feline CRF and chronic UTIs

Question
I have a 7-year-old male cat who was diagnosed with CRF in September of last year, and he also has had chronic UTIs for years.  I have tried several remedies to prevent them, but nothing seems to be working.  I have found a few sites that say to stay away from Uva Ursi and other diuretics when dealing with a CRF cat (for obvious reasons).  However, some actually recommend Uva Ursi...Could you help with this situation?  What should I give him that will prevent UTIs but not affect his kidneys?  Thanks.

Answer
Hi Amanda
Diet is of huge importance when dealing with kidney problems.  Diet is in most cases what has caused the problem to start with.  In cats especially - dry food/bisuits are often the cause of kidney disease and renal failure.  So, changing the diet is vital.  I would steer clear of all commercially prepared dry and tinned foods for pets.  
Give your cat some natural foods - meats and fish.  Some good quality raw kidenys would be useful also.  Foods work very similarly to homeopathy in that "like cures like".  So it is often recommended that for pets with heart disease to eat good quality raw heart a couple of times per week.  The same with kidenys.  So maybe look at adding some kidney to your cat's diet about 3 times per week.  Add some unsalted fish/sardines/salmon once per week, and then some other type of meat that he likes. Make sure that tinned fish is rinsed first to remove any excess salt.

There is a great book called "Real Food for dogs and cats" by Dr Clare Middle which is brilliant and highly recommended.  It is available from Freemantle Press:  http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/authors/529/Dr+Clare+Middle?PeopleGroup=4

Uva Ursi is great for treating bladder infections and inflammations but it often is not recommended when there is kidney disease.  I feel though that if you are able to stablise the kidneys then the UTIs may subside greatly.  A system that is flushing toxins properly will not become stagnant leading to other urinary type infections.

There is a Kidney Disease Relief formula made by Holistic Animal Medicines which could be very useful.  It comes in a set of 5 herbal and homeopathic formulas: http://www.holisticanimalmedicines.com/kidney-disease-renal-failure.html

Otherwise you can also contact the people at Natural Rearing - www.naturalrearing.com and discuss the situation with them.  They also specialise in herbal and homeopathic formulas for pets.

I hope this helps you.
Kind regards,
Silva.
www.roxysworld.com.au