"Diane L. Schirf" wrote in
message link.net...
In article ,
"Phil P." wrote:

Fixed feeding reduces the risk of struvite crystal/urolith formation by
allowing more time to elapse between meals for the cat's natural urine
acidity to return and dissolve struvite that may have formed. Ad
libitum
(free feeding) keeps the urine alkaline most of the day which presents a
risk factor for struvite formation.

That's good info. Hodge is prone to crystals, and since his food has to
be regulated because he doesn't know when to quit he's prolly better
off. Now if I could just keep him from foraging . . .

You can reduce the risk of crystals further by feeding him all or mostly
canned food. Cats fed canned food have a higher water intake and turnover
and urine volume than cats fed dry food. They also urinate more frequently.

The higher urine volume dilutes the concentration of all solutes in the
urine making them easier to eliminate. More frequent urination results in
the elimination of the solutes before they aggregate or accrete into larger
and larger particles that eventually become calculi and interfere with
normal urination. The longer that calculi remain in the urinary tract, the
larger they can grow and the less likely they are to be eliminated.

Between meal-feeding and canned food, you'll reduce the risk of crystals
significantly.

Phil.