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Grantaire posted:I haven't been in this forum since it was PI, but I based my cat food choices on the pet food threads (Wellness Core Indoor dry) and now that one of my elderly kitties is starting to deal with some kidney disease I was hoping to mine your resources again. The vet is recommending Hill's or Royal Canin, which I'm not dismissing out of hand, but I remember vets explicitly saying Hill's at least pays clinics to promote them, so I want to get some other opinions before I pull the trigger on anything. I fed my CKD cat Farmina Renal.
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# ¿ May 24, 2020 08:12 |
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# ¿ May 10, 2024 01:14 |
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feedback loop posted:I just got a bonded pair of cats this weekend and apparently need to re-learn how to feed cats. I'm about to transition them off the cheapo Purina that their foster mom fed them, but I bought a big ol bag of Nutrish grain-free food before seeing the OP's warning about grain-free foods - should I really be avoiding them at all costs? Don't wanna give them poison but don't wanna overreact and rush to donate or return the food either. No, they figured out the taurine issue with feline feed in the 70's. All cat food has taurine additive now and isn't a problem.
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# ¿ Jul 5, 2020 02:00 |
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For a little more background, dogs and humans can synthesize taurine internally, cats can't. Hence the need for taurine additives in feline feed. It wasn't expected to be a problem in dogs due to being able to synthesize internally, but it looks like at least some of the grain free formulas may not have enough of the requisite base ingredients to synthesize.
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# ¿ Jul 5, 2020 02:05 |
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Organza Quiz posted:That said, the whole grain fee debacle led me to understand that there's actually very little regulation of cat food, and a lot of the grain free brands that are popping up are small operations that don't necessarily have the science knowledge backing them up to make decent food, so it's worth considering using the bigger brands as they actually formulate the food right. I went with Orijen because they pretty regularly win pet food awards. Using Fromms right now but I might move the new canine over to Orijen.
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# ¿ Jul 5, 2020 07:38 |
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Innocuous posted:Is there any meaningful distinction in health or outcomes between the large brand kidney diet foods for dogs? Our vet started us off with Hills and honestly it just felt like we were feeding her a blob of fat but she loved it even if it made her poop a little weird. We switched to Royal Canin and the poop is more normal but she likes it a lot less even though she finishes her portions. The main veterinary diets are all pretty much garbage. Check with Farmina, they do high-quality vet diets. Keep in mind you'll probably have to order from them (the few places in the states that stock Farmina don't carry vet diets), and you'll need to send them a copy of the prescription from your vet.
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# ¿ Sep 10, 2020 21:36 |
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My vet's advice when I was feeding orijen was that if I was concerned to supplement additional taurine. You can get it as chewable tablets.
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# ¿ Oct 11, 2020 09:53 |
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WhatEvil posted:So, gently caress. I'm confused as hell. Cats are different. They don't synthesize taurine like dogs so sufficient amounts need to be included in their diet; this got figured out for them in like the 70's? With dogs there is something that impacting their ability to synthesize taurine or absorb it, or something like that, I haven't read what the latest research is. Cats are obligate carnivores, so their should be no grain in their food and little to no vegetable matter at all (think about their standard prey, basically all the plant matter they would get would be what would happen to be in the GI tract of what they've caught). Any cat food that has grain is a marker for something that's low quality. The big thing with "by-product meal" is that it can be poorly defined, and is usually going to be in a food that's also going to be full of other fillers like grain that they won't be able to process properly. Cats typically have a problem getting enough moisture, so a wet food is preferred over a dry food. that Personally, we feed our feline overlords Orijen dry during the day and Tiki Cat canned food in the evening, I've also fed stuff like Merrick and Solid Gold. Any dedicated pet food chain (I like Pet Pros and Mud Bay) that doesn't carry bottom-tier foods will probably be able to give good recommendations, heck I think even PetSmart and Petco have both signed on to not carry low-tier brands in the interest of pet health. There used to be a pet food ratings thread but I'm sure it's horribly out of date. I'm not sure what outside ratings sites there are for cat food at the moment.
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# ¿ Nov 6, 2020 22:47 |
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:So I have a new kitten, she's 10 weeks old. The people who rescued her were feeding her kitten food - Royal Canin Mother & Babycat and Blue Freedom Indoor Kitten Grain-Free Chicken recipe. They said she ate a whole can every 3 hours. Kitten food is usually the same as adult cat food just smaller pieces that are easier to eat. With ours we basically left dry food out all the time so they could eat as much as they wanted, and then give them some wet food in the evening. They'll eat a lot because they're extremely active and growing.
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# ¿ Nov 17, 2020 08:00 |
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coke posted:Want to chime in and say thanks to y’all for the last thread. Urinating a lot is a sign of kidney issues. Get your cat in to the vet.
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# ¿ Jan 12, 2021 19:10 |
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AnonymousNarcotics posted:Vet checkup yesterday - apparently both my male cats (~2 years old) are overweight and he said I should completely cut out giving them dry food. YES. High weight leads to joint issues for one, and is a causal factor for a lot of other health issues, just like every animal. If you need to continue feeding one of the cats dry, one option is to lock the dry behind a feeder that will open for that cat only, there's several on the market, including ones that will tag off of the cat's microchip. Might be a good idea to just do all three so you can ensure portioning.
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# ¿ Sep 25, 2021 07:54 |
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I was feeding mine a Farmina vet diet. You'll probably have to order it and have it shipped if you want to go that route.
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# ¿ Jan 2, 2022 06:26 |
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WhatEvil posted:Seems like it's not available in Canada. You have to order it from them and have it shipped. https://www.farmina.com/us/eshop-cat/cat-food/75-farmina-vet-life-feline.html
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# ¿ Jan 9, 2022 05:46 |
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drk posted:Took my ~12 year old cat to a vet appointment today, and the vet said grain free is linked to heart disease. As near as I can tell from online research, this is maybe true in dogs, but there isnt any evidence one way or another for cats. She is healthy per the exam, pending some blood work. The vet didnt seem to be suggesting a particular brand or anything, just that I consider some sort of animal protein + rice based food as opposed to grain free. It's not the case for cats, cats are obligate carnivores and get no value from grains. The issues they "had" with foods in the past was that they're unable to synthesize taurine, they have to consume it, and that wasn't properly included in foods in the past. That's been resolved for a loooong time though. I've gotta say, I'm kind of concerned that your vet doesn't know this, that's REALLY basic level feline biology.
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# ¿ Jan 17, 2022 08:46 |
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Dazerbeams posted:I figure it’s worth asking in here too: my cat Echo developed diabetes while on prednisolone. He’s currently being weaned off the steroids and I’m looking into getting him on a low carb diet that will also prevent crystals from developing. He prefers dry to wet so I’m kind of stuck, and my vet is almost certainly going to recommend a science hills diet which probably isn’t the greatest. Any recommendations? https://www.farmina.com/us/eshop/cat-food/farmina-vet-life-feline/751-urinary-st/control-feline.html This is what I was feeding.
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# ¿ Sep 14, 2022 05:31 |
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# ¿ May 10, 2024 01:14 |
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Ragnar Gunvald posted:I get that, turns out our doggo has some kind of allergy somewhere and rather trying to work out what it was they just want us to feed her expensive prescription food. I don't see why they wouldn't but they're likely to be ruinously expensive. Normal guidance with that sort of thing seems to be trying one of the limited ingredient diets or a novel protein.
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# ¿ Apr 13, 2024 17:15 |