My vet wants me to feed Purina D/M

I looked at the ingredients and YUCK! By-products galore. Is there any redeeming quality to this food? http://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com....aspx?prod=233 He recommended it due to the diarrhea we have battled, but he also said it would be good for Blue since he has lost weight, etc. And he told me to feed it to the kittens, again because Rex has struggled back and forth with diarrhea, and also he doesn't want me feeding different food to all the cats and them "sampling" each others food. So, he wants me to switch all of my cats to this purina D/M.

Let's put it this way - my boy had struvite crystals. Vet recommended Hill's CD - to my layman's eyes, ingredients looked 'icky'. But, I'm not a vet, and also not a feline nutritionist - gave it a try. End result - Dante eats Hill's CD and had a nice clean urine sample two weeks ago. Nice glossy fur, lots of energy and, yes, nice clean urine sample. Woo hoo! My girl eats it too as a matter of fact - she had a great senior panel two weeks ago as well.

Prescription foods are developed to treat specific conditions. I guess I'm wondering what is lost if you give the prescription food a trial. Worst case, it doesn't work any better than the current food - best case, it works well for your kitties. If it doesn't work, that alone gives the vet a little more diagnostic information to work with.

And, no, I really don't think vets make huge amounts of money off prescription foods and so prescribe them just for the fun of it.

Sorry, but on this case I will have to disagree with this "prescription"... I did when my vet pushed me DM too... D/M is for diabetes... It is great for weight LOSS, not for weight gain... There is no purpose in feeding it for kittens IMHO... It is full of ingredients that do not serve a purpose for kitties who have an upset GI tract- it is not higher in fiber, for example, on the contrary, it is low in fiber - only 3% etc... It is also formulated for Adult cats...
Some vets get hooked up with Purina, and IMHO push it and push it. My old vet (who I left to never go back) pushed this food for Bugsy, even though he was allergic to chicken
I trust prescription foods, and certainly do believe they serve a purpose, but in this case, I really disagree with it... Been there, and it IMHO makes absolutely no sense whatsoever... Unless there is diabetes or obesity involved... nope, I do not believe this makes a bit of sense here....

Some good points - maybe it would be worthwhile to ask the vet why she specifically recommended this particular prescription food. It would at least give you insight into the thought process behind the recommendation of the high protein, low carb food.

Carolina, I thought not all GI issues are served by adding fiber - a lot of times, yes, but I had the impresson some GI issues are best treated with low fiber alternatives? sort of like feeding chicken and rice to humans, and kitties, with diarreah?

For a little more info:

The vet did tell me that the D/M was for diabetes, but that it worked well for the GI tract too and that it would help Blue gain weight. I, too, was skeptical since cats who are diabetic tend to be OVERWEIGHT, not underweight. I am so confused!

What did you end up using to help Bugsy, Carolina?

Originally Posted by darlili

Some good points - maybe it would be worthwhile to ask the vet why she specifically recommended this particular prescription food. It would at least give you insight into the thought process behind the recommendation of the high protein, low carb food.

Carolina, I thought not all GI issues are served by adding fiber - a lot of times, yes, but I had the impresson some GI issues are best treated with low fiber alternatives? sort of like feeding chicken and rice to humans, and kitties, with diarreah?

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No, not all, but the majority of times, as far as I am aware, higher fiber is used, and highly digestible fats and proteins... Not lower fiber... Fiber slows down the digestion time helping to prevent diarrhea. Usually vets will prescribe gastrointestinal formulas where that is the case, or even higher fiber formula, like Hills W/D. Sometimes hairball formulas help too, over the counter - my vet told me to add a fiber supplement to Bugsy's diet, since he is allergic and can't do those formulas.

Originally Posted by BlueRexBear

For a little more info:

The vet did tell me that the D/M was for diabetes, but that it worked well for the GI tract too and that it would help Blue gain weight. I, too, was skeptical since cats who are diabetic tend to be OVERWEIGHT, not underweight. I am so confused!

What did you end up using to help Bugsy, Carolina?

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Bugsy did really well on Z/D for a very long time, but he got finicky after a year and half, so he is now on Royal Canin Hypoallergenic HP 23 and is working well also. When Hope had a horrible case of IBS, Z/D just about saved her life. She is also now on Royal Canin HP 23 and doing really well. For wet they eat Z/D wet.
I would really discuss this with the vet..... This is a weird prescription for gastro problems.

I second the ask the vet why... I do not see it but maybe the vet is thinking along a different line than we are...

I did ask him why...the only answer I got was that it "will help with the diarrhea and will help Blue gain weight because it is low in fiber" and something else. Very frustrating.

Honestly with that reply and recommendation it would be the last time I used that vet...

Originally Posted by sharky

Honestly with that reply and recommendation it would be the last time I used that vet...

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Yep, that's pretty much what I did with my vet when I got that kind of answer about using DM for Bugsy...

I agree with what all others have said: ask the vet to give you an explanation (a sound one that makes sense to you) and if they cannot, perhaps a different vet is in order.

A trial wouldn't hurt, but I too don't see how this food would help.

I also find it interesting that a food intended to help manage diabetes is chock-full of corn (including a more refined form). It doesn't even seem fit to treat the problem it's intended for, let alone an unrelated issue. I question the "science" and logic behind a product that uses a high-glycemic grain to manage a condition that requires a low-glycemic diet. That right there makes me skeptical of the validity of this food as a quality prescription diet.

Edit: Woops, didn't see that you already asked the vet. Yeah that is a nonsensical answer. Sounds like this vet isn't well-schooled on cat nutrition.

for what its worth dad was a truck driver and hauled chemicals he hauled the red dye purina puts in thier dog/cat food a little spilled on his steel toed boots and ate completly through them from that point we never bought purina food unless it was a last resort we fed our dogs purina for years but when that happened he came home with a new dog food and he threw the rest of the purina away our 1st poodle died of cancer dad still to this day dad believes it was the purina and the chemicals they put in their food but times have changed i dont know if they still use the same stuff or not but that was back in 95 i believe...

Originally Posted by saitenyo

I also find it interesting that a food intended to help manage diabetes is chock-full of corn (including a more refined form). It doesn't even seem fit to treat the problem it's intended for, let alone an unrelated issue. I question the "science" and logic behind a product that uses a high-glycemic grain to manage a condition that requires a low-glycemic diet. That right there makes me skeptical of the validity of this food as a quality prescription diet.

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Actually, it might be the combination of ingredients... It is interesting and weird, yes, but Purina DM does work well for Diabetes and has very good reviews... BUT for that problem... It has also been used successfully for weight loss... I guess it works by keeping the glycemic index in check - not sure, but it has worked for a lot of cats... It is quite good for diabetes though...
My experience with the the vet I was seeing before, is that once he was "hooked" to D/M though, he wanted all the cats in his practice to eat it, no matter what condition they presented, and that is simply wrong This diet was SO wrong for Bugsy that is not even funny! Bugsy is allergic to chicken, he knew it, and yet he pushed and pushed it... D/M is not a diet for gastro intestinal problems, not a diet for kittens, and not a diet for gaining weight... Thus it doesn't fit any of the needs of the OP IMHO... I would be walking away from that vet just like I did walk from my vet...

I walked away from my vet today for the last time. The last straw was that he wanted to do surgery on Blue in his weakened state - even though Blue has had these lesions for YEARS and his blood work was excellent for his age.

I remembered a vet close by that my mom had taken her dog to. The vet advised against a teeth cleaning at her dog's age because of the risk truly outweighing the benefit at that point in the dog's life. This guy owns a small practice, does not sell special foods, and calls to speak directly to the patient when there is a problem.

I spoke with him today and he started the boys on Albon. He told me that he recommended a sensitive stomach food but not one that he sells - just something for "sensitive systems" or "sensitive stomachs." We are going to try that for 10 days and re-evaluate. Nothing was found in the fecal other than some mucous.

I had recently tried a new vet who came to my area, but she only comes once a week and that was not working out for me at all. *sigh*

I have been feeding Purina DM for about 4 years. All of my cats absolutely love it. Mitsy was diagnosed with diabetes about 4 years ago and we have been feeding this ever since. We also have 2 other cats that eat the DM diet. We adopted Jazzy almost 3 years ago and she has been eating it since we brought her home. We also supplemented 1 can of kitten food until she was about 10 months old. We adopted Lucy about 10 months ago and she had issues with a very soft stool and diarrhea. Her previous owners had her on a mixture of a prescription food and a sensitive stomach Purina formula. We let her try the Purina DM food when we brought her home and she liked it so much that we never gave her what was given to us by shelter. Her diarrhea was completely gone within a couple of days. I was amazed. As for the quality of Purina DM, it is horrible!! I pay about $43 for a 10lb bag which will last between 3 to 4 weeks. This past summer I was doing some research and found that the Wellness Core was a high protein diet and had much better ingredients with a slightly cheaper price tag. I tried switching their food with no such luck! They picked out the Wellness and ate the Purina DM. So for now I will stick with the Purina DM and Wellness wet food!