My cat’s been having health issues and after too many tests at the vet, we’re trying a hypoallergenic cat food. To get this, the vet had to give us a prescription and then we bought it at the local Petsmart (chain pet store).
Why did we need a prescription? Apparently we can now buy as much as we want so it’s not to limit our supply. The base ingredients seem pretty standard (chicken, brewers rice). I’m fairly certain we can’t cook it down into methamphetamines or something. And it just comes in a plastic commercial bag or standard can so it didn’t require any alchemy over at Petsmart. So why wasn’t it just on the shelf?
Also, as a side note, the stuff costs a mint and the cat hates it. I told the wife it’d be cheaper (and probably more successful) to buy a roasted chicken for $6 at the grocery store once a week and throw it on the kitchen floor.
The prescription foods are meant to address or accommodate a specific health issue, such as allergies or kidney failure. Typically, they leave out “problem” ingredients or substitute for them, and they resulting product isn’t suitable for long-term use in an otherwise healthy animal.
For example, we’ve had several cats with kidney failure. They get prescription food that has a significantly lower protein content than the food you’d buy at Petsmart. We were warned not to feed this to the other cats because it doesn’t provide as much protein as a healthy adult cat needs (the odd stolen mouthful is OK, but it shouldn’t displace regular food). For the sick cats, the lower nutrition is considered a reasonable tradeoff for slowing or halting additional kidney damage.
Oh, man, when our beloved Clint (RIP, old buddy) had to go on prescription kibble for his colon problems, I absolutely HATED the runaround dealing with Petsmart. It’s not bomb-making equipment, ferchrissakes.
I can understand that they’re not for the average pet … but that stuff is so expensive I can’t really see people buying it “accidentally” for a healthy animal. Then again, I am constantly amazed by people’s stupidity.
It’s more expensive, but people in multi-pet households may decide to feed them all the same diet, which is not good (what others said about the diets for pets with renal problems).
Your hypoallergenic diet probably either has novel proteins or ingredients that the animal has never been exposed to, or else has (or at least that is the claim) all offending particles pulverized to a size where they won’t be allergenic.
THIS IS A BIG ONE: Possibility that clients will self-medicate their pets. Changing the diet can greatly improve an animal’s (or heck, even a human’s) health, but it requires monitoring. More than that, it requires a good diagnosis, and overview. All veterinary diets are parts of treatment plans, and should be supervised by a veterinarian. That is why they want the prescription. They don’t want to give the food allergy diet to an animal who has a ranging infectious dermatitis, or got its rashes because it has contact dermatitis, or has a neverending flea infestation or mange. They don’t want to give the kidney diet to an animal that may have some vague symptoms of crappiness, but may have an UTI, liver disease, or some other renal condition (not just chronic renal failure).
PS. At least a couple of years ago, the major food allergen in dogs was chicken, and in cats, chicken was in the top 3, IIRC.
I have the same thing for my dog (though its low-protein). It basically a way gouge more money out of you. Quite ridiculous if you ask me, anyone should be able to buy this food, requiring a prescription is only a way to make money.
And what is wrong with that ? I can, if I choose to, feed my dog chocloate cake and cheerios and it would get unhealthy pretty damn fast. But they don’t need a prescription. If I feel my dog requires more or less of some nutrient, I should be able to give them the appropriate feed without the say-so of a vet.
I’m curious which hypoallergenic diet you have a prescription for, exactly (brand name and food name). I haven’t seen a limited ingredient diet that included chicken, since the goal is to introduce a novel protein the pet hasn’t been exposed to before, chicken is out. Usually it’s rabbit, duck, venison or lamb.
There are hypoallergenic formulas that can include chicken or fish, but the thing with those is the protein has been hydrolyzed so that it’s far less likely to cause an immune response. It’s not remotely the same as feeding a rotisserie chicken unless you can hydrolyze it at home! That stuff, the canned version is weird - we call it the “kitty flan” because of the sort of custard/gelatin texture. The cats aren’t too fond of it either, they tolerate it much better if it’s warmed a little and has some water added to it. They LOVE the kibble (hill’s z/d) but it’s not as good for cats as canned, so they only get it either mixed in with some canned or as a treat.
I’m almost certain that it is Hill’s Z/D but I’m not at home to confirm.
Well, checking the website confirms it.
So it’s hydrolyzed chicken. The weird thing is (not that I was serious about throwing the cat a whole chicken) that the cat still vomits up the prescription food – what little of it he eats – but one day I gave him a couple slices of turkey lunch meat in the morning and some roast chicken meat torn off my dinner in the evening and it was the one day he didn’t vomit and actually seemed himself. I realize that I can’t just feed the cat lunch meat and Kentucky Fried but telling the vet this was part of what steered up to the prescription food.
That’s off track though; I was mainly wondering what’s up with this freakishly expensive and prescription only cat food.
I haven’t checked the statistics in a while, but in many prescriptions diets, it’s either the amount of protein or the amount of calories per serving what can be harmful (or at least, not beneficial) to animals that do not have the condition the diet was designed for.
OTOH, all of these “prescription diets” are not just a bunch of mixtures somebody put together and just slapped a label on them. They have specific nutrient percentages and profiles, they comply with the AAFCO. Many of them have done feed trials and research studies, where dogs (or cats) housed in their facilities receive only that diet as their nutrition. The health and outcome of the animals is monitored. Etc. It IS a long process.
So, the companies may have decided that, since all the diets have to go through the same thing, even if they won’t be harmful to healthy animals, it’d be better if they all go through the same process (getting a prescription from a vet).
You didn’t read what I wrote after that sentence, right?
Many conditions have similar outward signs. Obtaining a prescription is a way of making sure that that pet has been correctly diagnosed (and if it hasn’t, the vet’s at fault) and treated for whatever it is.
But hey, thanks for telling me an owner can just look at a dog or cat and tell it needs a low protein kidney diet because it has chronic renal failure. I’m sure when their pet’s health goes to the toilet for an undiagnosed cancer, diabetes, or urinary tract infection, he/she won’t complain that the food didn’t work as advertised, or that he/she should’ve been protected from its own stupidity.
Actually, attitudes like you are probably part of what motivates the companies to keep the prescriptions. They wouldn’t want people to use their products for the way they were NOT designed.
I think the z/d is one of the most expensive. I purchase Rx food for employees and use k/d myself, and the z/d is markedly more expensive - especially the canned. It must be the hydrolyzing process. I think Rx food is more expensive in general because it’s made in smaller batches and is more in line with the same reason boutique food is more expensive - different/less fillers and a smaller assembly line are always more expensive to operate than the bigger batches. (on preview - what KarlGrenze said, too)
I can tell you the cost just to purchase directly from Hill’s is something like $25 a case of canned for k/d as opposed to a case of z/d canned is closer to $38. That’s the zero mark-up cost.
The cats I know who get z/d really love the kibble - if you do mostly canned (which is better), maybe try reducing the amount a little bit and add some kibble. Just mix it in with the canned. These guys also really prefer the canned to be warmed up just a bit with some water added and mixed up. It seems to be more palatable that way rather than the flan straight from the can. The kibble is much, much cheaper, so you can save a little by reducing the canned and mixing some kibble in, too.
On the other hand, if it’s the kibble she’s vomiting, it may be the kibble that’s the problem, and maybe grains or glutens are giving her the issues, which is why she doesn’t puke lunchmeat and would then do much better on canned only. Just a WAG though.
We were giving him both and so he vomited both but it may have been the kibble that provoked it and everything came out in one happy mess.
That canned stuff is $3 a can though. Granted we don’t use a can per serving but that’s still hella expensive for food that the cat just stares at skeptically. I might try warming it as you suggest. He’s no more enthused about the kibble, taking only a few bites at a time. I can leave him for the day and find his small bowl still 85% full.
Also, how much are you feeding your cat? Many cats, for many diets, do not need to eat a completely full kitty bowl (actually, that may be too much for the kitty cat). Try reducing the amount you put in the plate, perhaps it’d be easier to see how much kitty cat eats.
As two last ditch things… Ask your vet for another hypoallergenic diet. There are plenty. As the last attempt, ask your vet (if what you’re setting up is a food trial) how to set up a food trial using homemade food. It’ll be more labor intensive, but perhaps the cat will eat (and you’ll found it if food allergies are its problem and which type of food it should avoid).
None of that is any reason to make these prescription only. Are low-carb, or low-gluten foods for humans prescription only ? Do people need protecting from wrongly “self-medicating” their child diabetes with low-gluten food ?
Nah, I bought a new bowl that’s intentionally small so I could more accurately judge how much he’s eating. It’s not much. Also, there’s feeding directions on the can/bag.