Can diatomaceous earth dehydrate a cat?

Question
Hi Jana,

I have a question about using food grade diatomaceous earth specifically with cats.  Here's what happened to spark the question.  I have two cats, a female calico 3 year old named Lily and a 2 year old male orange tabby named The Mustard Cat.  I was informed that food grade DE was appropriate to sprinkle on cat fur and food to kill internal parasites and fleas.  So that's what I did.  For the first time in The Mustard Cat's life, he came down with urinary tract disease which was treated immediately after he started showing symptoms.  Both cats were eating dry kibble at the time and were getting too much DE.  In hindsight I see that my cats were definitely not getting enough moisture in their diets!  I'm just going to ask your personal opinion about my theory:  The combo of excessive DE usage over time and dry kibble (even with a cat watering fountain that they mostly ignored) was the primary cause of The Mustard Cat's recent UTD.  Does that make sense?  The urinary SO vet food is way too expensive ($35 for 12 days of wet food!).  If I stopped giving them DE all together and continued a wet food diet that is not vet prescribed, how likely do you think his UTD would flare up again?  If it's a question of urine pH, how can that be managed?  

I'm still working with my vet about my cats health and I'll follow up with him after we have a chat to see how he feels about my thoughts.  My female cat, Lily, never showed signs of illness or dehydration.  I saw her drink from the fountain often but never saw the male drink from it.  I used to just put dry food in their bowl whenever it was empty and let them eat whenever they wanted.  Now I feed them a total of 2 5.5oz cans per day, split up as four meals every 6 hours.  Now they don't seem to care about drinking water.  After changing their diet to wet food, The Mustard Cat has not had any more problems and seems more lively and affectionate.  He goes to the potty without problems.  

I've spent all my savings at the vet to get him well and I don't have enough money to keep buying the expensive prescription diet that appears to have the same additives and by-products as other Purina foods which I don't care for.  Is there an alternative food that would be good for him?  I'm not a fan of raw diets because of salmonella concerns for myself and the cats (germ-phobic, here).  I don't know what to do.  I'm sorry for being scatterbrained in writing this.  The vet tech didn't seem to understand much about DE, she just said "oh I've heard of it".  So maybe that's a piece of the puzzle they ignored.  If DE dehydrates fleas and parasites, and is used to absorb chemical spills, doesn't it follow that it would dehydrate a cat that was only getting dry kibble?  Wouldn't it follow that concentrated urine with a high pH in males would trigger struvite crystal formation and UTD issues?  It seems to me that if I took away the DE forever and used wet food exclusively that would solve much of the problem.  But I'm not a vet tech and I realize there are things that I don't know.  I don't like to gamble with my pet's health.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Answer
Hi Christy,

DE will dry out their skin but you said that you have been 'giving them' DE, in what, their food??  

I don't know what article you read that in but you are only supposed to use it on their fur, not in their food. I would have to say that yes, that most likely was the starting point for this UTI. The problem with male cats is their anatomy when it comes to forming the crystals and sludge in their bladders. Females can urinate most of that out but the male cannot.

DE minerals can cause the bacteria in the bladder to cling to them and that is what starts the sludge that causes the blockages. They sometimes get an infection first but if they plug up it can be fatal very fast.

DE is okay to use now and then on their fur but there are much safer treatments for cat fleas such as program tablets or liquid. That targets only the fleas with a hormone and no drugs.

DE can be used on the ground or your carpets but don't use so much that the cats are licking it up.

Cats will not need to drink as much water on an all wet canned food diet. Cats are desert animals so their need for water isn't as great as some animals. Feeding them wet food gives them a lot of moisture. I would add in some dry food on the side that is geared for cats with urinary problems such as Prescription Diet C/D or one of the Science Diets for indoor cats. These are all formulated for urinary tract health.

That way their teeth will get some chewing and cleaning as well. Purina foods are not ones I recommend because they don't keep their formulas consistent. They use 'open-formulation' and Hills only uses a fixed-formulation, so their food remains the same bag after bag.

I have recommended and fed Hills foods for over 30 yrs and have never seen cats on it have urinary issues. Most of them came in with them from eating Purina, Meow Mix, etc.

Not everyone knows what Diatomaceous Earth is or what it is made out of. I just happen to know it well. On a lighter note, and your question reminded me of this, 35 yrs ago my Mom used DE for the same thing on her cat for fleas, but then she freaked out that the cat would 'dehydrate and shrivel up' like the fleas and stopped!! She never used it on the food however...

So let me know how he does and if you have any more food questions. I am a Small Animal Nutrition specialist 6 times over so I can help!
:-)