Prescription Cat Food

[1000yards]

Does anyone have any real knowledge about prescription cat foods?
We have two cats, one who got crystals when he was on Acana, so the vet switched them to Hills Science Prescritpion C / D. It's been a few years and no crystals or puke or anything out of the normal, but, it's gone up in price and the local two vets who are co owned are now charging almost 70 dollars for a 17 pound bag that used to be 52. It's gone up gradually but steadily in the past two years and it's getting a bit much, so I figured I would see and try my luck on here as my vet is very biased, (it's the only food they sell) and I know there's some very knowledgeable people on here,
Plus There has to he a few other cheapskates lol
Both cats are fixed males between 4-7 years old, orange, indoor only and not specifically only one breed lol

Thanks in advance!

[purgatory.sv]

Had special cat food once, it was different than what was purchased at a store.

It gave me and the cat more time. [It was more consistent in texture].

Read the labels, if you believe what is listed and you value your pet all will be good.

This is just a test; if you have children they will be more expensive.

[willy66]

got to Piper Creek Vet, they are still $52 per bag. My cat has the same food.

[1000yards]

Thanks Willy! I had forgotten about them, only time I drive that way is to go to the range lol thats awesome news!

[omega50]

Vet had our orange 10 year old fixed indoor male on Hills TD and the price drove me crazy.
I ended up switching him over a year ago to the Costco brand and have seen good improvement in every aspect of his health for less than 1/3 of the cost.
CD is urinary formula and I can not speak to that.
One thing that I discovered when our cat had some kidney issues was that we were making a big mistake having his water bowl next to his food bowl. I moved his water bowl to the washroom and he is drinking significantly more as evidenced by the increase in wet clumps in his litter. I would think that any additional water that your cat drinks may help crystal formation unless it is related to your household water quality.

[Geezle]

Both my cats had urinary issues...one had crystals a couple times, and the other had a huge bladder stone that needed surgery to be removed.

Now I have them both on the Royal Canin Urinary SO and they do great on it. Unfortunately it's about $80 for the biggest bag (8kg I think).

Been to a few vets and it seems to be roughly the same price wherever I go.

[Au revoir, Gopher]

When our cat (5+ years old) had urinary tract problems, instead of going to the vet and dropping $200-300 on the exam + $75 on the food I knew he would try to sell me, I went top Petland and found a urinary tract formulation food (forget the brand, but there wasn't a big selection). Bought a couple cans of that and her problem cleared and she went back to her regular diet.

I've considered feeding her the occasional can of the UT formula as preventative maintenance, but Petland seems very hit or miss for having it on the shelf.

ARG

[silverdoctor]

Hills Science diet did an overhaul a couple of years ago. I can't believe they said this with a straight face. Speaks volumes for their food when they finally realize people are buying better quality foods and actually reading the label.

“some consumers were making product choices based primarily on set criteria for ingredients rather than the overall promise of superior nutrition backed by clinical research.”

Most vets get thier nutrition information from the big food companies, that's a fact - they get kickbacks from selling foods, that's a fact. The fact they push a food laced with corn, grains, brewers rice etc and call it prescription really ticks me off. The fact that they expect cats to eat grains and such... Cats are different than dogs, dogs will lap up a bowl of water, cats not so much. Cats tend to get water from their food, and you don't get much from dry foods. Hence the reason for many health issues in cats like crystals and stones.

From hills website... Yeah, cause pets need corn, grain, sugars, leftover fats.

100% of what pets need.
0% of what they don't.
100% precisely balanced nutrition.

Yep, chicken in the first ingredient and it's listed by wet. Take the water out of the chicken, and there's very little in the bag compared to grains. Anyhow, that's my rant for the day.

[wildside2014]

oye. This is the same as vets swearing that their dog foods they carry (royal canine, science diet etc) are the best ways to go. Im fairly confident if you got your cat on a regular rotation of even cheap wet food it will solve the issue as I have dealt with this x3 with my wifes cats. In my opinion youre paying into a wasted product that can be easily supplemented if not replaced by much more cost friendly options.

[theycallmeNoah]

We had a male cat that got crystals and was put on vet food. He did very well but the food was expensive so we took him off. The crystals came back and we had another large vet bill. He stayed on the food until he died of old age.