my vet is not too fond of nutro!

ok...so i've always followed along with all the threads about quality cat food (and my cats used to eat Science Diet cuz i thought it was premium...but since have switched over to Nutro) My cats have been on Nutro for about 7 months and my bengal kitty is doing fine on it. My older cat (about 9yrs old) will eat it, but his coat is getting yucky. its not as soft and glossy as it used to be. i truly thought it was just his older age, but the vet (supposedly in my area, she is the cat specialist. she runs a cats-only office) anyway, the vet says that she has seen him twice in about a 1 month time frame and his fur is getting worse. She tells me that she is not a big fan of nurto b/c she says she prefers to go with other companies like Science Diet who have had many clinical trials and what nots...Now i know that many vets are not all that savvy when it comes to foods and sometimes they only promote a certain brand food for their office...but i do notice the difference in my cats fur. What do you guys suggest? My vet wants my cat to go back to science diet (i'd prefer not to) but is there anything else i should try instead? I've tried the Blue Spa food, but my cats didn't really like that too much. I have huge concerns about food quality because this particular cat has had issues with UTIs in the past (and i've heard that certain ash or magnesuim content can contribute to uti's so i'd prefer to stay away from grocery store brands...b/c that uti episode was HORRIBLE!!! Thanks!

Sorry I'm not too knowledgeable (someone who is will be along soon I'm sure), but I just wanted to share my experience. Nutro gave 1 of my cats diarrhea pretty bad. I thought maybe it was a one time thing, but I tried it a couple times and it happened each time. I am guessing it was too rich. You might have to go back to SD. I'm still trying to figure out what I should feed mine.

i know what you mean! There's so many different foods and different opinions when it comes to food! thanks anyway tho!

Humm your vet seems like most ... reading only the literature given by the companies making RX foods... I would do your own... NO food works for all cats... If the coat is not good on Nutro I advise some senior tests , my girls kidneys were to blame not her food ... My vet advises raw but for those doing commericial she likes Evo Solid Gold Nutro and Natures variety..

Read your bag if it says AFFCo trial s or feeding tests substatiate then clinical stuff has been done /// Most food companies do that ... SOme test via breeders and other means .. I would ask your vet where they got there info , Likely answer the RX food rep ....

What are the brands you have available to you?

well my city has a petsmart and petco...i know they have nutro, science diet, purina pro-plan, eukanuba, royal canin, iams, blue spa, i think i saw natural balance too.

Before suggesting anything when was the 9 yr old last senior panel??

My kitten has been eating Nutro for 3 months and has soft, silky fur -- maybe it is not the food that is the issue?

Do you have a Pet Supplies Plus, a feedstore or an independently owned pet supply store nearby? Sometimes they'll carry premium brands (Nature's Variety, Innova, Felidae, Solid Gold, Wellness, Wysong, etc.) that you won't find at PetCo or Petsmart.

You can also order premium foods on-line from the pet food companies.

Ever since I discovered Felidae, my cats have never looked better. It's not terribly expensive, but is darn good stuff.

However your vets drivel about SD is just that, drivel. Regurgitating what the sales rep says. SD is only marginally better than Cat Chow if you read the ingredients, but costs twice as much.

I'd look away from the "big box" stores like Petsmart and Petco and start looking for the smaller stores. The store I buy my food at only has two locations, and they sell a variety of high end foods, horse feed, wild bird food, etc. I can even get my good Oxbow guinea pig food there. Go to the websites for the better foods and put in your zip code or area code and you'll probably come up with a store you didn't even know existed. If ou con't find anything, call the consumer line for the food and ask them. The sales rep for Canidae/Felidae said they've had a lot of new stores added recently and the website hasn't caught up with all of them yet, so there are some stores that carry it that aren't listed on the web.

Originally Posted by sharky

Before suggesting anything when was the 9 yr old last senior panel??

Click to expand...

uummm...i'm not too sure what a senior panel is? my 9yr old (jiro) goes to the same vet every 6 months. he gets his check ups and all that great stuff. i know im only supposed to take him once a year, but he has a slight murmur in his heartbeat (he's had it his whole life tho) and the vet wants to keep a close eye on it. but the vet gave him the "clean bill of health"

no, we do not have a Pet Supplies Plus in my area. i suppose i could just order food on-line...

Vets all recommend science diet. My vet did too. It does not have very good ingredients. It also uses byproducts.
I don't feed it, regardless of what vet says. Regarding UTI problems. I feed my cat prescription Waltham's So food. It does not have the best ingredients either, but it does not have byproducts, and it works like a charm on his UTI problems. My poor cat has been suffering from a UTI for a month when I switched to it, and his UTI just went away like that. I don't know what they put in there but it did the trick.

Originally Posted by nyanchan

uummm...i'm not too sure what a senior panel is?

my 9yr old (jiro) goes to the same vet every 6 months. he gets his check ups and all that great stuff. i know im only supposed to take him once a year, but he has a slight murmur in his heartbeat (he's had it his whole life tho) and the vet wants to keep a close eye on it. but the vet gave him the "clean bill of health"

no, we do not have a Pet Supplies Plus in my area. i suppose i could just order food on-line...

Click to expand...

A senior panel is a blood work up for a cat over 7 ( techinically it should start then ) .... many start at age 10 but with your kittys coat issue it may be a good time to start ... Make sure it cover s the kidneys , liver , pancreas, thryroid ( t4 and t3??) .. that way you either catch problems early or you get a baseline for the "senior catizen " years

When necessary, my vet likes the prescription diets because of their quality control.
Personally I would seek out more info. about what your options might be.

Even though there have been quality control issues in the past, currently my kitties eat Nutro Complete Care Wt. Management dry/ pouches plus a teaspoon of Meow Mix Pouches a day for snacks.

There are a lot of good foods out there but
no matter what food is recommended, if your cats won't eat the food then you must look for alternatives.

I am always looking....

Our vet compliments us on our older cat Vala's soft healthy coat of fur . We followed his reccomendations of Iams dry food. It is wonderful and more budget friendly than other brands. It's not top shelf but it's not the cheap stuff either.

Assuming the senior panel shows that his thyroid, blood sugar, and kidney functions are normal, you could try Natural Balance (I've seen it at Petco but not Petsmart). My old boy, Odo, loves it, and it works well for him. Every cat is different and not all good quality foods work for every cat. For example, Odo did okay with Merrick for a while, but then he started throwing up after eating it.

We have been feeding the Nutro indoor stuff for a while now and they all seem to be doing good on it. Missy being 18 yrs old was having trouble breaking up the Nutro with her teeth so after trying a few different kinds of food for her I found that she likes Meow Mix hairball control stuff I get at Wal-Mart. It is small pieces and has a soft piece in the center. She has no trouble chewing them. I have one of those feeder things with a hopper on top I put the Nutro in and a couple bowls I use for the Meow Mix. I was affraid the others would not eat the Nutro and eat just the cheap stuff but we seem to go through as much Nutro as we did before so they are still eating it. They all seem to eat some of each, I even see Missy eating the Nutro sometimes, I think she eats the little chunks left over from when the others break up the big chunks. I have only known Missy for the last 9 years of her life and Yvonne tells me she would only eat the cheap Wal-Mart cat food since she has had her. She will be 19 soon and still doing good so going by Missy the cheap foods can't be all that bad.

Missy must be a tough old bird, Yvonne told me the other day that she was hit by a car twice when she was younger, I don't know how bad she was hurt each time and she has a big bump in her side just at the end of her ribs that Yvonne said is from being hit by a car. She also raised two bunches of kittens I am told when she was young before she got "fixed".

I have 2 cats with UTI problems and I switched them to Royal Canin special 33. The magnesium is .08% which is what I look for. I have been feeding this for 3 months now and all the furs are looking really good and so far health is also good.

Abby had very bad skin and coat problems when she came to us (result of a flea allergy and being a stray) Now, the vet tell us she has some of the softest fur she's ever felt. Shiny coat, good weight, she's doing great. We actually have her on Blue Buffalo spa cuisine. I know that you said that you tried it and the cats didn't like it, but can I ask what flavor? Abby will only eat the salmon and brown rice formula(little brat!). Feed her anything else and she turns up her nose and give the "why are you trying to starve me?" look. Also, it took her a few weeks to get into the wet food, and even now will only eat it when it's presented as a treat, and not as a meal.
Sorry if you had already tried the salmon and the kitties still thoguht it was icky, but I thought I'd share our experience.

When I switched my cat to Nutro Indoor I found that it decreased his shedding, which I would assume means an improvement in coat (it looked and felt great both before and after). And it ended his digestive problems.

But cats are individuals and react differently to the same foods. So yours may in fact have a problem with some ingredient and it would be worth trying some others. Though it would also be good to look to see if there is some health issue contributing to the coat.