Cat urinary diet after blockage — what to feed

A urinary blockage two months ago is a serious wake-up call — you did the right thing getting him treated, and the fact that your vet is now focused purely on diet means he's in a good place. Diet really is the single most powerful lever you have here. To point you toward the right food, can I ask: is he eating wet food, dry food, or a mix right now? And did your vet mention anything specific — struvite crystals, calcium oxalate, or just general urinary support?

That's really helpful. Dry food is actually a significant part of the problem — cats on dry food alone tend to be chronically under-hydrated, and low urine volume is one of the key drivers of crystal formation in male cats. Switching to wet food, or predominantly wet, makes an immediate difference. For struvite specifically, the goal is to lower urinary pH and increase water intake at the same time. What's his appetite like — is he a good eater, or does he tend to be picky?

Perfect — that makes this straightforward. My clear recommendation is Royal Canin Veterinary Urinary S/O wet food in pouches. It's specifically formulated to dissolve struvite crystals, acidifies the urine to the right pH range, and — critically — it's a wet food, so every meal is actively hydrating him. Royal Canin's S/O index means it creates conditions in the bladder that are hostile to both struvite and oxalate crystal formation, which gives you dual protection. For a 5kg Ragdoll, you'd be looking at around 3–4 pouches a day depending on activity level. It's available on Amazon UK and most vet practices stock it too. Because it's a therapeutic diet, you're technically meant to have vet sign-off, but given he was just discharged with dietary advice, you're well within that context. I'd phase out the dry food over a week or two to avoid digestive upset.

Ideally, yes — cut it out completely, or at least make it no more than 10% of his daily intake. The hydration benefit of wet food gets meaningfully diluted if he's still filling up on dry kibble. If you're worried about him missing the texture or crunch, some cats transition well with a short overlap period, but the end goal should be wet food as the foundation. The difference in urine concentration between a cat on all-wet versus all-dry is dramatic — it's not a minor tweak. Given his history, keeping his urine dilute is now a permanent priority.

Long-term, yes — and that's not unusual. Male cats who've had a blockage have a significantly higher chance of recurrence, so the dietary change is really a permanent lifestyle shift rather than a short course. The good news is Royal Canin S/O is nutritionally complete, so there's no issue feeding it indefinitely. Your vet will likely want to check urine pH and do a urinalysis every six months or so to make sure the diet is doing its job — that's worth keeping up even once he seems completely fine.