Hill's prescription food c/d

TeamLowe

Hi all
Well after spending around £1200* and rocky's life being in danger twice, the vets have confirmed that it's crystals causing his bladder blockage, so it's the above named food from now on.
A quick google shows prices aren't astronomical, considering he's on 50g a day, so was just wondering if anyone has any tips to get it cheap?
Ta x x

* god love insurance. Once they reimburse me for the £700 of it as I had to pay for the emergency treatment upfront

krlyr

Just bear in mind that a prescription diet isn't necessarily the only way forward. With adequate research there may be alternative diets that fit the bill without costing quite so much. Had a quick google and one suggestion, for example, was a wet-only diet (good quality wet food I presume). Another was any dry food that mimicked the qualities of the c/d food - low in magnesium, as excess magnesium contributes to crystals, high methionine to make the pH of the urine more favourable and higher in salt than other foods to make the cat thirstier and drink more (which means more dilute urine/toileting more frequently so reducing crystals), as well as encouraging more fluid intake (through those kitty water fountains, adding a bit of water to dry food, switching to/adding in wet food, etc)

TeamLowe

Thanks he was exclusively on wet food before so don't think that would help, nervous to do different to vet's suggestion but will look into alternatives when he's had this box x x

krlyr

Remember that not all wet foods are equal though, what were you feeding before?

rising_from_the_ashes

Awwww hun (((hugs))) - my old cat had crystals so sympathise totally.

Are you feeding the C/D wet, dry or a mixture?
How much are you paying just now?

It does come in various sized tins (85g, 156g) I had a very quick look on the animal meds sites I use and found 24 x 156g tins for £22.55 http://www.medicanimal.com/product/~hills-prescription-diet-feline-cd/~product_id=464 and 10kg dry for £53 http://www.viovet.co.uk/Pet_Foods_Diets-Cats-Hills-Hills_Prescription_Diets-Hills_Prescription_C/D_Diets/c233_235_2919_114_177/category.html?quick_find=110372 (which actually isn't too bad a price - around £5/kg). eta sorry put wrong link in - idiot!

There's several other sites I've used (viovet, pet meds direct, best pet, vet meds direct with no problems) you usually need to shop around whenever you buy as prices can vary a lot - cashback available on some sites so worth checking.

HTH - wishing you & Rocky all the best.

rita-rabbit

Glucosamine - give him his daily.

I feed mine 1/2 wet 1/2 dry - the dry is Burns - I don't feed prescription food - too expensive. Wet is Aniconda carny, bozita or Smilla - depending on which is cheaper when I order (from zooplus). Oh & feline fayre from Asda when they are selling large tins.

rising_from_the_ashes

Meant to add last night & forgot ....

I know £53 is a lot to pay out in one go but the bag will last around 200 days and brings the cost down to around 26p / day - which compares really favourably with pouches/dry "normal" food.

I've recently started buying big bags of RC for my two (they eat different ones;)) and it keeps fine - if you have one near you, £stretcher do 14 litre storage tubs with snap lids and the 10kg bag will fit between these (you're then only opening the lid constantly on the one you're using which helps keep the others fresh). HTH:)

TeamLowe

Thanks for all your ideas guys, I'll see how he does on this stuff as it is comparable in price to ordinary food, Felix pouches are about 41p a day when they're on offer.
I'm hoping this fixes him for good and we never look back, especially considering how much he hates the vets now! X x

paddypaws101

I am sure you can buy Methionine cheaply and add that to regular food to bring it to the correct acidity....obviously you would need to check with your vet about dosing and suitability.

Rev

I assume your et sells hills? If they had sold Royal Canin, you would have been advised to use that.

I'm obviously not telling you to ignore the vet, I would never do that, but since vets have 1 days food training in 4 years, they have a bare minimum of food knowledge (like our gp's) so I urge you to please ask a trained nutritionist what diets are available. I've always found Arden Granges nutritionalist exceptionally helpful, and he has twice recommended foods other than AG to me for my dog when he had tum problems. But I'm sure google will turn up independent ones.

Burns also have a lot of alternatives to prescription diets.

As for the food, I've always found vetuk.co.uk to be about the cheapest. Not sure if they sell the food you're after, but worth a look.

But please take my advice and ask a nutritionist what foods are best for your boy.

Carer

We have a cat diagnosed with bladder crystals (FLUTD) and stupidly thought that we could save on the cost of the special food by feeding him differently.

We tried: high quality wet food diet - result was bloody urine puddles and eventual blockage that required emergency treatment so on vet's advice we put him back on prescription diet.

Then we tried: raw rood diet - resulted in bloody urine puddles, blockage and 2 days in vets, so we went back to prescription diet.

We have also tried the dried prescription Hills, the royal canin pouches and one other I can't remember, and all resulted in the same thing.

The ONLY thing that works long-term for our cat is the tinned Hills S/D, which is not designed to be used long term, but after the last emergency and seeing a cat screaming in agony due to an almost burst bladder, the vet has said that there is no other option, as even removing his penis (this is done in severe cases) is not certain to stop the issue.
It will probably shorten his life but at least he is now in no pain and has been symptom free for 2 years.
We buy our food online from VETUK at around £25ish for 24 tins.