Alternatives to Hills Science Prescription Metabolic Food

[kurayami]

I have two cats and I feed them Hills Science Prescription Metabolic cat biscuits. Basically one cat is overweight, but the food okay for both cats to be on. However, the food costs me $75 every three weeks for a 3.85kg bag. I could buy in smaller bags more often, but that's just distributing the cost, rather than reducing it. I'm on a limited income and struggle to afford this food, so I need to find an alternative. I'd rather keep both cats on biscuits because it's less maintenance and makes for easier poop to scoop. (I'm a full time law student, so I don't have time to raw feed them - nor the money either). I don't want to give them something crap like whiskas. But I need something a bit cheaper, even half the price would be better than what I'm currently paying.

Any advice?

 

[LTS3]

What country are you located in? That would help members find a suitable brand for you. Most TCS members are in the US but there are some European members and several active members from other countries.

 

[JamesCalifornia]

I have read that vallerin root is good for overweight cats as it stimulates them to be more active. Check it out on Google.
Also you could consider mixing the expen$ive food with something cheaper but good quality .
Best wishes to you and your kitty cats .

 

[kurayami]

Thanks for your replies, I'm located in Australia. Sorry for not specifying.

 

[tobilei]

Hi, I'm in Australia too. Obviously I'm not a vet so I can't guarantee these will work but you could run it past your vet or see how you go. You could either mix the Metabolic with another low calorie dry food (indoor formula's are often lower calorie because indoor cats are more sedentary). How low of a price bracket are you looking at? Purina one is a supermarket brand (I do hesitate to recommend those, I'm not anti Royal Canin etc but supermarket foods do seem to have more rubbish in them) and may have an indoor formula.

Alternatively you could just go an over the counter weight management food, these are sometimes less, your mileage may vary and you'll need to stick with the feeding amounts on the packet and reduce them if there is weight gain.

If you like Hills they have this one: http://www.hillspet.com.sg/en-au/products/sd-feline-adult-light-dry.html I don't know how much cheaper it is though.

There is also this one by Royal canin (sorry it's a UK website, for some reason I can't currently load the Australian one but we have it here: http://www.royalcanin.co.uk/products/cat/feline-care-nutrition/light-weight-care/

Advance do a light version, similar calories: http://www.advancepet.com.au/products/cat-products/adult/light,-chicken-15kg.aspx

And if you need supermarket costs Purina One do an Indoor formula I'm pretty sure (maybe a metabolic one, I can't recall).

Another thing to consider is that kibble is high calorie for what it is. How does your cat do with wet food? Often if you give wet 2 or 3 times a day (make sure you stick to calories for the weight you need your kitty to be) and put down a limited amount of dry once a day (like before you go to bed to keep them quiet) wet food often burns off/is better utilized than wet.

 

[rose2015]

 
I have two cats and I feed them Hills Science Prescription Metabolic cat biscuits. Basically one cat is overweight, but the food okay for both cats to be on. However, the food costs me $75 every three weeks for a 3.85kg bag. I could buy in smaller bags more often, but that's just distributing the cost, rather than reducing it. I'm on a limited income and struggle to afford this food, so I need to find an alternative. I'd rather keep both cats on biscuits because it's less maintenance and makes for easier poop to scoop. (I'm a full time law student, so I don't have time to raw feed them - nor the money either). I don't want to give them something crap like whiskas. But I need something a bit cheaper, even half the price would be better than what I'm currently paying.

Any advice?

There is Canidae that you can buy from mypetwarehouse.com.au. I'm not sure about the calories in their dry food, but the wet food is lower in carbs, good quality and reasonably priced for a higher quality product. Dry food in general has more calories than wet food, so it might be an option looking into wet food. Also, the Kangaroo patties from Big Dog Food for Cats (available at Pet stock) is lower in fat and more natural than biscuits. A box with approx 12 patties is around $15. Hope that helps xo

 

[red top rescue]

If you add your city and country info to your profile, then it will show up when you post.   

Almost any good food that is high in ANIMAL protein, moderate in fat and LOW in carbohydrates is better than what you are feeding them now.  Better still would be to feed them canned food, again one without all sorts of fillers but basically meat as the No. 1 ingredient.  Regular canned Friskies Pate (not the kind that has chunks, shreds, bits  & pieces, etc., which are wheat gluten) and Fancy Feast Pate are not fancey but plenty good enough.  Wet food is healthier than even GOOD dry food, and this Hills food doesn't even have any meat in it (only chicken by-product MEAL) so it has to add important things like methionine and L-carnitine, amino acids that cats cannot do without that are available in MEAT.  This food is nothing like cat would eat in the wild. 

You said you "don't want to give them something crap like Whiskas," but compare the ingredients.  They are pretty much the same! The Hills has more nutritionally empty fillers like powdered cellulose and dried beet pulp  to make their stomachs feel full, but it doesn't meet their needs as true carnivores, for MEAT, so they will overeat on this empty food and not be satisfied, and you will go broke because you are spending big bucks because of the "prescription diet" label.

Ingredients of Hills Science Diet Metabolic Chicken Flavor Dry Cat Food - ($74.20 for a 17.6 lb. bag at Chewy.com today)

Chicken by-product meal, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, powdered cellulose, dried tomato pomace, flaxseed, dried beet pulp, chicken liver flavor, coconut oil, pork fat, lactic acid, potassium chloride, calcium sulfate, l-lysine, choline chloride, carrots, dl-methionine, vitamins (vitamin E supplement, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), niacin supplement, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A supplement, riboflavin supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement), taurine, l-carnitine, minerals (manganese sulfate, ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), mixed tocopherols for freshness, natural flavors, beta-carotene

WHISKAS Meaty Selections Chicken & Turkey Flavors Dry Cat Food - ($13.63 for a 15 pound bag at Chewy.com today)

Poultry by-product meal (source of glucosamine & chondroitin sulfate), ground yellow corn, ground wheat, corn gluten meal, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with bha and citric acid), natural meaty, chicken, & turkey flavors, salt, potassium chloride, taurine, dl-methionine, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin e supplement, niacin, vitamin a supplement, thiamine mononitrate [vitamin b1], riboflavin supplement [vitamin b2], d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride [vitamin b6], biotin, vitamin d3 supplement, vitamin b12 supplement, folic acid), minerals (zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, potassium iodide), yucca schidigera extract

I am not saying you should switch to Whiskas or even Purina One dry food, although  the Purina One at least has MEAT as its number one ingredient, and I think it's better than the Hills you are feeding.

Purina One Chicken & Turkey Flavor Dry Cat Food - ($22.98 for a 16 lb. bag @ Chewy.com today)

Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, poultry by-product meal, wheat flour, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, whole grain corn, soy protein isolate, fish meal, turkey by-product meal, animal liver flavor, phosphoric acid, potassium chloride, salt, caramel color, calcium carbonate, choline chloride, taurine, zinc sulfate, l-lysine monohydrochloride, vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, niacin, vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), sodium selenite

I DO think you can get much better dry foods for a lot less money if you do a little research, and I highly recommend feeding canned food instead of or in addition to the dry.  You will save money down the line because your cats will not get all the diseases that cats get today because of man's infatuation with the convenience of dry cat food.

You might want to check out another thread that was posted recently, about a cat who was never satisfied, always hungry and would eat himself into diarrhea and not be satisfied. 

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/319123/obsessive-eating   

He too was on one of these fiber filled "prescription diets" that had no real meat and lots of fibrous fillers and was supposed to control his appetite by filling him up.  It filled his stomach but not his inner need for MEAT, so he kept eating and ate way too much fiber so he got diarrhea. The owner took our advice and got him some better food and he was a new cat, happy and satisfied at last.  Some of these so-called prescription diets are downright unhealthy and they are not monitored at all by anyone with any knowledge of nutrition, certainly not the vets.  I believe the vets mean well and trust the companies that "partner" with them, but the vets really have no idea because nutrition has not been stressed in vet schools in the past, and those courses that were taught may have been taught by people with close ties to the pet food companies.