem completely.
The prescription diet is much more expensive than regular cat food, about 4 to 5 times as expensive, but you don't really use much of it. On a per-day basis, the difference is minor. I have to feed the cats separately and that's a pain. The Fuzz will gobble his food down and then raid Boris' dish, so I have to be there until Boris is finished and he's a slow eater. Also, don't attempt to "get by" on regular cat food. I ran out of the Prescription Diet once and fed Borris regular cat food for a couple days. His symptoms came back. Fortunately, I caught wind of it early enough and got him back on his Hill's Diet. The symptoms went away almost immediately. The Vet explained that Boris isn't getting enough water so the crystals form. Simple enough, but it's hard to force a cat to drink more. Well, the prescription diet causes him to be more thirsty and drink more water. Hence no crystals. It seems to work fine. Make sure the cat(s) have ample water at all times, I might add.
Gary Peterson
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