Kitty food

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My Skooter is 3+ years old and has had several bouts with kidney problems. My Vet says I should feed him Hills Kidney care food both in dry and wet. The small 2.9 oz cans of the wet food are $1.66 per can and no discount on cases. Where do others find the "special" food at a lower cost? I and SKooter thanks you. Ed
 
First, get a water fountain. Help to keep them hydrated...

My cats love theirs, I clean it every week...

Second, ask your Vet about Benazepril, a medicine that lowers blood pressure, and helps the kidneys work better...
Off label use in cats in the US, so your Vet needs to write a prescription, then you take it to a human pharmacy. Ask them to cut the pills for you, they can be super tiny.

Hide in food or treats, if your not comfortable pilling a cat...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazepril
 
Try Chewy - been using them for a little over a year now. I only get my litter from them now so I'm not trying to haul 40 lbs from the car inside, now I can just move it 5 feet from the front door to where I store it.

Hills Science Diet is not a very high quality food despite the fancy packaging, pricing and the way it is peddled. Check out here for some evaluations of various foods.

Pet food ratings
 
We have 5 cats and feed them Blue Buffalo. We get it from the commissary on base though where it's a bit cheaper. We used to feed them the cheapest stuff from Walmart. As soon as we switched to Blue Buffalo, their crap stopped smelling so bad, their weight controlled itself, no more hairballs, and their coats are shiny and silky smooth now.

My service dog, an American Staffordshire Terrior, eats Blue Buffalo Wild.
 
Research what is so special about the prescribed cat food. Find something non prescription that meets the specs. Petco and/or PetSmart probably carry it, if not online.

One of my cats has diabetes, and most pate canned cat food (as long as it has no gravy) works for him. And I even water that down (meaning add water to wet cat food, which you should do too). In your case, you are mostly looking to reduce or eliminate phosphorus in the food.
 
Originally Posted by zzyzzx
Research what is so special about the prescribed cat food. Find something non prescription that meets the specs. Petco and/or PetSmart probably carry it, if not online.

One of my cats has diabetes, and most pate canned cat food (as long as it has no gravy) works for him. And I even water that down (meaning add water to wet cat food, which you should do too). In your case, you are mostly looking to reduce or eliminate phosphorus in the food.

Research Bonita Flakes, I just made a thread about cat treats, here is just one site that says they're good for diabetic cats.

https://familypet.com/are-freeze-dried-bonito-flakes-a-healthy-treat-to-serve-my-cat/
 
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR

My service dog, an American Staffordshire Terrior, eats Blue Buffalo Wild.

Best breed ever...my last dog was an AmStaff that i rescued. I eventually had to put him down due to his hips. ...–
 
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR

My service dog, an American Staffordshire Terrior, eats Blue Buffalo Wild.

Best breed ever...my last dog was an AmStaff that i rescued. I eventually had to put him down due to his hips. ...–


I hate the stigma society has placed on these dogs. I named her Sierra (from the phonetic alphabet), and she is very gentle and calm. She's very loyal and obedient. Training with her was a breeze, she took right to it, and she always finds a way to calm me down if I'm having a PTSD trigger or anxiety attack. The only complaint I have is the drooling. lol
 
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR

My service dog, an American Staffordshire Terrior, eats Blue Buffalo Wild.

Best breed ever...my last dog was an AmStaff that i rescued. I eventually had to put him down due to his hips. ...–


I hate the stigma society has placed on these dogs. I named her Sierra (from the phonetic alphabet), and she is very gentle and calm. She's very loyal and obedient. Training with her was a breeze, she took right to it, and she always finds a way to calm me down if I'm having a PTSD trigger or anxiety attack. The only complaint I have is the drooling. lol

They're smart dog's and one of the original working dogs brought to America. Our dog was named Max and he was very well mannered and tempered - loved going to the river. Never had any reservations with him around the kids. In fact he had a special liking for my daughter and would physically get in between the two kids if they were bickering, he did not like that one bit. It was funny to watch my daughter try and walk him.. while he was very good on a leash, sometimes a kitty could get his attention and that's when it could be a rodeo raining him back in. Incredibly strong dog's they are. What's funny though is he never bothered our house kitties..they largely bossed him around. I had one cat (Trinity) that was particularly "mean" towards him, she'd go out of her way to swat at him as he'd walk by...not knowing that she's playing with fire, right?...‚

Their reputation for being "bad" dog's is totally undeserving. They're no more prone to biting or bad behavior than a retriever is.
 
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter

They're smart dog's and one of the original working dogs brought to America. Our dog was named Max and he was very well mannered and tempered - loved going to the river. Never had any reservations with him around the kids. In fact he had a special liking for my daughter and would physically get in between the two kids if they were bickering, he did not like that one bit. It was funny to watch my daughter try and walk him.. while he was very good on a leash, sometimes a kitty could get his attention and that's when it could be a rodeo raining him back in. Incredibly strong dog's they are. What's funny though is he never bothered our house kitties..they largely bossed him around. I had one cat (Trinity) that was particularly "mean" towards him, she'd go out of her way to swat at him as he'd walk by...not knowing that she's playing with fire, right?...‚

Their reputation for being "bad" dog's is totally undeserving. They're no more prone to biting or bad behavior than a retriever is.


Agreed. It's all a matter of how you raise them. Any aggressive behavior is learned behavior. I've been bitten by a dog twice in my life, and both times it was a chihuahua. People hate on pitbulls and dobermans like those little [censored] don't exist.
 
Originally Posted by pezzy669
Hills Science Diet is not a very high quality food despite the fancy packaging, pricing and the way it is peddled. Check out here for some evaluations of various foods.

Pet food ratings


I agree and will never use Science Diet.
I feed my diabetic cat watered down wet pate cat food. Never the stuff with gravy or extra vegetables!!!
Even Special Kitty pate is fine, but I use a lot of 9Lives "meaty pate", which is really just regular pate, as well as Friskies. My cats only eat dry food if I am not home, and they think that I won't be home for some time, and they are really hungry. My cat needs very little insulin with this diet, as in 2-U100 units 2X daily. Sometimes less. There are a LOT of good cat food out there to the point where if a vet wants you to use some expensive prescription food, you can find something at the stores, or online that is better/cheaper/doesn't require a prescription/comes in multiple flavors, etc. Do your homework, but I bet that your cat would do fine on the same diet that my cats get. Maybe you would need to avoid a particular ingredient.
Various in internet fourms can help you more than your vet can. The people at The Feline Diabetes Message Board know cat nutrition better than anyone.
 
Its real simple to pick out dog or cat food.
READ the label.

Buy foods with NAMED meat sources. Never ever pay any attention to the pretty food labels on the cans and bags. Read the ingredient list, its the only place where they legally have to tell the truth.

Ex. Chicken, Chicken Liver, Chicken Meal. (this is good, named meat sources, no corn)

Do NOT buy food labeled Chicken, Liver, Meat Meal (this is bad, the liver and meat meal do not say what animal it comes from)
if it doesnt name the type of animal it is from, it is low quality garbage.

Do not buy food with Pea Protein, any type of corn, any type of animal byproducts/ if it has corn in it, you are really at the bottom of the barrel in food quality. Animal byproducts can be anything, think about it.

Do simply google cat food (or dog food) ratings. You will learn a lot.

NEVER EVER feed your dog or cat one brand of food!
Do you think you would live a long healthy life if you ate Burger King every day of your life?

Same goes for pet food. Feed at least two different brands of food, we feed around 6 different brands of quality food, we also feed left over table food. Canned food is much more healthy then dry but if, because of cost you have to feed dry, still all the above applies.
No corn, no by products, ONLY named animal meats, also watch fat content as much as possible. Use at least two different brands of food per week, 3 is much better.

Even though this is a dog food link, you can find the same for cat food but its a good read because it applies just the same.
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/rating/

https://catfooddb.com

There are MANY sources available on line and in the press, again, never feed the same food every day. Vary by two three, four different companies every week. Cheap garbage dog and cat food cause endless health issues for animals. Much the same for humans.
Most Vets do not know anything about pet food.

"Overall, with 50 varieties reviewed producing an average score of 3.7 / 10 paws, Hill's Prescription Diet is a significantly below average overall cat food brand when compared to all others brands in our database" (from the link I posted above, my god, just read the cheap ingredients)

Having a pet is great and rewarding, it is also heart breaking when one is ill for some unknown reason.

I would be willing to bet 60% or more pet issues are caused by the garbage pets are eating. Unknown to the pet owner, trusting the manufacturer instead of reading the labels plus use common sense, why one earth (once you think about it) do people feed pets one food brand for the animals life? Do people eat the same exact food and brand every day of their life, trusting their health to a corporation? ha

Start today, vary food brands, read the labels, get the corn, meat by products out of their diet, feed food with ONLY meat based protein.
Im willing to be in a matter or weeks, most owners would see a more healthy pet after they cut out the Purina type mainstream garbage.
Much like a human who would cut out fast food.
If possible, wet food, but dry ok or a mix of the two.
 
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Buy a kidney oriented food you can afford. Thankfully my wife is medical oriented and works in field and believes in care and comfort that's it for cats not excess vet intervention.

My cat lived to about 20 and wife's cat with urinary issues (had cheap food to help) lived to around 18. Long enough and they were both happy but crotchety animals in their end who mainly just liked our kids under 3 mainly.
 
I feed my cat Rachel Ray and Purina One. I giver her dry for breakfast and wet for dinner. I change it up daily to giver her a variety.

Anyone give their cats a multivitamin?
 
My animals will starve with Blue Buffalo food setting virtually untouched in their bowls. When I first made the switch they liked it ok but after a few months just wouldn't eat it. Don't know if the formula changed or what. Get them any other grain free food now and they love it. Dog and a cat BTW.
 
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