My picky cat needs new hydrolyzed Rx canned food. What are options?

Blue Buffalo is a terrible brand of food, and many animals put on it have diarrhea and other GI problems as a result. I NEVER recommend it. I recommend Royal Canin Hydrolyzed Protein Adult HP dry cat food. Royal Canin is an excellent brand. I hope this helps!

Your only option is to try another protein source that is easie to find or switching brands. Royal Canin makes a rabbit and pea formula and a venison and pea cat food for allergies. Hills does make the D/D in other variety such as salmon that you can also try. Unfortunately they are all expensive though

Hi there and thanks for posting. The Blue Buffo Brand Rx food for kidney diet has not been around for as long as some of their other competitors such as Royal Canin and Hills renal diets. From my experience, I have prescribed this to several of my renal disease patients and they have done just fine on this diet for quite a while. If the Blue Buffalo Rx is more appealing or palatable for Tony then this may be an ok option for him. I hope this helps!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Romeo. What a handsome boy! Pet nutrition is a confusing topic and the internet is filled with inaccurate information. I agree that high quality ingredients are important. However, it is equally important that these ingredients are combined appropriately and in the right proportions to give the best nutrition. For this reason, I support companies that have board certified veterinary nutritionists on staff and perform feeding trials in live animals as opposed to simple laboratory analysis. I like Purina ProPlan, Royal Canin and Hill's Science Diet. They are will have each have a variety of flavors and formulas that would be appropriate for him. I hope this information helps!

Most of the premium brands (Blue Buffalo, Canidae, Orijen, Royal Canin) should be fine. Stay away from store or discount brands as these typically contain low quality ingredients and more fillers. Choose a canned food that comes from the can looking like a hockey puck. It should have a named protein source of animal origin. If you must feed dry, choose a grain free diet. Stay away from foods that are minced, diced or have sauces/gravies. these are usually higher in carb content which your cat does not need.

Many times cats will respond to a prescription diet using hydrolyzed protein. Both Hill's and Royal Canin carry these types, which you can discuss with your vet. If you are looking for a cat food that isn't a prescription food, you will have to do a food trial to attempt to find a diet that Junior's colon will respond to: "Another approach is the use of the novel protein diets. The idea here is that the patient cannot have an immunological reaction to a protein source it has never experienced. (It takes long-term exposure to a protein before the immune system will respond against it, so a new protein should be safe.) This means using an unusual protein such as rabbit, venison, fish (for dogs) or duck, so long as the patient has not been fed these foods before. Again, it takes about a month to see a good response." There are many great brands of cat food that you can find with these types of ingredients at the pet store. A homecooked diet is also an option, but it needs to be formulated by a veterinary nutritionist to make sure it is completely balanced with everything that Junior needs. Also, don't forget to talk to your vet about supplementing B12, if needed in Junior's case. Here is info on IBD: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598 And here is information on a food trial (it says dogs but the same concept applies for cats!): http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2499

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Sage. Most over-the-counter foods are contaminated with ingredients not listed on the label. For example, if the diet lists the main ingredient as salmon, there could be small amounts of chicken in the food. This makes it very difficult if a patient has a food allergy. Prescription veterinary diets such as a hydrolyzed or a limited ingredient diet will be most successful for a food allergy. They are more expensive, but in the long run typically end up saving you money. If she is not constantly seeing her veterinarian for exams and medications due to skin disease, this will save you money. Hydrolyzed diets have the protein source chopped into such small pieces that the body's immune system does not recognize and react to it. Examples are Royal Canin Veterinary Diets Ultamino, Purina ProPlan Veterinary Diets HA or Hills ZD. The same companies make limited ingredient diets with one protein and one carbohydrate source. It can be some trial and error to find the best food. I hope this information helps!