Life of the Lintee Bean

I’ve had no fewer than THREE conversations with individuals in the past week regarding their cats and urinary tract disorders (in these cases, urinary tract inflammation and/or stones). In each case, the individual was feeding a dry food.

The most effective means of avoiding urinary tract disorders is to feed an all-wet diet. One coworker resisted all of my pushing until his cat landed up blocked and hospitalized, and one surgery and $2,500 later he switched to canned.

Quotes from articles, journals, and studies…

To date, of all treatments evaluated, the only one that has been associated with a statistically significant difference in recurrence of clinical signs in cats with FIC is feeding moist food (> 60% moisture). During a 1-year study of cats with FIC, clinical signs recurred less often in cats fed moist food (11%) compared with cats fed the dry formulation (39%) of the same food.

Source: Management of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease

So far, the only treatment for FIC that has shown a statistically significant improvement in clinical cases is feeding a moist food

Source: FLUTD

Dietary change is the only form of therapy that has consistently been shown to be of real benefit in cases of iFLUTD. Based on our current knowledge, this forms the most important part of long-term management. Several studies have now confirmed the results of an earlier investigation that showed cats fed a wet (tinned) diet had a much lower rate of recurrent signs of idiopathic cystitis than those fed a dry diet. The urine concentration produced in response to feeding the wet diet was much lower than that of the cats fed the dry diet, and it is thought that producing more dilute urine (and presumably thus also encouraging more frequent urination) are major mechanisms of the observed benefit. Feeding a wet (tinned/sachet) diet rather than a dry diet is thus always recommended for iFLUTD

Source: WSAVA 2006

An important influence on the development of urinary crystals and stones is the consumption of water; it is even more important than the magnesium level. As more water is consumed, the urine is less concentrated, and crystals are less likely to form. Also, since there is more urine, the cat will urinate more frequently, and the urine will be present in the bladder for a shorter period of time. This also decreases the chance of crystal and stone formation.

According to the FDA, the claim, “low ash,” is not allowed on cat food labels. The current scientific consensus is that ash per se is not related to the incidence of FLUTD. There are no valid reasons to reference ash on the product label (other than in the guaranteed analysis) except in regard to this outdated theory. Thus, “low ash” or similar claims, even without reference to FLUTD, are inherently false and misleading, which render the product misbranded and subject to regulatory action.

Source: PetEducation.com

For more information on FLUTD, visit:

Feline Outreach – FLUTD