Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two cats (both about 18 months old) and up until earlier this summer they were both on natures variety frozen raw food diet. Unfortunately one of my cats developed urinary blockage 3 times over the summer with the final result being surgery to shorten his urethra. During the first bought the vet prescribed a Hill's C/D diet for him, which the vet insists that he should be on for the rest of his life. I'm not comfortable with this, in fact I feel as if he has suffered some health problems already since starting the C/D (I.E. the quality of his coat has gone down and the amount he is shedding has increased, as well as his breath starting to smell really bad). My vet will not offer another diet, I'm assuming because that is what he is paid to do. After doing some research I have found some homeopathic supplements to add to regular food. I would like to resume the Natures Variety frozen with some sort of added supplement to control his Ph. It would be wonderful if I could make his food at home but with my current situation it is not possible (I have a really old fridge that has a very small freezer that will freezer burn anything kept in it for too long).I feel like I'm keep hitting a wall, and with as much information as there is out there I am just not comfortable changing his diet without a professional opinion. Also, any help or references for holistic vets within San Francisco would be more then amazing!

I am not familiar with this particular food, but if the only ingredients are meat, bone, and a small amount of vegetables, it should not be a problem. I don't think c/dis a good food at all, and no cat should get dry food. Even better would be to feed your cats raw, cut-up chicken parts with added fish oil. And freezer burn is not a problem as to nutrition, only appearance, which can be avoided by wrapping the food without excess air before freezing.

These are the ingrediants on the raw food I used to feed:

Chicken, Raw Ground Chicken Bone, Turkey, Turkey Liver, Turkey Heart, Apples, Carrots, Butternut Squash, Ground Flaxseed, Chicken Eggs, Broccoli, Lettuce, Spinach, Dried Kelp, Apple Cider Vinegar, Parsley, Honey, Salmon Oil, Olive Oil, Blueberries, Alfalfa Sprouts, Persimmons, Duck Eggs, Pheasant Eggs, Quail Eggs, Inulin, Rosemary, Sage, Clove

In terms of making my own food, what parts of the chicken do you recommend? I don't have a meat grinder would I only have to cut it up? How much fish oil? I was under the impression that fish was bad for cats with FLUTD. Is cod liver oil ok? and my last question is, I've been looking at the Solid Gold Berry Balance is that something you would recommend?

Chicken leg quarters are fine, cut at the joints. The cats can get the meat off the bones themselves, but you might want to cut some meat into small pieces to get them started. Cod liver oil is fine to provide sufficient omega 3 fatty acids. I am not familiar with the food you mentioned, but if it is a dry food I would recommend against it.