Hi Pam, I believe these issues are more common than your vet may think. I’m actually surprised they believe it to be uncommon.

I see dental health as an issue with wet foods in general, and dry for that matter. Cats (and other similar carnivores) keep their teeth clean gnawing on bones, with the simple remedy for that being to add some chicken necks or wings to their diet.

May I ask what your cats were fed prior to the Hill’s Gastrointestinal?

Yes, you can certainly make your own food – well worth researching raw food for cats – or even add some raw/fresh to the diet alongside the Hill’s for now, until you feel more comfortable. Given what you’ve said I would expect to see an improvement in their health.

H Jackie, is your cat on Prescription Diet for a specific condition?

Hi
I read your reviews about Hill’s cat food.I am feeding my cat this food at the moment. She is hesitant when eating it. Could you tell me what I can feed her. She is 15+years
Thanks

Hi Kathleen, phosphorous rather than protein is more the issue when a cat has a kidney condition, and some meats are lower phosphorous. Moisture is also an important factor, which is why I find renal diets in a dry kibble form somewhat inappropriate no matter how they’re formulated. The Hills and Royal Canin wet renal formulas I find to be much more appropriate, so they could be worth considering. Alternatively there are “fresh” renal diets on other websites which may help, especially in terms of adding variety and keeping the cost down of (expensive) prescription foods.

A friend of mine has an elderly cat with all sorts of skin and digestive etc issues that does well on Wellness Core dry, occasionally mixed with Fussy Cat when they can’t afford just the Wellness Core. Anything else they’ve tried so far has caused problems, and the vet diets didn’t alleviate anything. My young cats love Black Hawk which has transformed their coats from rough and dull to shiny and soft since I adopted them, and I occasionally mix in some cheaper stuff, too

The options available can be very confusing and after recently feeding my feline with Hills prescription K/D food, was further confused to find it contained rice and other ingredients which cats should not eat (i.e. rice etc). However, after reading your review above I also came to the conclusion and are reconsidering purchasing any of Hills products again. Thanks for posting the above review, it really helped.

Thanks! For cats that have skin, digestive and allergies- can you recommend any dry food – I’ve tried a few like vetological and another that was like a dried meet (I think ziwi) but they did not enjoy it even with a slow migration in their usual dry food diet

Hi Kelly, I feel many dry foods, particularly those made largely from grains, are not the best diet for a cat as an obligate carnivore. Most Hills dry foods are formulated from grains or starches rather than an emphasis on meat/organs/bones as a better diet for a cat. The wet foods seem much better in comparison to the respective dry foods.