My persian is supposed to be on prescription food but....?

Question

I just compared the ingredients from the prescription food and they are almost exactly the same as the Purina Pro Plan Urinary Care. The prescription food from the vet is also Purina. The first ingredient in both foods are Corn gluten meal and the only other difference is that one is beef and the other is chicken. Also one has zinc oxide and the other is zinc sulfate. Other than that it's basically the same. But there is a big price difference.

I should have worded my questions differently. The vet said I could use either or, but that he must be on a urinary care formula.

Also, the prescription food has beef and the non pres. food has chicken and he likes chicken better.

Answer 1

The difference between the chicken and beef could be a huge difference to your pet. There is a difference between zink oxide and zink sulfate too.

I would not want to feed anything where corn gluten was the first ingredient period. Cats need meat and fish not corn.

There has to be a reason your vet would chose one over the other.

Answer 2

Your best bet is to call the vet and ask if there really is a difference here. Usually there isn't much difference in the foods but if she's having major problems it's possible zinc oxide and zinc sulfate might work differently. I doubt it. If you trust your vet, then call and ask. If you don't trust your vet, then get another vet. I understand that chicken is easier to digest than beef but it could just be a flavoring. It really will depend on what shape your cat is in. If she's having major problems, I'd probably use the expensive one until the crisis is over, then switch.

Add: If the vet already said it's OK to switch, then go with the cheaper one that your cat likes the flavor of better.

Answer 3

Hi
You are right. The thing is both foods are very poor quality and do not address the problems that you are trying to deal with.
'The first ingredient in both foods are Corn gluten meal'

That is the promary ingrediant Do you know how horrible that is for a carnivore? These are byproducts how healthy is that?
'By-products do include some very nutritious items but they also contain organs that have been deemed "unfit for human consumption" and this is where personal reluctance enters into my decision to feed a food without by-products. Organs that show signs of disease such as cancer or infection are 're-routed' from the human meat market to the pet food market. '
http://www.catinfo.org/commercialcannedfoods.htm#By-products

You need to address the source that has caused the problem and that source is the dry foods you have been feeding. Your cat needs it's moisture in the food and most of that is zapped out of dry foods in the processing.
Caneed foods w/o gravy is what you should be feeding and the first ingrediant listed should be a muscle meat like chicken or beef, not meal nor organ meat.

http://www.catinfo.org/

Answer 4

I don't know if this is true or not, but I have gotten the impression that Persian's have slightly different dietary needs.

That seems odd to me, but since I don't know if it's true or not,

You absolutely SHOULD second guess your vet. Many vets - and yours is obviously one of them - don't know anything about proper cat nutrition.

I've read this and have seen it for myself. It's also obvious to me that yours knows nothing because he's peddling food whose first ingredient is corn gluten! Grr, argh.

You don't say what condition your cat has that requires the prescription food, but it sounds urinary. I'm not an expert in those conditions, but I recommend that you post another question giving more details about his problem and asking for dietary help with that.

I'm quite sure that there is a much much better food out there for him, and you won't have to pay a ton for so-called "prescription" food. Prescription my ***! It's just marketing.

As for beef v. chicken, beef isn't typically a meat served to cats. I believe it's fattier or something...sorry I don't recall exactly. But oftentimes cats with food allergies are given exotic meats - meats that wouldn't typically be in their diet - because they are better able to tolerate them.

I hope you do repost your question, because I have tons of advice!

EDIT: Thanks for the additional details. Ken said what I was going to say, so I'm just going to add some links that will tell you more.

Answer 5

The difference between the prescription food and the store diet is the additives, not the balancing. Purina is really good about trying to keep all their diets well balanced, both prescription and over the counter.

The additives (more salt, and DL-Methionine) are meant to make the prescription U/R more effective for stubborn cases of unhealthy urinary tract (the salt increases water intake to encourage more frequent urination, the methionine acidifies the urine to discourage stones, sand, and mucous). Try the Pro-Plan first, but if the urinary problems return, make sure to get back on the U/R ASAP.

I'm not sure who decided corn products are bad for dogs, dogs and cats are carnivores but they benefit from having fiber and carbohydrate starches in their diet. Please don't be fooled.

Answer 6

well my cat had kidney stones...

you MAY use purinas urinary care, its QUITE pricey still. if you can look for special kitty's uriniary care. its ALOT cheaper.

if you dont, and make a mistake? you could end up with a cat who has kidney failure like mine did...she died slowly... [[r.i.p. blackie]]

Answer 7

If the vet said you can use either, use the one you feel comfortable with.

Answer 8

i did what you are asking about and my baby died spend the extra money for the special prescription diet

Answer 9

And?

Are you suggesting you're gonna go against your vet's orders with your pet lying there sick?

Yeah, don't do that.