Prevention of Feline Urological Syndrome

Preventing Feline Urological Syndrome is preferable to treating the condition once it occurs. If you have a male cat, you will want to set the stage for a healthy urinary tract ASAP. Come to think of it, these tips will help females, too--although females don't get "plugged" nearly as often as males, they are just as prone to cystitis, which is usually the precursor of FUS.

Diet is the most important factor in urinary health. If you feed your cat a commercially prepared diet, switch to homemade. If this isn't possible, feed a premium canned product and supplement with food you cook yourself. Do not feed dry food at all, and don't leave uneaten food around between feedings. Supplement daily with one-tenth of a natural adult multi vitamin (no iron) mixed with approximately one-eighth teaspoon of calcium carbonate or ground eggshell powder (phosphorus is better balanced than with other calcium sources).

Egg yolk and gizzards are high in l-methionine, an amino acid that acidifies urine. Do not supplement l-methionine as a prophylactic measure, though, as it has been associated with tumor generation. Don't feed your cats fish, except salmon and sardines as an occasional treat. Fish is not a natural food for cats anyway, and consumption of fish products is a factor in urine crystal production.

Do not let your cat become overweight. If you follow the above diet recommendations, this will most likely not occur. Commercial diets, particularly dry cat food, are loaded with carbohydrates, which cause weight gain with little commensurate nutritional value. Overweight cats tend to be lazy, while cats of normal weight are much more apt to be active.

Make sure kitty drinks enough water. Like their desert ancestors, cats aren't big water drinkers, so you must be creative. In addition to having clean water available at all times, add a bit of warm water or chicken broth to his meals. Dilute urine is much less likely to harbor crystals than concentrated urine. Some people have had success with pet water fountains, which recirculates the water and encourages drinking.

Since feeding a homemade diet, I have been able to cut the Bear's l-methionine supplement from two tablets a day to two-thirds of a tab per day. If you follow these tips, chances are excellent that you will never have to deal with this serious health condition. Good for kitty, and good for you!
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Cooking for Your Cat

What do you do if you're dissatisfied with commercial canned cat food but not wild about trying a raw food diet? Well, you cook for your cat, of course!

I know this sounds like a lot of work and maybe just a little bit crazy, but bear with me. I have been doing this for nearly three years now and, even though it is tons of work, I feel that it is well worth it. Of course, I work from home and don't have kids around, so I have a bit more time than many of you. I also have a background in veterinary science and animal care, so I had some of the research material I needed right on my bookshelf. I can tell you, though, that anyone determined enough can do this. As for the time involved, well, I've learned that time is an elastic thing: When you need to get something done, you manage to do just that. People who work outside of the home full-time often seem to get more done in a day than people like myself, simply because they have to be more organized. As a wise woman I worked with for many years used to say, "If you want something done, ask a busy person."

What do I mean when I say that cooking food for cats is "well worth it"? As I have mentioned before, the three cats that live here are litter mates and are 12.5 years old. If you saw them, you wouldn't believe it! At this moment, they are downstairs raising a ruckus because they think I am overdue feeding them (they're not used to the time change yet!). They keep running up here to yell at me, then fly down the stairs when I act as if I'm getting up. Every night between 8 and 9 p.m., they all wake up from their naps and go berserk, just like youngsters. They still jump and land easily and run and play like kittens. They have no skin problems and their fur is soft as silk. To what do I attribute all this? Diet, of course!

Was it hard to change them over to the homemade food? No, not at all. They were all indoor cats all their lives and I always fed them a premium diet, so their health was excellent to start with. I would add a little more into the bowl at each meal. Do they like it? Absolutely. They are fed at proscribed times, but they start nagging about an hour early, since they love it so much. There's an added benefit: They get lots of exercise while they're bugging me for meals!

Over the next few posts, I'll talk about what you need to know to get started cooking for your cat.
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