Sorry, but I'm going to have to disagree back. Some of those so-called "formulations" aren't anything special at all that cannot be found in other foods. I don't recall mentioning "grocery store brands." I do NOT feed grocery store brands. I was talking about looking into some truly premium foods that are tons and tons better than nearly all of the prescription foods. And most problems that the prescription foods are given for are things that a good, low-carb, all canned, no grain diet can take care of. Many of these problems are started because of the bad food to begin with.Quote:
Originally Posted by carolbcac
And most prescription foods are not good quality! Hills is crap. Purina isn't much better. It doesn't do much good to feed a supposedly special food when the ingredients aren't very good, they are too high carb, and the protein is coming from more plant than animal.
You, like everyone else, are just quoting what everyone else says. Have you ever actually researched any of this? I know of no person who has actually researched feline nutrition that would recommend Hills.
Here's the low-down on Hills D/D canned duck limited ingredient food. First, only 29% of the calories come from protein. That's too low for a cat. The long-term affect is anemia and other problems. Second, 17% of the calories come from carbs. In the wild, a cat would only eat about 5% or less carbs. It's body doesn't know what to do with all those carbs. It damages the pancreas and eventually can cause diabetes. There's no excuse for a canned food to be that high-carb. The only excuse is cheap filler ingredients.
Third, here's the beginnning ingredients: Water, Duck, Duck Liver, Ground Green Pea, Powdered Cellulose, Soybean Oil, Pea Protein Concentrate, Brewers Dried Yeast, Fish Oil, Glucose...
One trick is listing the pea as two separate ingredients. If it were one, it might be higher on the list since it's by amount. (I don't have a huge problem w/peas per se, but it's just too much.) Cellulose is undigestible. Some cats are allergic to soybean, so there's a great option when checking for allergies. Pea Protein. How about MEAT protein, like a cat is supposed to eat. Fish oil can be a good thing, but I never trust a food that doesn't say specifically what it is. What kind of fish oil? And glucose? Why put glucose into a cat? Glucose is what you stick into a diabetic when they're having a hypo. Cats turn protein into energy.
Good starting point, in plain English, of feline nutrition:
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
But there's a whole lot more out there.
While this part is true, you don't need a prescription food to do this. Why does one need a prescription to get a food that is one protein source? There are foods out there that are like this, which are better quality than the prescription foods. The only fairly good quality limited ingredient prescription food is IVD.Quote:
If there is a food allergy, the food must contain a novel protein and carbohydrate source, in other words, something the animal has never been exposed to before.
Feed all the cats a good-quality canned food. Then it won't matter if they get into each other's food.Quote:
And the problem of keeping the cats out of each other's food! I don't even have a suggestion for that one!
