adventures in cat food

I know cat food doesn't sound all that interesting, but with all the big pet food companies selling contaminated food, it makes me glad that I know more than the average pet owner about what I'm putting into my cats' bellies (and it sure isn't what they're selling).

I'm currently on a quest to find a balance for my male tabby Angus. He's had FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease) and I'm trying hard to keep him off of the vet prescribed urinary maintenance kibble(so far so good). So I guess I'm going to chronicle my hits and misses here and maybe be of help to someone who feels the same way as me about commercial pet foods (yes, vet foods are produced by commercial pet food companies!)

So here's the lowdown on my felines (Angus and his sister Finn). We adopted them on August 12 2005, 2 weeks after we got married (our gift to ourselves :D). They were intially on eukanuba (blech), then I joined an online pet community and started learning more about nutrition. Here's where it gets exciting! I switched them to a better quality food! Then I did some more research and switched them to an even better food. Then Angus had his bout with FLUTD. He was on the prescription food for about 2 months (he loved it, but his skin and fur were getting really greasy and flaky and he was gaining weight). So I did even more research and found a food that had similar mineral contents as the prescription urinary maintenance kibble and switched them both to that. So far so good with Angus' whizzer.

Then there was all this buzz around grain-free foods due to the contaminated wheat gluten in all the commercial foods. One in particular was discussed alot with the "pet forum people", so I looked into it and liked what I saw, and started the switching process one last time. That's where they're at now nutritionally. But...I don't think I'm completely satisfied. Angus' last vet visit showed a slightly abnormal urinalysis and I had a lengthy discussion with the vet about nutrition and what I'd like to do about Angus' whizzer issues (feeding him the prescription food is not an option this time). Needless to say, more research is currently underway. Perhaps a more drastic and appropriate change in their diet is what's needed, that's exciting.