The Effect of Diet on Lower Urinary Tract Diseases in Cats

Abstract

Because dietary ingredients and feeding patterns influence the volume, pH and solute concentration of urine, diet can contribute to the etiology, management or prevention of recurrence of some causes of lower urinary tract disease. Most research assessing the effect of diet has focused on the latter two aspects, primarily because of interest in struvite urolithiasis. Manipulation of urine pH through dietary means has proven an effective tool for the management and prevention of struvite urolithiasis; acidification of urine, however, may be a risk factor for calcium oxalate urolithiasis, which now appears to occur with approximately equal frequency in cats. Prediction of urine pH from dietary analysis would thus be a valuable tool, but considerable further research is required before this can be achieved with commercial canned foods. With the growing importance of urolith types other than struvite, alternatives to the measurement of urine pH are required to assess critically the likely beneficial (or detrimental) effects of manipulation of nutrient profile. Measurement of urinary saturation may permit the development and fine tuning of nutrient profiles aimed at controlling lower urinary tract diseases in cats that are associated with a range of different mineral types. The majority of cats with signs of lower urinary tract disease do not, however, have urolithiasis; indeed, no specific cause can be established in most of these cats. Recent observations suggest that recurrence rates of signs in cats classified as having idiopathic lower urinary tract disease may be more than halved if affected animals are maintained on high, rather than low moisture content diets. J. Nutr. 2753S-2757S, 1998

The Distribution of Several Elements in Cat Urine and the Relation Between the Content of Elements and Urolithiasis

“…There were no sex differences in the concentrations of the elements in urine. It is well known that the volume of urine is increased in cats that consume wet food [14], so we anticipated that the concentration of elements would be higher in urine obtained from cats that consumed dry food. However, there were no significant (p<0.1) differences in element concentrations in the urine of cats that consumed dry food and those consuming other types of food.…”

Feline Lymphoma in the Post-Feline Leukemia Virus Era

“…40 Dietary allergies and chronic inflammatory bowel disease have been postulated as precursors to intestinal lymphoma but associations have not been documented. Cat foods have changed in response to health issues, particularly urinary tract disease (reviewed by Markwell et al 41 ) and diet has been a postulated cause of the increase in inflammatory bowel disease. Approximately 71% of cats with chronic diarrhea are improved when changed from commercial diets that are relatively high in carbohydrate to high-animal protein, low-carbohydrate diets.…”

Influence of nutrition on feline calcium oxalate urolithiasis with emphasis on endogenous oxalate synthesis

“…Enhancing urine volume may also increase the frequency of urination, which would reduce crystalloid and crystal transit time along the urinary tract, thereby reducing the potential for crystal growth (14) . Therefore, measures to increase water intake to promote high urine volume can be considered (1) : magnesium ammonium phosphate hexahydrate ( ); calcium oxalate ( ); calcium phosphate ( ); purine ( ); matrix ( ); other ( ).…”