Homemade Cat Food for Cats With Struvite Crystals

What Can I Feed My Cat with Struvite Crystals?

“My cat’s name is Tito and he is 4 years old. He is a struvite crystals cat, and he has two chronic cases. His kidneys are fine, though. I am looking for a cheaper alternative to the prescribed food my vet wants me to feed him for the rest of his life. He is a big cat, and on this food, he is always hungry. Tito has been throwing up juicy hairballs for weeks now on this food, which he never did before. Is the raw food recipe the same for cats that easily produce struvite crystals? What would you recommend? Thank you — Kelli”

Best Food for Struvite Crystals in Cats

When a cat has struvite crystals, the most important thing you can do is encourage water consumption so that the urine is more dilute. This is not always easy. Some of the other things you can do include:

• Feed moist food only: I am glad to hear your cat’s kidneys are still okay, but if you keep him on dry food, he is likely to become mildly dehydrated, and this can be a problem later on. The best thing you can do to dilute his urine (to reduce crystal formation) is to encourage water consumption, and the best way to do that is to give food that already has sufficient moisture, such as that suggested below.
• Lightly salt the food: Cats will usually eat just fine if their diet is lightly salted, and this will increase their thirst. If your cat does not like the food this way, just offer it without salting, and provide a water fountain.
• Use a water fountain: Cats love fresh running water, so a ceramic or stainless steel water fountain almost always encourages them to drink a little more.
• Provide multiples sources of fresh water: It is a good idea to have water available in several rooms if you have a large house and change them at least once daily. Make sure at least one of the bowls he enjoys does not cause whisker fatigue. Another good tip is to keep one water bowl in the kitchen. Every time you walk by, drop an ice cube in, as some cats will enjoy the cool water.
• Flavor his water: You can use the water from a can of tuna, as cats usually love this taste. Be sure to provide fresh, unflavored water as an alternative, however, as not all cats will like this.

The other thing you need to do is acidify the urine so that the crystals no longer form. Some of the feed companies have developed a diet to reduce the production of crystals. All veterinarians know that cats need to drink more, but since dry food is requested so often, many vets will sell the dry food that acidifies the urine without emphasizing that the cat needs to be on wet food.

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Homemade Diet for Cats

This homemade diet I developed for cats with arthritis is also fine for your cat if you make sure he is drinking enough water. To make up the food, you should use:

• 1.5 pounds (24 ounces) bone-in skinless chicken thighs
• 0.5 pounds (8 ounces) organ (heart and liver)
• 2 eggs (about 4 ounces)
• 1 can (about 4 ounces) sardines, tuna, or fresh fish. (Salmon and maceral are both fine).
• 7 tsp (a little over an ounce) of fish oil
• 1 tsp non-iodized salt
• 1 half tsp of vitamin C: This will further acidify the urine and make struvite crystals less likely to form. You can use this vitamin c source. Add one half teaspoon to his food each day.
• 1 tsp liquid vitamin B complex
• 1,000 mg taurine (if little or no heart meat is included)
• 3 tsp psyllium powder OR 3 tbsp pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix, which includes spices)
• Water (enough so the meat and supplements can run through the grinder and be mixed up normally.)

All you have to do is run all of this through a grinder, mix it well, and grind it again if there are still any chunks of bone. You did not mention how much he weighs, but a 10-pound cat will need about 0.6 cups of food a day. If he weighs more, you can give a little more and see how he is doing over several months.

You can feed the diet I described above either cooked or raw. The big advantage for Tito is that since it is a mostly meat diet, he is going to feel very full for a long period of time. If you look at the ingredient list on the food you were giving, as well as the prescription diet you have been feeding lately, you will notice many cheap carbohydrate fillers. Food companies add those to keep the costs down, but cats do not need those bulk foods in their diet, and they just end up getting hungry sooner.

Cost of Homemade Cat Food

Unfortunately, it is not necessarily going to be much cheaper than the prescription diet unless he ends up eating less since it is more filling. (You may also be able to purchase the protein source on sale, which will make the diet much less expensive.)

The ingredients in this food are of a higher quality than the companies use, but since you are no longer paying for advertising, shipping, and cat food packaging, the costs are going to be about the same. Keep track of the costs of this food and compare it to how much you are spending on the prescription diet to compare the expense. The homemade diet is going to be cheaper in the long run since it does not contain processed fillers, but it is not always cheap to prepare.

Take a Urine Sample

After Tito has access to adequate water sources and has been on this food for about a month, you should take a sample of urine to your local vet and have it analyzed to check the pH and see if there are any struvite crystals present. This short video explains how to collect a urine sample at home.

Since this is a chronic problem, it would be a good idea to have the urine rechecked a few times a year. This will work in most cats, but each pet is an individual, and you will need to have the urine rechecked so that it does not become too acidic. What I would like to see is a study that compares how struvite-forming cats do when given several available water sources and are only fed moist food compared to a group of cats only fed the dry struvite diet.

Unfortunately, all of the studies on struvite-dissolving diets are funded by cat food manufacturers like Hills and Blue Buffalo, so I doubt we will see this anytime soon. (Studies available look fine until you notice that the fine print at the bottom includes “Funding: This study was supported by a grant provided by the Blue Buffalo Company. (2) The results may or may not be correct but are always suspect since they do not look into alternative foods.”) A new study would provide a definitive answer on this alternative.

According to a study from the University of Minnesota, this is a condition of mostly younger cats and if you keep checking the urine and it is fine you may want to switch to another food as he gets older, but if you are using the arthritis diet I described above you can use it for the rest of his life. This graph from the University of Minnesota shows the prevalence of struvite crystals in cats according to their age. As you will see, crystals typically form in younger cats, so the preventative diet may be less necessary as Tito ages.

Questions?

If you have any questions about making the food in this article, or any other health questions about your cat, you can contact me at my Ask a Vet column.

Sources

Domínguez-Oliva A, Mota-Rojas D, Semendric I, Whittaker AL. The Impact of Vegan Diets on Indicators of Health in Dogs and Cats: A Systematic Review. Vet Sci. 2023 Jan 12;10(1):52. doi: 10.3390/vetsci10010052. PMID: 36669053; PMCID: PMC9860667. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9860667/

Tefft KM, Byron JK, Hostnik ET, Daristotle L, Carmella V, Frantz NZ. Effect of a struvite dissolution diet in cats with naturally occurring struvite urolithiasis. J Feline Med Surg. 2021 Apr;23(4):269-277. doi: 10.1177/1098612X20942382. Epub 2020 Jul 24. PMID: 32705911; PMCID: PMC8008402. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8008402/

This article is not meant to substitute for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, prescription, or formal and individualized advice from your veterinarian. Animals exhibiting signs and symptoms of distress should be seen by a veterinarian immediately.

© 2024 Mark dos Anjos, DVM