Hill'd z/d v. Royal Canin Ultamino

[LAL]

[Couldn't decide between Nutrition and Health for this?]

Melody is a not-quite 7 y/o neutered female that I adopted just over 2 years ago. I adopted her at about 13 lbs 4 oz and she is 14 lbs 3 oz now. She came home on dry and happily transitioned to wet food after we'd been together about 4 months--you can tell a cat has had canned before when you open the can and the 'pop' makes her eyes go wide and she makes her WANT plain. She has a 3 oz can of Fancy Feast chicken with garden greens in the morning, some Iams high protein kibble in a puzzle feeder during the day, and has been arguing with me in the evenings about the 3 oz can I want to give her and her desire for more of the kibble. [She had liked the FF tuna with garden greens, then ignored that. I have tried some of the Tiki tunas, which she likes off and on. Nothing is really more than a 'C' in her grade book.]

Her poops have never been really solid, semi-formed. But, she has been healthy and that seemed to just be how she was. This past week--for only the 2nd time since I've had her--she has had the 'splorts' [my description], with very runny poops. She has still been eating and acting fine. But, I was concerned and had her to the vet today. There was nothing obviously wrong with her--he gave her a good going over. Rather than invest in total body function blood profile, abdominal ultrasound, possible endoscopy, or biopsy, I opted for the conservative approach of a hypoallergenic diet trial.

Sticker shock.

Does any one have an opinion between the Hill's z/d and the Royal Canin Ultamino? I'd prefer to feed cans, but she may feel differently. Is one more acceptable to cats taste-wise in your experience?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Sorry no one has responded yet. Your question is pretty specific, and may not elicit a lot of responses because of that. So, the best you can do is compare the ingredients in each of the products you are looking at and see what appeals best to you. Or, once you have checked out the ingredients, you might list them both here and see if that gets a better response once members can see what is actually in each of these foods. And, are they dry foods or canned - I wasn't sure based on your comment about you preferring to feed cans.

Has she ever been through a thorough vet check-up - meaning a full blood panel (CBC, Chemistry Profile, T4, urinalysis, and fecal testing)? She is closing in on her senior years (generally starts around 8-10 yo), so if she hasn't had all of these tests, you might want to do them - if for no other reason than getting a baseline to use to match against future tests.

 

[Tobermory]

I don’t have personal experience with either of these, but I often use the information on catfooddb.com as a guideline. Here is what that site has on the z/d:
Hill's Prescription Diet Z/d Feline Cat Food Review

Unfortunately, they don’t the Ultamino, but maybe it goes by another name. Here’s the main page for the Royal Canin brand:
CatFoodDB - Royal Canin Cat Food Reviews

In addition to what FeebysOwner says about screening, I offer the following:

Based on my reading, I personally wouldn’t choose either of them—or anything by Hill’s or Royal Canin. I adopted Mocha two years ago when she was three, and she had soft stools, too. No ‘splorts’ (perfect description! ), but very soft, sometimes formed, sometimes not. I focused on giving her a high protein, low carb canned diet with little-to-no fillers or gums, mostly the Rawz brand of canned initially before I transitioned to homemade. I also started giving her probiotics. S. Boulardii has shown some success in helping with diarrhea, and there are probiotics that contain it along with other helpful bacteria for gut health.

There’s an outstanding website about feline nutrition by a vet whose specialty is feline nutrition: catinfo.org. While she is an ardent proponent of raw feeding, she talks at length about the need for high protein, carb diets for cats and is supportive of the right canned food diet. It’s a great resource!

 

[LAL]

Hi. Sorry no one has responded yet. Your question is pretty specific, and may not elicit a lot of responses because of that. So, the best you can do is compare the ingredients in each of the products you are looking at and see what appeals best to you. Or, once you have checked out the ingredients, you might list them both here and see if that gets a better response once members can see what is actually in each of these foods. And, are they dry foods or canned - I wasn't sure based on your comment about you preferring to feed cans.

Has she ever been through a thorough vet check-up - meaning a full blood panel (CBC, Chemistry Profile, T4, urinalysis, and fecal testing)? She is closing in on her senior years (generally starts around 8-10 yo), so if she hasn't had all of these tests, you might want to do them - if for no other reason than getting a baseline to use to match against future tests.

She had blood tests in August prior to her dental cleaning. Her health is generally very good--except for soft stools and a Grade II murmur they are watching.

I had a bit of sticker shock at the price of the Rx foods. I will spend the money on her, just wasn't sure if Hills or Royal Canin was preferable.

Thank you for letting me know about being too specific--I take a while to get back to check on stuff because I am lousy at texting and need to be on a laptop/desktop to type.

 

[LAL]

I don’t have personal experience with either of these, but I often use the information on catfooddb.com as a guideline. Here is what that site has on the z/d:
Hill's Prescription Diet Z/d Feline Cat Food Review

Unfortunately, they don’t the Ultamino, but maybe it goes by another name. Here’s the main page for the Royal Canin brand:
CatFoodDB - Royal Canin Cat Food Reviews

In addition to what FeebysOwner says about screening, I offer the following:

Based on my reading, I personally wouldn’t choose either of them—or anything by Hill’s or Royal Canin. I adopted Mocha two years ago when she was three, and she had soft stools, too. No ‘splorts’ (perfect description! ), but very soft, sometimes formed, sometimes not. I focused on giving her a high protein, low carb canned diet with little-to-no fillers or gums, mostly the Rawz brand of canned initially before I transitioned to homemade. I also started giving her probiotics. S. Boulardii has shown some success in helping with diarrhea, and there are probiotics that contain it along with other helpful bacteria for gut health.

There’s an outstanding website about feline nutrition by a vet whose specialty is feline nutrition: catinfo.org. While she is an ardent proponent of raw feeding, she talks at length about the need for high protein, carb diets for cats and is supportive of the right canned food diet. It’s a great resource!

I am still deciding if I want to use these expensive foods. I 'feel' that part of the issue has been ME. I have her on a 3 oz can that she likes in the morning. But, I have been trying to find something else she likes for the evening. And, I have likely been doing too many changes too quickly. She hates pates. She only likes chicken and some tuna/salmon. I was also definitely overfeeding over the holidays--yeah, I can control MY weight at the holidays, but not hers. RME

Things have 'firmed up' a bit with Fortiflora over the last day or so. I had used S. Boulardii on myself in the past [antibiotic side effect] with success. How would I determine S. Boulardii dosage for a 14 lb 4 oz feline? [Who should be 11 lb-ish]

 

[Tobermory]

How would I determine S. Boulardii dosage for a 14 lb 4 oz feline? [Who should be 11 lb-ish]

Here’s a great summary of diarrhea/soft stool in cats with recommendations on probiotics/s. Boulardii and dosages. (The author helped create EZ Complete, the raw feeding supplement which many of us here use. She used to be a very active contributor on TCS.)

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

LTS3 gives or has given her cats s. Boulardii and might comment!

 

[Rylka]

I fed my cat canned z/d for a food allergy issue, and honestly I would not recommend it unless absolutely necessary. It is a pate food, and so gummy that I had to use a wet spoon to cut it into bites, then add additional water to even get her to try eating it. I cannot overstate the stickiness of that stuff.
I'd suggest sticking to the your morning food for both wet meals for a bit and see if that helps.

 

[mightyboosh]

Just my personal experience this but I swear by Hill's prescription id for Oliver. When he was about eleven his poos went runny and he was in distress.
The vet diagnosed pancreatitis and advised the Hill's stuff. He's been fine since.
They do it in wet as well but even that gives him runny poos so he's stuck with the dry version.
I was lucky in that he actually likes it and took to it straight away.

 

[MissClouseau]

I don't have personal experience with my cat about either but my brother's cat has been on Hill's z/d dry food for years now. He's around 10 years old right now and has been with my brother since he was a small kitten. He had UTI once over stress when they moved countries. That was the only big health issue he had.