Alternative to Vet Prescribed Diets?

Hi everyone,

My mom's cat, Lois, was into the vet quite some time ago and the vet mentioned that she was getting "round" and that she should be on a vet prescribed diet, she ended up putting her on Medical Hypoallergenic. I'm still confused as to why you would put a cat with apparent gastro problems (which Lois has never had) on a hypoallergenic food, but that's beside the point.

The only problem this cat has is that she's slightly overweight and occasionally gets hairballs. After 6 months of telling my mom that the vet was ripping her off she listened to me and we began researching good cat foods (I previously used this vet for my dogs, our family has been going to them for over 15 years now but since they built a new office about 7-10 years ago they've been very money grabbing). I feed my dogs raw but my mother is not willing to do that for Lois, and I completely understand why. My mother isn't elderly (65), inactive or poor, but the time and research to properly create and prepare raw meals for cats is too much for her and in her mind too expensive. We decided to put her on Wellness Core, she's been doing good on it and I'm now working on convincing my mom that Lois doesn't need to eat as much as she's letting her.

To get to the point, in your opinion, is Wellness Core a good diet for this cat? I know a lot about dog food and nutrition but nothing about cats, lol.

Thanks for any help!

Your vet has given you the information and suggested treatment based on your cat’s signs, symptoms and history. Not following the vet’s advice could be detrimental to your cat’s health. Please discuss any potential changes in treatment with your vet first. This can usually be done over a phone call if the cat has already been seen about the same problem. If you are not happy with your vet’s advice, or suggested treatment, get a second veterinary opinion, do not only take advice you have received online from people who do not have your cat’s full medical history.

You or your Mom need to have a chat with the vet. Ask what % of protein , fat and carbs they suggest and total calories per day ..

I would generally agree with you about asking the vet for advice when switching foods, however I feel that I must point out that vets significantly lack adequate nutritional training. In the US and Canada every single veterinary university/college's nutrition course is sponsored by a pet food company, generally Hill's, Purina or Royal Canin (Medical). In the dog food world, these foods are essentially the lowest of the low, since I have not researched cat food like I have dog food (about 5 years of researching kibble, 3 years of researching raw) I was unsure if it was the same for cats.

Since cats are obligate carnivores I question the addition of grain in their diet. It simply does not make sense.

My mother will not switch vets at this time as Lois is older (she is about 14, maybe 15) and she doesn't know anything about the vets in her city. I would call the vet and ask them myself, but I do not have a good reputation with them (I am normally a calm person but lost it on them when they told me my dog needed an unnecessary spinal surgery and wanted to put her on one of their prescription diets which she was clearly not suited for - a beef based diet with grain, both of which she is allergic to). I look after Lois when they go on vacation and will bring her to my own vet when they go away this year, but that is a few months away at best.

I know that there are alternatives to prescription diets - commercially produced dry foods designed for specific problems including allergies, diabetes, kidney problems, etc. I am simply asking if, in your opinion, Wellness Core is as good a food for cats as it is for dogs.

I will not only be taking the advice that I may receive on this forum, I will take it, do research and discuss it with my vet. I have this cats full medical history available (my mother and I both keep copies of our pets records in case of emergency). I do not want to go into my vet unprepared though, I do trust her but also need to be able to question why she is giving the advice she is and be satisfied and understand her answers. To do this, as I mentioned before, I will research, but I do need a jumping off point for my research.

Can you ask YOUR vet hypathetically about your moms cat?


NO ONE on here is QUALIFIED to tell you about other options as WE are NOT VETS and have NOT seen your moms cat.I routinely do this and get infomation that can then be given to the person asking me a question .. To Give any advise would be opening the site to a lawsuit and the person who gave it...

NOT all vet are nutritionally challaged .... I happen to go to one with a NUTRITION degree ... I will tell you that some cats do Better on grains than off... My males and my oriental medicine vet's cats are examples of this... Both of us took out all grain and ended up with UTI , Ph and in vet's case more severe issues... Cat nutrition is in it infancy and still changeing nearly daily...

IMHO a one meat one grain senior may work but I would URGE someone to discuss it with the vet ..Reasoning for this is most seniors do not process the proteins and fats the same as a younger cat . Could you have your vet talk with your Moms?

I will ask my vet about it when I take my dog in tomorrow afternoon. Unfortunately I can't get her records before hand but will ask everything in a hypothetical sense.

I completely understand about the whole lawsuit thing

I did not mean to suggest that all vet are nutritionally challenged, there are some very good pet nutritionists out there. I was merely point out that the general course that they take in school is sponsored by the companies that produce the foods they will be selling in their offices. I strongly believe that vets should take advanced courses on nutrition to better serve their clients. If that is not possible, for whatever reason, I believe that alternative research should be done.

Sorry if I came off as rude, know it all, or anything like that. I sincerely didn't mean to, that's one of the unfortunate bits of internet forums - no real way to express emotion or content.

It is okay ... Some folks think I am yelling at them online ...

Many Vets are getting better educated as some vet schools are actually requireing much more nutrition education and not relying as heavily on the RX making companies to teach it

I would not feed Wellness CORE dry to an older cat. The wet version though is really good.

Originally Posted by sharky

It is okay ... Some folks think I am yelling at them online

...

Many Vets are getting better educated as some vet schools are actually requireing much more nutrition education and not relying as heavily on the RX making companies to teach it

Click to expand...

On another forum I'm on a lady posts in caps all the time because she accesses the forum from work and they type in caps for whatever it is that she does, most of the time I don't even notice, lol.

I did notice that when I was researching vets to switch my dogs. Many of the older vets, or clinics that are run by older vets, absolutely will not recommend raw and will do their best to talk you out of it. I found that some of the newer practices, or the ones that had been bought by younger vets, were more willing to encourage you to feed raw if you already do, although most admitted that they wouldn't be able to give advice on how to set up a diet.

It's nice to see that vets are starting to catch up on the times in terms of nutrition and such in general - many around here are starting to do titer tests for vaccs (not sure if those are available for cats) to prevent overvaccination.

Thanks furryfriend - I will tell her to get the wet food

One of my kitties was throwing up regularly and we had tried other foods and the vet put her on a low residue prescription diet. She stopped the regular vomiting almost immediately, but I didn't like the ingredient list of the prescription food. So I found a bunch of foods that had what I thought was similar ingredients and percentages of fibre/fat etc., and took the lists to my vet and asked her opinions.

We eventually found a food that she tolerated well and had a better ingredient list. It was good to start with a most basic prescription diet to confirm that a change of food DID help the problem though.

Originally Posted by sarahp

One of my kitties was throwing up regularly and we had tried other foods and the vet put her on a low residue prescription diet. She stopped the regular vomiting almost immediately, but I didn't like the ingredient list of the prescription food. So I found a bunch of foods that had what I thought was similar ingredients and percentages of fibre/fat etc., and took the lists to my vet and asked her opinions.

We eventually found a food that she tolerated well and had a better ingredient list. It was good to start with a most basic prescription diet to confirm that a change of food DID help the problem though.

Click to expand...

Originally Posted by sharky

You or your Mom need to have a chat with the vet. Ask what % of protein , fat and carbs they suggest and total calories per day ..

Click to expand...

Yeah to both of the above...
I agree with you on most (the key word is most, not all) vet being nutritionally challenged, however, they do have the right ideas for solving the problems, and in general are open for conversation.

I have an obese cat... He was gaining weight very rapidly, and his vet wanted to put him on a Diabetic Diet, Purina DM.
Yes, it does work, so he got the right idea, but the ingredients were awful, and Bugsy is allergic to Chicken. So, why does it work? - High protein, low carbs.
There I go on my search to find a food with the same amount of protein, and lower carbs that I was feeding, and most importantly, that Bugsy could eat. I found a much better food, much lower in carbs, and for about 1/2 of the price. Then he told me to add fiber to his diet, which I did... Being stubborn, I tried 2 different ones before trying the one he told me to
Now I am finally back to the one he advised me to go to... and he is doing great on it....
So... Talk to him, ask ask what works on the diet... And then propose some alternatives... You will see... You can talk to them... most of them at least

Unfortunately my mother's vet is one of the ones that won't listen, to anything. They're the ones that wanted to put my "obese" dog on a dental formula containing grain and beef, I keep my dogs slightly underweight because of their backs, my dogs have excellent oral hygiene (pearly white, sparkling teeth, no breath odor) and, most importantly, the dog they wanted to put on that diet is allergic to beef and grain! They also really push unnecessary tests and surgeries, if you opt out they guilt trip you. So I'm sure you can understand why I don't go there anymore

I'm going into my vet this afternoon and will most likely ask her then about foods that she would recommend for Lois