What are you guys paying for Hills Z/D diet?

Well I give up, two years of this allergy and ear stuff, I'm going to cave in on Monday and ween my little one off Natural Balance LD wet food. Either he is going get much worse, start to have bowel issues too or he is going get better. My concern is the cost though. I think at my little Vet is nearly $3 a can.
Any tips where to find it for less would be great as there is no reason why I should pay so much more if found for less. The usual Amazon approach doesnt work with this.

You will have to have your vet write a prescription for the food, if you can find it cheaper on line or in a pet supply store. (if you find a place selling prescription food without prescriptions report them to Hills)

I buy the Hills Prescription c/d kibble at my vet, which, last time I bought it, was $34.99 a (10 lb) bag. That, I'm pretty sure is universal suggested price, not a giant mark up by my vet.

Not sure how much the cans are, but I'm guessing in the $2.50 per 5.5 oz can range, (again, suggested price, not a huge mark up) which is not much more expensive than what I pay for Jennie's (Wellness $1.15 a 3 oz can) and Tolly's (Innova $1.20 a 3 oz. can)

pet food direct has z/d for $60.99 a case=$2.54 a can

http://www.petfooddirect.com/Product...ne-Canned-Food

Here I have found a case of z/d for for $50.39 but have never ordered from them so cannot say what the service is like.

http://rxpetfood.com/hillsprescripti...455ozcans.aspx

and here's a link to Bizrate offering price comparisons to on line stores

http://www.bizrate.com/cat-supplies/...tion-cat-food/

I will add to this post as I keep checking

Thanks! I pay $1.40 for 6 ounces of NB Vension. Well at least its not double. Why 5.5 though? Is it more dense in calories? I usually divide one can into his four meals for the day.

Most "large" cans come in the 5.5 oz size, rather than 6 oz. I don't know why that is, except someone somewhere probably thought how they could get extra money out of the consumer by slightly reducing the size of the cans, but not the price. (that has happened with coffee and ice cream too).

I can't use that size in any brand, because all my cats are on different diets.

Not sure of prices but my cats c/d and t/d is cheaper at banfield(within the petsmart store. All mine requires is a rx and no hassle. Might be worth a call to check if close enough

I would suggest talking to your vet about portion size. My vet told me that C/D, for example, is nutrient rich, and portion sizes have to be smaller - what usually happens is people feed the same portions as they did with their old foods (I did, and I had fed a fairly good line), and the cats will tend to gain wait. And, yeah, if you find anyone selling a prescription food without a prescription, not only report them, but run like hell away from them....if they're doing that, who knows what else they're doing.

Good luck - I hope the Z/D works and, if not, you'll at least know you did try that avenue.

Talk to your vet - my vet cut down their margins, as Hills suggested margins were ridiculously high - I am paying now $2.07 per can... They CAN reduce the price for you - talk to them...

Wow this stuff is like Jello. So stiff and wiggly!
Now for the week transition period. He ate the little bit I gave him this morning with his regular food. Scratched and licked himself more then usual after though. Hopefully it does not mean anything. Just as long as he does not start having bowel issues, that never was part of his problem.

The only thing left if this dont work is just dropping all this fancy wet food stuff and going back to a junkier dry food like my first cat. She never had these issues with Pro Plan when I was more ignorant about cat nutrition. Though I imagine taking a cat that has only had wet food to dry food is very hard and a vocal experience for months.

Originally Posted by madara

Wow this stuff is like Jello. So stiff and wiggly!

Now for the week transition period. He ate the little bit I gave him this morning with his regular food. Scratched and licked himself more then usual after though. Hopefully it does not mean anything. Just as long as he does not start having bowel issues, that never was part of his problem.

The only thing left if this dont work is just dropping all this fancy wet food stuff and going back to a junkier dry food like my first cat. She never had these issues with Pro Plan when I was more ignorant about cat nutrition. Though I imagine taking a cat that has only had wet food to dry food is very hard and a vocal experience for months.

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That only means she did not have a food allergy. Some cats do some don't. It's all genetic.

I think that, to a point, if a cat is thriving on a 'junky' food, well, go with the junky food. The 'best' food is the world is no good if kitty doesn't like it or doesn't do well on it. And we could only wish there was a universally great food that worked for every cat.

Originally Posted by darlili

I think that, to a point, if a cat is thriving on a 'junky' food, well, go with the junky food. The 'best' food is the world is no good if kitty doesn't like it or doesn't do well on it. And we could only wish there was a universally great food that worked for every cat.

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Very well put.. When I worked in the pet food industry my goal was to get the right food into the animal whether it was the budget minded line or the holistic

I think she is talking about 2 different cats though - I got the sense that she was referring to her first cat, NOT this one, that actually did really well on ProPlan...
If I am correct, and this is a different cat than the one she is referring to, I would be very careful in doing that change... If this kitty has indeed allergies, Proplan, or another multi protein/ multi grain food can be really bad for her system.

To the OP: how is your kitty doing? You reported this immediately after he ate it for the first time... Keep in mind there was still other food/toxins in his system... Sometimes it can take a few days for you to really notice a difference...

I hope it is working for you.... It has een great for my cats, both of them have IBD, and one of them is also allergic to chicken, and does really well on it.

Slow transition to Z/D didnt work. He has completely stopped eating which is just profoundly shocking for a cat that cant be free feed because he gores. What he does to his face while eating Z/D is also for the record books, never seen it that bad. He lays in a new position now, like a crouch where you can see all the tops of his hind legs over his back and either looks sleepy or in pain. He even turned down the old NB Venison this morning. Emergency appt in an hour at a new place 35 miles away with my last $200 to my name. He never had a car ride this long, even with feliway spray the stress might tip him over the end. I expect after today I will be at $1400 for this little guy and no real answers. I cant keep this up much longer myself with MS, worrying about him takes a toll. I suppose if I can get him back to venison and green pea with just the right ear issues that would be some improvement.

How was the vet trip?

Oh, I'm so sorry that the WD didn't seem to help at all - at least you know you're trying everything. I hope got some good news at the vet visit.

What happened on the vet trip?

They sent me to allergy specialist. She does not feel that the venison and green pea NB is hurting him in anyway, actually she highly recommends it. She is more concerned that we found him burnt in a car engine, maybe a scar tissue issue, possible polyps involving the ear and nose. I am waiting blood results. She would love to do CT Scan to know for sure about a few possibilities but told me she understood most could not afford it so I assume its quite high.

When is the specialist appointment? Is she eating again now? Will be watching for updates.

Had a few days that seemed decent to me. He was eating nearly to normal rations, ears seemed light in color but he started to twitch the ear the last two days, classic sign of needing a cleaning. I gently used the Q-tip and pushed back those two lobe things at the bottom of the ear to see into the canal. Oh boy, I thought it was all blood, just red and inflamed.
One vet doesnt want me to use Mometamax too often in fear of this young cat becoming diabetic and gave me Allegra instead but gee I had to make a choice as it sure is not helping with his ear maybe abit of the licking and scratching. My understanding is Mometamax is abit of pain killer and inflammation helper with anti bacterial and steroid help. So I cleaned with Epi_otic advanced which made the whole ear pure red. 20 mins later I applied two drops of Mometamax, its been 8-10 days since his last dose. The specialist is in Greece at moment and the very close vet when I called just gave me an appt for Thursday morning. I am sure I over worry about stuff likely why the local staff is sick of me but a pure red inflamed ear and some dark gunk has been relentless lately. He usually gets a 3-4 month break but this is twice in just 4-6 weeks, its hard to tell how much pain is involved. Maybe going too many days without that Mometamax wasn't good idea.