and Wellness is notorious for adding these.
So if you want to avoid urinaryt tract issues hyou need a food with
ZERO fruit or vegetables.
Ghe most common urinary crystal isues in cats is struvite which
occurs any time the urine is above pH 6.5, and there is adequate
magnesium in the diet.
Irresponsible cat flood makers remove the magnesium, to av oid
struvite, with no regard for magnesium deficiency issues.
Others add citric or phosphoric acid to overcome the pH problems of
added fruit and veg that does not belong.
None of these cheapskate "holistic" options is healthy.
The food needs to be pH appropriate for cats to start with, and only
high quality (not by-product) and high quantity animal protein (and
some grain that is NOT gluten) can produce the correct urine pH at
5.5 to 6.0 in a healthy way.
Any crystals are CAUSED by wrong diet.
On the contrary - Wellness is a cheapskate food with lots of fruit
and veg to do harm.
There needs to be an appropriate amount of all the electrolytes.
Sodium is required under stress, and cats are especially subject to
stress. They have to be worried about their solo predator status, and
are designed to be concerned if there is anything that could risk
their security, even just in theory - it's just how the solo predator
instincts work.
SO a correct amount of salt, at the right point in the ingredients
list is actually very appropriate.
I sorta doubt anyone adds a "ton"
But beware of foods where added salt is high on the list of ingredients.
It pays to look at what is before or after the salt, if salt is
there, so as to see if it is a major or minor ingredient by volume.
Salt has nothing to do with crystals in feline urine.
It is pH as a result of wrong protein or plants in the food, that
causes feline urinary crystal issues, not salt.
Too much salt can affect blood pressure and lead to other problems
via the renin-angiotensin feedback loops.
Too little can precipitate failure to respond well to stress.
For the record, here are the ingredients of the food I find best to
use (ProPac kitten dry):
Chicken Meal, Rice Flour, Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken Fat (preserved
with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Dried Egg
Product, Dried Beet Pulp, Fish Meal, Dried Whey, Natural Flavoring,
Brewers Dried Yeast, Yeast Culture, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DL-
Methionine Hydroxyanalogue, L-lysine, Wheat Germ Meal, Choline
Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, D-activated Animal Sterol (source of
Vitamin D3), Taurine, Vitamin A Acetate, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium
Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine
Mononitrate, Ascorbic Acid, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin
B6), Inositol, Folic Acid, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper
Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Zinc Proteinate, Manganous
Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Magnesium Proteinate, Copper Proteinate.
You can see where the salt is listed. Personally I'd prefer to see
the potassium salt before the sodium salt, adn they are next to each
other - but the position relative to other items looks correct. It is
not in the "ton" category.
Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."