HI MOM I am asking for CAT ADVICE on the INTERNET

[spatch]

So that this post doesn't turn into boring old cat yammering, I shall spice this up by calling Abbie the Cat by various names, some of which he has received over the years, and some of which I am stealing.

So anyway the problem here is that the grocery store has stopped selling the low-magnesium cat food I need to buy for Mr. A since magnesium horks up his ability to pee freely. As we like a freely-peeing cat who confines his activities to the litterbox as opposed to a blocked cat who will decide to strike while the iron is hot, as it were, and go wherever he is when the bladder allows, it is imperative that Timmy Jingles⁰ here stay free-flowing and happy. Besides, too much blockage and it'll kill him.

Tonight I realized the store was never carrying the stuff we liked ever again (.08 magnesium content, which is a bit higher than I'd like but was the lowest they had, and good ol' Chunk¹ has been fine since July) I turned to the other brands for help. Amazingly enough almost nobody listed the magnesium content on their bags, which I will take that to mean "OH WE SURE DO HAVE MAGNESIUM, WE GOT IT IN SPADES, IN FACT WE SCOOP IT INTO EVERY BAG BY HAND" so I will avoid them. The lowest I could find was some Purina brand that had .09 and I had to take it. It was the lowest I could verify. It was also 11 at night and the cats were out of food so I had to buy something lest I go home and be greeted with sad, wan, starving cat faces and then be guilted into cooking them dinner. So I brought the food home, poured some into the bowl, and said "Here you go, Poops McGee², hope you don't DIE" and he ate it. I bought the smallest bag possible so that I could get replacement food as soon as I can... which is probably Saturday, depending on whether or not I can get a ride to PetSMRT.

They've got food there that, while expensive, has something like .07 for the magnesium content scale (this is all in percentages, I'm sure, not some crazy arbitrary decimal scheme) and now that I can afford it, I should like to buy it. However I cannot find a nice pet store that is closeby and honestly, I do not wish to lug a 20-pound bag of cat food up the ol' hill in the ice and snow (we buy for the duration.) I do believe, as I write this, that I have secured a ride on Saturday (and brunch to boot!) but if anybody has any reasonably-priced food suggestions that involve 0.075 magnesium content or so, I would love to hear them, okay and so would Admiral Arthur Pennyfarthing, O.B.E.³

0. Name given to him after he decided he no longer wanted to be a triangle. Honest truth.
1. Courtesy C. McCoy, circa 1997.
2. Name given to him after he decided he no longer wanted to be Timmy Jingles. I hope you're taking notes; this will be on the exam.
3. Stolen entirely from Mo, but since she's no longer getting a boy cat I am reasonably sure I can steal it and she'll never know.

PS Martha has a bunch of nicknames too, including Captain Martha Blood, Marthabean, Beandip, Beano Bandito, and Weep Ye Soft for Puir Wee Martha, but only on Robert Burns Day.

Comments

[off_coloratura]

I don't pay attention to magnesium yet, so I have no recommendations. Have you considered ordering catfood online, though, to avoid this problem in future?

[off_coloratura]

Also Buster, the above-pictured cat, is also called Buster Bean. Perhaps he and Martha are related.

[hyperina.livejournal.com]

i don't know you so well but i love cats so i would gladly pick up some cat food, even a large sack of it, for your cat if you needed.

Purina cat food is actually not bad. it's considered a premium brand, didja know.

are cats like humans in that if you give them lots of calcium it depletes the magnesium?

okay i don't know any low magnesium cat foods off hand but let me know and i can drop it off in a safe and well illuminated area by an anonymous person dressed as a cattown cat if it puts you at ease and OKAY I GOTTA GO MY CATS ARE HERE LOOKIN FOR LUV IN AL THE WORNG PLACES LOOKIN FOR LOVE IN TOO MANY FACES OH

[dcart.livejournal.com]

I don't know any that are reasonably priced. For three and a half years I've been using a food by one of those vet only brands called IVD. I use their Control Formula. My cats have stopped having urinary problems, except when Paco gets stress induced cysts in his UI. Those usually only happen when we move, so hopefully that won't happen again for a few years.

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

I think I used to get an earthy-crunchy one at the Harvest Co-op in Central Square, when I had a boy-cat with similar problems.

I'm surprised that the grocery store isn't selling any of the major low-magnesium brands, like Purina One or whatever-it-is. Calling and asking for it might actually produce some results. I've found the manager at the Porter Square Star to be somewhat responsive to things like that.

Good luck.

[annilita.livejournal.com]

We call our Abby Poops McGee, too. I think it's genetically linked to the name.

[tyopsqueene.livejournal.com]

what's affordable? I have no idea at all what cat food costs.
is [a href="http://www.flintriver.com/catalog.asp?ID=4"]this[/url] affordable? (it's 0.08% Mg *and* it's for FAT CATS who need to diet :P)

[tyopsqueene.livejournal.com]

ha. Well, just imagine I didn't utterly screw up the code there, huh?

[muffyjo]

I'm happy to offer the ride. Your company is always a pleasure.

[fancycwabs.livejournal.com]

We had a cat with a similar problem when I was in high school, and while the vet recommended low magnesium food as the most readily available solution he said that the one diet that guaranteed Timmy Jingles urinary tract health was mice. Mice! Available at PetSmart.

[daisyglaze.livejournal.com]

Spikeroni had the same problem with the urinary beasties (he hasn't had a single problem with the blockage since we moved to CA, tho. I think it's the drier climate) but the very bestest best thing to feed Poop Chunks McGee is Science Diet urniary formula. It is ridiculously expensive but so's kitty catheter & overnight stay at the vet replete with bladder scraping.

But in a pinch, I feed 'em Iams hairball (weight control formula, cuz the beastie is getting a gut) and so far no crystal trouble. The hairball is for Sleepy because he's got the shaggies, like Abbie, and without it I would be constantly wading in disgusting cat effluvia.

[foldedfish.livejournal.com]

My veterinarian significant other notes:

"I can recommend some good prescription diets, but these are only available through vets. He could also try either Iams, Royal Canin, or Science Diet; if the info is not on the bag, he should be able to contact a rep via email (the companies all have websites)."

[muffyjo]

"Special Care for Urinary Tract Health" from Purina the info on this one. They claim to do two things, lower the magnesium and raise the acidity. NOt sure what that accomplishes, but it was interesting.

Hill's Science Diet talks about it here.

But the one I found the most interesting was this one:
According to alternative vet, Richard Allport in his book 'Heal Your Cat, the Natural Way', Vitamin C (250mg per day) can help recovery from cystitis and herbal remedies include Dandelion, Parsley, Bearberry and Watercress (taken as infusions).

More info on the infusions and such on this website

[tikva.livejournal.com]

You forgot "Abs of Marshmallow". :)