Experience with Hill's Prescription y/d?

[peachys mom]

I have enjoyed reading all the posts concerning using Hill's Prescription y/d. I have two 12 yrs old cats. Both are in great health eating Fromm. However I have started noticing a loss of weight, howling at night and a lot of anxiety in one of my cats. My vet diagnosed Hyperthyroidism. Her blood work came in at a 9. The only option to consider was trying this food. I recognize that the ingredients are not what I wish for, however there can be little to no iodine in the food. (It needs to be deficient in iodine content as to limit the ability of the thyroid follicular cells to produce the thyroid hormones T3 and T4). When you put them (cats)  into iodine deficiency it reduces the production of thyroid hormones.

 I started her on the dry and wet. She was not crazy about eating the wet, however I added a VERY TINY bit of beef gravy and some water and she has been eating the wet just fine. She munches on the dry sometimes. Her weight was down to 7.2 lbs. and now she is up to 8 lbs. She is regaining her coat and is relaxed and back to her old self. She has been on this food for 4 months. The challenge is not letting her eat my other cats food. I feed them separately and am careful not to leave any "crumbs" from his food lying around. I have mixed feelings about feeding this food, however our options are limited so this was the best choice for me and so far I am pleased. I will keep in touch as the months go by as to her success!

 

[lucatgirl]

Hello Everyone,

Last night at a party the group I was talking to were talking about their children (human ones) when I said my children were fury four legged loving cats, some change topics with me and started a nice chat and ended up talking about "conditions" finally to talk to another "cat mom" about y/d. Her old baby has several issues, one of them is according to her, can't have much protein, don't know the actual facts, so no comments about it. Anyway she said her 17 y/o cat was doing very good in y/d and since my 12 y/o baby is in Felimazole (5mg morning, 2.5 night), I decided to do my research everywhere to, of course, ending reading wonderful posts here (best website for cat parents ever). I decided I will try y/d wet for few weeks (along with her meds) and see see what happens. Thank you all for your wonderful posts.

 

[labmom3]

You obviously have not researched Hill's Scient Diet.  By giving readers the impression it's high quality food is doing a disservice to anyone who reads this.  Science Diet is high in carbs, and low in protein.  The ingredients are far from nutritious.  Cats are carnivores and need high protein.  It's frustrating when people listen to vets, who are likely making commission from Science Diet, and have not done their own research.

 

[catrionasiobhan]

Hi All. Was initially going to post a glowing review of hill's yd food but after reading all the information I'm really concerned for my cat's welfare.

Cinnamon was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism several years ago. Over 7 years ago I think. She was put onto the medication but it was close to killing her. After a few weeks of treatment she developed mammary tumors and was operated on. I questioned the medication being the cause but they assured me it wasn't. A few weeks later and her health was declining. They presented 3 options: have her put to sleep, see how she does and if necessary put to sleep, send her to a specialist with the hope that there is a minute chance she could be saved. I decided to take her to see a specialist. A month and £1000 later the mediction is named as the culprit. They advise the only thing to try is Hill's y/d diet. The food genuinely saved her. She's been eating nothing but that for years. She's still skinny and does get bored of it but she's alive all these years later and mostly happy. But, although I'm worried about all the advice given out we really have no other option...Anyone else in this situation?

 

[missmimz]

Hi All. Was initially going to post a glowing review of hill's yd food but after reading all the information I'm really concerned for my cat's welfare.

Cinnamon was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism several years ago. Over 7 years ago I think. She was put onto the medication but it was close to killing her. After a few weeks of treatment she developed mammary tumors and was operated on. I questioned the medication being the cause but they assured me it wasn't. A few weeks later and her health was declining. They presented 3 options: have her put to sleep, see how she does and if necessary put to sleep, send her to a specialist with the hope that there is a minute chance she could be saved. I decided to take her to see a specialist. A month and £1000 later the mediction is named as the culprit. They advise the only thing to try is Hill's y/d diet. The food genuinely saved her. She's been eating nothing but that for years. She's still skinny and does get bored of it but she's alive all these years later and mostly happy. But, although I'm worried about all the advice given out we really have no other option...Anyone else in this situation?

There is little evidence that y/d actually help control T4 levels long term, and biologically the food isn't appropriate for obligate carnivores (cats). Is there a reason she can't have i-131 or surgery? 

http://www.endocrinevet.info/2011/11/is-protein-content-of-hills-yd-too-low.html

http://www.endocrinevet.info/2011/09/treating-hyperthyroid-cats-with-iodine.html

 

[sweetpea24]

One food is not the holy grail for all cats. Unfortunately. I have a client whose patient was on a transdermal form of thyroid medication and didn't do well. The meds were stopped and now he is on y/d and is doing much better. We will see how he does long term but his t4 levels are stable. But this doesn't mean it will work for other hyperthyroid cats. Some cats need medication in a specific dose and iodine can be found in other things like tap water-somwthing the doctor I work with just discovered.