Hill's D/d Dry Food (prescription Diet)

Anyone is feeding their cat this prescription food? My cat has an IBD and after trying raw, cans, premium dry foods, this is the only one that forms her stools to a decent consistency. She loves some canned food as well, but they all giver her diarrhea. I know dry food is not good, and it kills me to think that's all she will eat for the rest of her life?

Hi. I don't use that food, but was wondering if you wanted to try mixing some water with it, since your cat will eat wet food. That would at least help to resolve any issue with water intake. If it is the food's ingredients you don't like, I am not sure any of the other similar type foods are any different but you could compare them. I believe Royal Canin and Purina both have similar foods, and perhaps Blue Buffalo as well.

I had a cat years ago who ate a prescription dry food from Hill's all his life. He never had any problems because of that.

FeebysOwner said:

Hi. I don't use that food, but was wondering if you wanted to try mixing some water with it, since your cat will eat wet food. That would at least help to resolve any issue with water intake. If it is the food's ingredients you don't like, I am not sure any of the other similar type foods are any different but you could compare them. I believe Royal Canin and Purina both have similar foods, and perhaps Blue Buffalo as well.

Click to expand...

She is drinking water well separately. Not sure if she will like the texture of the water in dry food but will try! I think the moisture in cans gives her diarrhea.

blueyedgirl5946 said:

I had a cat years ago who ate a prescription dry food from Hill's all his life. He never had any problems because of that.

Click to expand...

ok that's good to know, although it is sad

Softmeows my cat had a kidney issue. But he lived to be 14 years old and never had any more kidney problems or problems caused by eating the dry food all his life.

Have you seen these web sites for treating IBD?

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD

Many IBD cats have super sensitive tummies and things that they used to eat with no problem in the past now causes a flare up, loose poop, etc. Chicken is a common protein some IBD cats can no longer eat. The "blander" the food (ie, few to no fillers), the better it is for many IBD cats. LID type novel protein foods seem to work best. What raw food did you try? A commercial brand or from a recipe?

Probiotics and S. boulardii (a yeast) can be helpful to IBD cats. S. bouardii in particular can help with diarrhea. There is info here: Probiotics for Cats

LTS3 said:

Have you seen these web sites for treating IBD?

IBDKitties – Helping Save Lives…One Paw at a Time
Feline IBD

Many IBD cats have super sensitive tummies and things that they used to eat with no problem in the past now causes a flare up, loose poop, etc. Chicken is a common protein some IBD cats can no longer eat. The "blander" the food (ie, few to no fillers), the better it is for many IBD cats. LID type novel protein foods seem to work best. What raw food did you try? A commercial brand or from a recipe?

Probiotics and S. boulardii (a yeast) can be helpful to IBD cats. S. bouardii in particular can help with diarrhea. There is info here: Probiotics for Cats

Click to expand...

I have tried the best holistic raw foods, novel proteins in non grain limited ingredient diets, and S. Boulardi probiotics. Everything gave her a liquid immediate diarrhea, where she eats and then just runs to the litter box. Only this dry food works unfortunately. I try to give her literally a teaspoon of wet prescription food which she likes but even then I see her poop is a little soft at the end. She also had antibiotics.

Is your cat currently on any medicines to help the IBD? My IBD cat started on pred, Flagyl, Cerenia, and other meds. Eventually he needed just the pred which he finally got off of last fall. He's always eaten raw food so I didn't have to change that, just not feed him chicken.

How long did you try each of the the other foods for? Generally you have to stick with a food for 13 weeks or so.

Hills Z/D is also for sensitive tummies. I don't know if it would help the same way the D/D is. The ingredients aren't great either. But as long as it helps the diarrhea and IBD

LTS3 said:

Is your cat currently on any medicines to help the IBD? My IBD cat started on pred, Flagyl, Cerenia, and other meds. Eventually he needed just the pred which he finally got off of last fall. He's always eaten raw food so I didn't have to change that, just not feed him chicken.

How long did you try each of the the other foods for? Generally you have to stick with a food for 13 weeks or so.

Hills Z/D is also for sensitive tummies. I don't know if it would help the same way the D/D is. The ingredients aren't great either. But as long as it helps the diarrhea and IBD

Click to expand...

Thank you! I prefer the non medicinal route if I can help it. We tried Z/D and it was not good = diarrhea. She likes Z/D cans though, and those are the ones I feed her tiny amount which I feel contribute to softer ending of her poops. D/D is venison and Z/D is hydrolyzed chicken. I guess the hydrolyzed is still irritating to her, but somehow venison is less so. I also tried rabbit limited ingredient and it as terrible!

What canned prescription food have you tried - just the z/d, or also the d/d canned (venison)?

Please reconsider medicine. IBD is painful for many cats and medicine needs to be given to control the inflammation and nausea and other symptoms. Steroid use can be scary but most IBD cats only need to be on it for a short period of time. I guess I don't understand the "no medicine to treat a health condition, just food and / or holistic care" way of thinking. Food can only do so much What does your vet recommend for your IBD cat's treatment and care? Just the prescription food?

LTS3 said:

Please reconsider medicine. IBD is painful for many cats and medicine needs to be given to control the inflammation and nausea and other symptoms. Steroid use can be scary but most IBD cats only need to be on it for a short period of time. I guess I don't understand the "no medicine to treat a health condition, just food and / or holistic care" way of thinking. Food can only do so much What does your vet recommend for your IBD cat's treatment and care? Just the prescription food?

Click to expand...

The vet did not prescribe anything, and said let's see how she does with food treatment only. If I pushed on the medicince route, I am sure they could have prescribed something, but right now nothing besides food and possibly another course of Metronidazole. They only suspect IBD, as her other tests were fine.

I feel the the struggle with food. Don't feel guilty about. I know people feel strongly about these things, but if you've found something that works for you, then go with it. I had two elderly cats with chronic renal failure who needed a special diet (we went through an insane amount of food finding something they would eat) and two feral kittens whose poop wouldn't harden up. The Hills Kitten Indoor finally did the trick for the kittens. I've begun to believe that every cat is different and sometimes dry food may be the option that works best. I also put a couple of grains of salt (no more than 5 or 6 grains) in their large water dish to help encourage their water consumption. The vet told me do this years ago.