Not sure how good Hill's diet food is

[MarkB]

I thought I would post in this section as health I think the health section should be used for health conditions.

Kylie has always been a heavy cat. She was big when I got her and after several years of eating Hill's light + wet, she was gaining weight. At her heaviest, she was 7.05kg. I switched her to Hill's R/D, which she was on for several years. Even then, her weight hovered around 6.5kg. She kept having diarrhea and I wondered if it was cereals. I decided to take her off the R/D and give her mainly wet + a small amount of Purina One sensitive. I noticed recently than she had been losing weight and also coughing now & then. The vet weighed her today, she has dropped to 4.6kg! - I wondered if it was health related, but the vet said shewas in such good condition, she couldn't justify doing bloods unless I insisted. She said Kylie's heart sounds perfect, as does her respiration. She said Kylie is now at her idea weight (for a big cat) Even her autoimmune eye problem has vanished (for now at least) - she just recommended cat malt and to bring her in again if the coughing persisted. She said Humans, cats and another animal (I forget which) have the most sensitive cough mechanism of all animals.

I had always heard that Hill's had a name for weight gain, but you would expect their obesity food to cause it. Admittedly some of the weight loss is down to age, but I doubt it all is.

PS - She has had either boiled (microwaved) coley (or other white fish) or canned tuna, nearly every day in the 13 years since I adopted her.

[georgie girl]

That's strange, we've got a very large cat; that's always been on the large side and he has an on - off cough that the vet can't explain. He's had all the blood tests known to man and it isn't anything sinister. We give him a food supplement now. It comes in the form of a gravy like goo and it's called Enisyl-F. Two weeks on that and the cough completely disappears.

[bobbys girl]

At her heaviest, she was 7.05kg.

Crikey Mark, I thought Grace was big! Her problem is that she is a hoover. She follows Purdy around and hoovers up what skinny Purdy leaves (like Jack Spratt and his wife :lol)

Is that part of the problem?

[meriad]

I suspect that a big issue with all these dried foods is their cereal content. Because of Harry I've switched mine from the usual Royal Canin Sensitive (which they all like) to the JWB Cereal Free and I do think they've all benefited from it.

Interestingly enough when I was feeding mine the Purina Sensitive one of them (I suspect Harry) would regularly bring it back up.

[MarkB]

Kylie has never been a big eater - In fact I have rarely seen her eat from another cat's dish. Anyway it isn't a problem now she is down to 4.6kg

[Walesgang]

Henry (who IS a big eater) weighs around 7kg

He was put on a Hills prescription diet at one stage but lost no weight at all, and he was miserable too.

We now make loads of effort to stop him hoovering everyone else's food. Ok, he may not be losing anything, but he's not gaining anyway. Plus he's happier having a more normal diet.