It’s been a while since our last Feline Foodology post, hasn’t it? Since moving to Prague and starting their raw food diet, Cookie & Pipps have been very happy with their mains and only rarely get dry kibble or treats. But when they do get treats they do enjoy testing the more natural ones. In fact their staple are these goldfish by HuHuBamboo, which are a treat and a toy in one! Today I thought we could look at the Urinary treats by Canvit. A brand which I’ve not heard much about.
? Why I picked up urinary treats?
I picked these up because last summer Cookie had his second UTI (the first one occurred when he was just 3 years old, he’s now 8!). I’m fully aware why it happened – it was a very hot summer (Cookie doesn’t tend to drink properly) and because the shop where we used to buy our raw food had some supplier issues we were not able to stock up enough in advance. Once we ran out I quickly grabbed a few Felix pouches in the supermarket because that’s what they were both used to in the first place. I know Felix isn’t particularly great for cats but it isn’t the worst and my argument was that giving them something they’re used to for a couple days is better than trying something new.
I obviously made a mistake here and due to the high amount of salts in the pouches in addition to Cookie’s dehydration, he ended up having his belly shaved and a catheter up his weenie. Pippin was fine as usually, but as it turns out Cookie’s extremely sensitive to salts and foods in general.
? Urinary treats by Canvit
For this reason we now stick to raw food diet only and pick up raw or very natural treats. Or occasionally treats for cat’s teeth and/or bladder. One of them being these Urinary treats by Canvit.
These treats should prevent UTIs in cats. They are enriched in dried cranberries, nettle, silver birch, and omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids. These are natural sources of vitamins, antioxidants, and substances that help prevent urinary tract infection. They have powerful antibacterial properties. Prevent growth of bacteria. Create a protective layer on the bladder lining. And increase urine production.
The ingredients in these treats are not fantastic (100% natural treats will always be a better choice) but since the important thing here is the UTI prevention, the content of carbohydrates (potatoes) is not horrendous. It probably isn’t easy to manufacture a treat that contains herbs such as nettle and birch AND tastes nice to cats. Hence I assume they chose potatoes together with chicken meat as the binding agent. Considering you only give your cat a treat or two every couple of days, they will be just fine with it. The treats are a little high in fat however the fat comes mainly from herring oil which again is a good kind of fat for cats.
Overall I’m fairly happy feeding Cookie these little Canvit treats every now and then. They are tiny so the contents of carbohydrates are not too high per treat. And they do contain some great natural herbs to prevent further UTIs, which is very important to me. Canvit is a Czech company, which also means that by buying these treats I’m supporting economy of this country.
Ingredients: Potatoes, chicken (15%), liquid starch, herring oil (5%), hydrolysed chicken liver, collagen, nettle leaves (10 g/kg), cranberry leaves (8 g/kg), silver birch leaves (5 g/kg).
Analytical components: Crude protein 16,0 %, fat content 7,0 %, moisture 17,0 %, crude ash 4,0 %, crude fibre 2,8 %.
Price: about £1.50 for 100g
You can buy these treats on HappyTails here (CZ) or here (UK, just message them for international postage). Or you can buy them in pet shops in Prague when you’re here on holiday.
Cats off the Carbs – the cornerstone of Feline Foodology
This series was inspired by a book called Cats off the Carbs by Jenny Evans, the owner of CatPacks. Sadly the book is no longer available to buy. I’m eternally grateful to own a copy myself and be able to share Jenny’s knowledge with you. The key message of this book is that a good cat food is:
High in animal protein
Moderate in fat
Low in carbohydrates
What are you feeding your cats at the moment? Have you ever tried reading the labels & deciphering what they mean?
? I don’t claim to be an expert in cat food. All my knowledge I gathered from Jenny’s book, the internets and my own personal experience. However I’m genuinely hoping this series will help others understand the importance of proper cat food.