HI - I am a new member and owner of brother and sister bengal kitties. They recently turned 1 year and I switched them from Iams kitten to Iams Multi-Cat and my female snow bengal started peeing on my laundry and any clothing item left on the floor. I took her to the vet and she had a UTI and was given antibiotics and is feeling much better and has returned to her normal liter box habits.

The vet has recommended Science Diet, but from what I have read, for the price, this is probably not the best long term diet for both of my kitties.

They both have the typical bengal habit of only drinking from the faucet, so I am worried that they are not getting enough water. While I am home with them most days, there are occassions I am out most of the day.

I would love any suggestions on food that would keep her healthy, while still providing them a high protein diet for long term weight management. They are still very active, but I would love to pick one food and stay with it to avoid any kind of digestive problems.

Thanks!

They are probably not getting enough liquid to dilute the urine. Get them on to some good, quality wet food such as Natures Menu for breakfast and dinner. You can give them a small amount of dry kibble to graze on throughout the day.

A good tip to get the cats to drink is to feed them raw meat and white fish. Freeze into portions and save the liquid as the meat and fish defrost. Give the liquid to the cats to drink. They love it. Meaty, fishy flavoured water.

Anytime you defrost meat or fish drain the water for the cats.


Regards

My tabby cat has frequent UTI's despite being neutered. I decided it is the amount of corn in most diets - including science diet. He has been eating "Wellness" brand cat food - no corn, and with cranberries. He has done GREAT with this and has only had one UTI since we started. (He had been sneaking off to a neighbor's house and eating their food, we decided based on his small amount of food/massive weight gain shortly before.) Petco just started carrying this brand.

I second the notion of feeding wet rather than dry to treat/prevent UTIs. The more moisture there is in the food, the better for them. I also second the notion of feeding Wellness - it's a very good food. Whenever I need to get some extra fluids into Binky (he's had urinary tract problems before) I feed some of the pouches. He only eats a little bit of the pieces, but he usually licks up all the gravy. He also likes cat milk (Cat Sip - basically lactose-free milk) so that's another trick I use to get him to drink something. Also, adding some tuna juice to flavor their water or adding ice cubes to add some interest might help to entice them into drinking more. If they like running water, a drinking fountain might be just the right thing for them. Some cats don't like to have their water right next to their food. I have several water bowls, one at each feeding station and another two away from any food bowls. What I've observed is that Binky almost exclusively drinks from the ones away from the food when he gets thirsty.