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Old December 19th, 2006, 12:58 AM
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Price comparison: Purina vet food

My new-old kitty Sierra has just come back to me. Somewhere along the line, a veterinarian talked my ex-husband into buying her Purina Veterinary food, OM, I think it's called, for overweight cats. I'm not dumb enough to feed any cat of mine something that has no meat protein in it until the 4th ingredient, and that's beaks and feathers! But just for curiosity sake, does anyone happen to know how much this stuff costs? I could phone the vet, but I honestly don't know any vets which carry the Purina line, the ones around here seem to have Hills or MediCal only.

Here are the ingredients in the Purina OM:
Quote:
Corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, soybean meal, poultry by-product meal, oat fiber, soy protein isolate, brewers rice, fish meal, powdered cellulose, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), phosphoric acid, brewers dried yeast, calcium carbonate, animal digest, potassium chloride, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, salt, choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, Vitamin E supplement, taurine, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, ascorbic acid (source of Vitamin C), manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite.

(They state that this food is 50% protein, but what most people won't know is that vegetable protein isn't digested the same way meat protein is, and isn't as available to cats as protein from animal sources. Poor Sierra, eating a vegetarian diet! She'll be off of it as soon as I get back from Christmas.)

Thanks in advance!
Melissa
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Forever in my heart: Patches Gizmo (1987 - 2008), Sierra (1999 - 2010), Rusty (1999 - 2012), Aubrie (1999-2014)


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Old December 19th, 2006, 08:47 AM
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OMG Melissa,that's awful..and seeing it's from the vet,probably expensive,I don't know
There are plenty of"good"foods out there for elderly overweight cats..
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Old December 19th, 2006, 12:50 PM
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dogmelissa dogmelissa is offline
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I know, isn't it nasty?!?!?!

I agree about there being so many better foods... and so many that you don't have to pay your vet for which will do the same (or better) as the ones they want.

Actually.... I found an interesting article yesterday, but I think I should post it in a new thread.

My other pets all eat Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance; the girls eat "Venison & Green Pea" & Taz eats the "Reduced" (Cube eats Canine Venison & Brown Rice). Both of the girls are what the vet calls "slightly overweight", and they're not getting any fatter on that food. If I can get Sierra on that without any probems (it shouldn't be a problem), then I can feed her in the kennel with Aubrie & Rusty. If she needs to eat the Reduced to maintain her weight, then I'll have to figure something else out.

Any Calgary-area people here who know any vets that sell this Purina stuff?

Melissa
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Old December 19th, 2006, 02:26 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Yeah, no, I don't know how much it costs, but IMO diet food is just a load of bull. Just feed less.
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Old December 30th, 2006, 04:34 PM
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Well, yes and no.... Taz is on "diet" food, and I don't think it's a load of bull. I think a lot of vet food is a load of bull (other than the prescription ones for specific health problems, though I don't understand what's so special about them), but diet food serves a very specific purpose.

Taz, for example, weighs 21 lbs. He used to weigh 23 lbs, and was eating non-diet food. For his weight, I had to calculate how much to feed him, because the bag didn't list higher than 15 lbs. As it turned out, to prevent him from getting any fatter (he never lost weight on it), he was eating less food than a 6-8 lb cat would eat, which was like 1/3 cup per day. Try keeping a 23 lb cat feeling like he's NOT starving to death on that much food? Impossible. Study after study after study on humans has shown that regular fasting/skipping meals actually causes a person to *gain* weight when they eat, as the body thinks it's being starved and converts everything it then gets into fat for the eventuality of all food being cut off. I don't see why a cat would be any different, and saw it in Taz. Now, he's eating a "reduced" formula and eats 4 meals of just under 1/4 cup a day, totalling about 3/4 cup each day. He's a much happier cat, has lost 2 lbs (I'd like him to lose more but I'd rather he be a bit chubby and happy than skinny & miserable!), and has more energy, too.

As for diet prescription foods, here's an interesting article, though it's a little old now: http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/f...ood/index.html

(there are also some interesting links in the sidebar of this article)

As for Sierra, I'm switching her off the vet food onto the same Reduced food that Taz eats. I just started the transition today.

Melissa
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Old December 30th, 2006, 04:43 PM
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technodoll technodoll is offline
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I agree with Prin.

from http://www.petextras.com/10petfoodsec.html:

Quote:
4. The Joke about "Lite" Diets ----------------------

So, your pet is overweight. How did that happen anyway? There is really no mystery here. Too many calories, too little activity. Wait! The fix is right here in the bag marked, "Lite and Fit". Right? Doubtful at best. Since the advent of these "Lite" diets, has there been a decrease in the number of overweight pets? Hmmmm... These are major profit centers for the makers. They contain less meat and fat (the costlier) ingredients and more (much) of the grains and fillers to reduce the number of calories. Then, guess what? You get to pay more! Guess what again? Your pet won't lose weight! Fact is, your pet will feel even less like moving around with a belly full of chaff than formerly with another diet. Don't buy into this ruse. It is much better to feed a good food in the amount sufficient to provide the calories for the desired body weight and to INCREASE the activity level by 300%. You've heard it said, "Diet without exercise doesn't work". That's true for pets as well.
so you CAN feed less of a good, regular food and how do you know if your cat is "starving"? it's just probably used to having a belly full of food and doesn't like the change.... well i would say "tough", and I would feed less of a better food and increase the exercise with more playtime and toys to ensure proper and healthy weight loss
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Old December 30th, 2006, 04:57 PM
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Felidea has a great reduced fat food. My kitties loved it. I also found that when given wet food they lose weight alot faster than when they eat dry.
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Old December 30th, 2006, 05:18 PM
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The best weight loss will come from eliminating grains/carbs from the diet, my suggestion would be to switch to EVO, yes it is expensive but per feeding will end up costing far less than the Purina Precription food as you will be needing to feed less because their are no grains used as fillers, and you would be feeding meat not feathers

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=product-detail&pxsl=//product%5B@id='1255'%5D
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Old December 31st, 2006, 12:32 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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The way the diet food works is you feed a little bit less, but the food is so stripped of nutrition that the part you do feed is just filler- keeps the cat full. Meanwhile, the cat's fur gets dull, and the body isn't getting balanced nutrition.

That's why it's better to gradually reduce the amount you're feeding of a good food. The cat still gets the nutrition it needs, without all that extra fiber, filler and pooping.
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Old January 4th, 2007, 12:51 PM
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With most things in life, it's a personal decision. There are many different opinions on this, and mine is that Taz was miserable eating a reduced AMOUNT of "regular" food, so he eats a similar amount as before of "diet" food. He's lost weight, his coat is NOT dull, his poops aren't any bigger, and he's happy. The most important part in that is, he's HAPPY.

I wanted to add that I have tried Taz on the Evo, and he developed bloody diarrhea (all over the condo I was trying to sell), and had to spend a day at the emergency vet and then eat canned Hills A/D for 3 weeks until his digestive tract cleared. He was extremely sick, and as a result, Evo is not something I will feed to any of my cats, nor recommend to anyone I know. Again, that's based on personal opinion and things that I've seen and been through.

Thanks for the help on the Purina issue.
Melissa
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Forever in my heart: Patches Gizmo (1987 - 2008), Sierra (1999 - 2010), Rusty (1999 - 2012), Aubrie (1999-2014)


"If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet."
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  #11  
Old January 4th, 2007, 01:24 PM
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Any idea why Evo caused the bloody diarrhea? I can understand the diarrhea, pretty much any dog can get it from a food switch, but what caused the bleeding seems odd.

Glad to hear your pups doing better.
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Please please please give Maggie the steak! Its not too big for her little mouth!

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Old January 5th, 2007, 12:27 PM
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dogmelissa dogmelissa is offline
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No idea... quite likely his body just could not process the high protein levels, since it was used to something a lot lower. I did a transition, but perhaps it wasn't long enough.... the vet that saw him said that she thought his system had just been shocked and irritated and had been forced to work too hard to try to digest such a rich food. It was touch-and-go on *any* food for a few months after that and even now, if he gets too much canned food (I give him a little as a treat), or gets off his feeding schedule, he'll get diarrhea again --not bloody diarrhea, but still icky.

And also, just as a side note, both Sierra and Taz are cats. I didn't know Innova made a high-protein (Evo) food for dogs.

And for Prin: pet food manufacturers are required to comply with AAFCO standards, which indicate that food is nutritionally complete and balanced. Otherwise, it has to be marketed and sold as a "supplement" or "treat". Even Innova makes a dry & canned "diet" food for cats, and here is information about them:

Regular canned food:
"Moisture 78.0 %
Protein 11.0 %
Fat 7.0 %
Fiber 1.5 %
Calories 37.6 Kcal/oz
Calories 1325 Kcal/Kg
Calories 497 KCals/13.2 oz. Can
Calories 207 KCals/5.5 oz. Can"

Lite Canned:
"Moisture 78.0 %
Protein 9.0 %
Fat 4.0 %
Fiber 1.5 %
Calories 26.36 Kcal/oz
Calories 930 Kcal/Kg
Calories 348 KCals/13.2 oz. Can
Calories 145 KCals/5.5 oz. Can"

Innova Regular Dry: (NOT Evo)
"Moisture 10.0 %
Protein 36.0 %
Fat 20.0 %
Fiber 2.50 %
Calories 1867 Kcal/lb
Calories 4107 Kcal/Kg
Calories 537 KCals/Cup"

Innova Reduced Fat Dry:
"Moisture 10.0 %
Protein 32.0 %
Fat 10.0 %
Fiber 5.50 %
Calories 1560 Kcal/lb
Calories 3432 Kcal/Kg
Calories 398 KCals/Cup"
All of this information is from their website: http://www.naturapet.com/

And just for comparison sake, here is the Natural Balance Reduced that I currently feed Taz (this is a dry formula):
"Crude Protein 27.5% minimum
Crude Fat 9.0% minimum
Crude Fiber 6.0% maximum
Moisture 10.0% maximum
Magnesium 0.1% maximum
Taurine 0.16% minimum
Omega 3 Fatty Acids 0.5% minimum
Omega 6 Fatty Acids 3.0% minimum"

And:
Quote:
Natural Balance® is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the A.A.F.C.O. cat food nutrient profile for all adult cats.

But yes, they are all doing well now.

And I have to repeat that food choice is a personal decision, and I don't appreciate being told that I'm making my cats have dull coats and imbalanced nutrition by feeding them "diet" food, when I'm certainly not.

Melissa
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Guardian of Taz (10) & one-eyed wonder Cube (11).
Forever in my heart: Patches Gizmo (1987 - 2008), Sierra (1999 - 2010), Rusty (1999 - 2012), Aubrie (1999-2014)


"If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet."

Last edited by dogmelissa; January 5th, 2007 at 01:09 PM. Reason: To add in nutritional info
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Old January 5th, 2007, 03:48 PM
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Well of course its a personal choice, that cats cant go shopping for themselves.

As for the whole AAFCO standard for a balanced diet..thats means diddly squat to me when Iams, & Purina can claim they meet that standard
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Please please please give Maggie the steak! Its not too big for her little mouth!

Their impression of power is remarkable. They give one the feeling of immense reserves of energy, of great reservoirs of knowledge, of tolerance of disposition, obstinacy of purpose, and tenacity of principle. They are responsive, and they have a lot of quiet, good sense.

-J. Wentworth Day, from The Dog in Sport, 1938
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Old January 5th, 2007, 04:20 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Yeah, the standards that have to be met for the AAFCO are so low. Even ol' roy meets those standards. Diddly squat, indeed.

Quote:
Even Innova makes a dry & canned "diet" food for cats, and here is information about them
Every dog food company has them because the consumer is so brainwashed into thinking they're great, and if they didn't they'd lose that corner of the market and seeing as our dogs and cats are getting more and more obese, that corner is getting bigger and bigger.

You notice the difference in terminology in the ones you posted? The Natural Balance one is "crude protein". The real, metabolizable protein could be much lower, especially if the food is full of undigestible fillers (aka diet food).

I'm not saying you are purposely dulling your cat's coat. I'm saying if your cat's coat dulls, please change foods because diet foods tend to do that.
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Old January 5th, 2007, 06:30 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prin View Post
... and seeing as our dogs and cats are getting more and more obese, that corner is getting bigger and bigger.
too funny!

That said, we feed our cats the Performatrin Ultra Salmon formula which is sort of a diet food. It gives them a false sense of fullness instead of filling them up with junk (or so the party line goes). The reason we switched to it is that my cat, who used to be an outdoor/indoor country girl, is now confined, but still eats like she's running the 'back 40' every day, so I had to do something to help her housebound self out. Both her and the other cat (who hadn't lost his slender figure) have great fur, nice and shiny and are in prime health (plus, their teeth have also gotten cleaner, the vet was oh so very impressed and thought we had resorted to brushing!)
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