Cat likes new Hills C/D - TOO MUCH!!!

My cat eats Hills C/D dry food because he suffered from struvites (crystals in urine) at one point...

His new bag of food is labeled "new formula and great taste". They aren't kidding! I've never seen him eat anything that fast.

Has anyone else seen this reaction from a cat eating new improved Hills? We're almost afraid to give him more food. He was inhaling the stuff.

No, I don't...but my cats used to eat the old kind and that was bad enough...(Paisley tried to commit suicide by dry food ). She never walked away from the bowl!!

Do you "free feed" the food? Do you have any idea about how much he was eating of the old type? If so, I would measure that amount out and put it in the bowl as his "allowance" for the day. If he still inhales that, I would split the amount into multiple meals throughout the day.

He'll probably slow down after he gets used to it, you think?

When my cats were on c/d I had to measure how much they got for the day. Even with measuring it, they gained weight on it.

Thanks for the answers, guys!

He's always had an all you can eat buffet and maintains his weight just fine, so far. In the short run I think I'll have to control his access to the food, if only to keep him form eating till he pukes! I hope he gets used to it eventually and settles down into his normal eating routine. Food has never been an issue with him before and I'd hate for it to turn into constant intervention and measuring.

just a caution...c/d is supposed to be fed ad lib..was told by two vets and i think it says it on bag(I have a storage contanier for c/d and bag is long gone) Benji put on 3 lbs...he is a bit chubby but no major issues peeing so I'll take the tradeoff taht down road he might die early but without c/d hed be dead in a week.

Originally Posted by ryanjay

just a caution...c/d is supposed to be fed ad lib..was told by two vets and i think it says it on bag(I have a storage contanier for c/d and bag is long gone) Benji put on 3 lbs...he is a bit chubby but no major issues peeing so I'll take the tradeoff taht down road he might die early but without c/d hed be dead in a week.

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That's true...to a point. I believe they (Hills, Science Diet, any food company) is required to state that "urinary tract" health formulas should be "free fed". That's because the standard belief is that free feeding does a better job of regulating urine pH than meal feeding. Whether or not that's true remains to be proven.

There are "experts" with drastically different viewpoints on that issue. Some even say "one meal a day" is the only way to control pH effectively. Well, I don't agree with that...but...I know of cats that were meal fed c/d for years with no problems. Yet my Beandip was free fed the c/d for over a year was miserable more often than not (constant struvite crystal problems!).

oh thanks for that info beandip years ago I read the new natural cat(anita frazier I think?) and she stated that the ph spikes after any meal. Had a cat on the purina or friskie urinary diet YEARS ago..I really didn;t pay attention to labels then(ok I was like 14 yo and cat food was cat food to me...he ate 2 times a day and didn't have any issue(he also wasn't the one prone to urinary but it didn't hurt him