Googling bladder stones and glancing anxiously at my sad cat.

[snarp]

Someone talk me out of feeding the poor guy green tea.

Comments

[telophase]

What food are you feeding them?

[snarp]

He's presently on the Hill's Prescription Diet dissolution formula; before he was on 9 Lives wet food in the morning and Purina Indoor Cat dry food in the evening.

I'm definitely switching them both to something else when he's off the prescription stuff, but I'm going to do some research and talk to the vet before I decide what. I'm having trouble finding animal nutrition resources that aren't full of obvious lunacy:

"RAW FOOD IS THE ONLY WAY, IT'S HOW THEY EVOLVED, FEEDING YOUR PETS DRY FOOD IS ABUSE SO I'M CALLING THE COPS ON YOU AND I HOPE THEY SHOOT YOU WITH GUNS"

"I FEED MY PETS STALE STORE-BRAND DRY FOOD I FOUND ON A PALLET OUTSIDE AN ABANDONED IGA IN 2002 AND THEY'RE IN PERFECT HEALTH AND CAN BRING DOWN A DEER"

[telophase]

I will definitely steer you away from Blue Buffalo--Sora developed crystals in his urine on that, and the vet said she was seeing an uptick in people feeding that whose cats had problems. We're currently feeding them the expensive C/D urinary stuff from the vet because they just don't have problems with it, even though our vet keeps going "Don't you want something less expensive? You don't have to get this." Less expensive for the food, more expensive for the vet bills!

[snarp]

Yeah, I saw several people saying that about Blue Buffalo - it's not available here, I don't think, but regardless I'm not touching it.

[law_nerd]

He if likes it, it might not be a bad idea ... as far as I can tell the more that cats drink, the less likely they are to to have blockages. At any rate, anytime I've known someone with a cat with stone problems, their vet has been insistent on getting the kitty to drink more.

And, fwiw, there's at least one local cat specialist who suggests cranberries as being good for some cats with stone probs ... you need to know whether the stones are alkaline or acid produced, if the former then cranberry extract helps, if the latter, then not.

[vass]

DON'T DO IT.

Tea leaves contain theobromine. Theobromine is even more toxic to cats than it is to dogs - it's just not usually a problem because cats aren't as interested in scarfing down their people's chocolate.

[snarp]

Don't worry, I wouldn't actually give something weird to him without checking with the vet first! The sort of stones that green tea ostensibly helps prevent are not the sort that he has, anyway.

[vass]

*g* Good to hear. Sorry for being Drive By Alarmist Cat Advice Person.