cat urinary intact

Question
Dear Dr.Connell,

 My male cat was recently diagnosed with crystals. His vet told me
 to me to put him on a special diet of Hill's c/d. While the food
 shipping I fed him Hills and Iams wet food and it seemed that he
 felt better. I was able to go to his litter box without a   problem.
 As soon as his food arrived I tried to feed it to him but he
 doesnt like at all. I can say he probably ate less than a 1/2 cup
 of it. Is it ok if I mix a little bit of the c/d with his regular
 wet food or with regular dry food in order for him to eat it ?
 Thank you in advance.

Answer
Please understand that I am NOT a doctor, but a Registered Veterinary Technician.
You can feed him a small amount of the wet food but keep the C/D out for him.
One half cup of C/D is ALL that you are supposed to feed a cat anyway, so that is pretty good that he ate it.

Now don't confuse him not liking it with being satisfied after eating it. When cats eat C/D it is so nutrient dense that it meets their energy needs with less food. They don't eat as much because they don't need as much of it.

When pets eat cheaper, less nutritious foods they need to eat more of it to get their energy needs met. By energy needs I mean just the energy to sustain life even.

So give him 1/2 daily and a little wet but slowly get him off the wet unless you use C/D wet. I used to use the wet food and dry when my cat had crystal years ago and he did fine on both.

But the dry was easier for me so I kept him on that. He lived to be 19.

And you should always mix foods for 7 days anyway to get them used to the new food slowly. You never want to just change foods abruptly as it can cause stomach upsets.

But keep him on the C/D for life because it's much cheaper and safer then him getting plugged up with crystals and having to be hospitalized and catheterized for a plugged up urethra.