Hill's Prescription Diet I/d Digestive Care Opinions Please

[cookiebun]

I cannot believe there are pet foods you need a prescription to buy!
What are the veterans here opinions of this product?

I have 3 kittens about 3 - 4 months old with persistent diarrhea. My husband has turned them into canned cat food junkies. The vet offered this product after my husband explained how much canned cat food the girls were used to. The vet wanted us to stop the wet food entirely.

The cats have had prolonged treatment with Albon and Fenbendazole. I've also given them Benebact and Propectalin. Their stools firmed up to normal while on the meds. When we ran out of the medication the diarrhea came back. The vet wants to eliminate diet as the cause of their issues before doing more tests and medication.

 

[Neo_23]

Many veterinary offices are sponsored by Hills and Royal Canin. These are the only 2 brands that vets will usually recommend, but they are not actually high quality foods and many on this site (including me) would not use them.

Dry food is often recommended for diarrhea because it has little moisture. But, that is also a huge problem with dry food - it doesn't have enough moisture. In addition, dry foods are usually high in carbs which cats don't need. An all wet food diet is much healthier for cats and is much closer to a "natural" cat diet.

You might consider that it may be something in the wet food you are feeding that is causing the diarrhea (maybe an allergy?). It is common to put cats with diarrhea on a plain diet of boiled chicken and rice until their diarrhea clears up. After that, you can address the food issue. Here is a great website by a veterinarian who specializes in nutrition that may be helpful: catinfo.org

Also, you may want to have a fecal test done if you haven't already. It is not uncommon for kittens to have parasites that cause diarrhea. If you haven't had this done I would do it immediately, especially given that all 3 kittens are experiencing it. Have the kittens been dewormed?

Unfortunately many vets just don't have the training or background in nutrition to give dietary advice. It might be worth checking to see if there is a holistic vet close to you. They are usually better trained in nutrition and aren't tied to the hills and royal canin brands.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I agree. Kibble is drying, so it does normally help with the diarrhea, but it is really just masking the problem.

And it's easy to do food trials with canned food. Limited ingredient foods are available in canned as well as kibble, if your Vet thinks it's the food, but I cannot imagine that all three kitties would have food allergies. That would just be too coincidental. I think you are dealing with some sort of parasite here, and if they've already done a fecal float, which I can't imagine they haven't, then you may need to have them do a PCR test, which is a fecal float that they send to an outside lab. It costs more, but is more more extensive and they look for more parasites than the in-house labs can find. Probably only one kitten needs to be tested, IMHO.

 

[mewcatmew]

Have you considered probiotics like fortiflora or perhaps this is a food allergy and a hypoallergenic food like hills z/d if the i/d does not work? Ask your vet about that.

 

[cookiebun]

Thanks for the replies.
The kittens have been treated extensively for worms. They have none. Bene-bac and Propectalin are probiotics. They've been getting those for more than a month. We are trying to avoid the cost of the PCR test which is why we are on the restricted diet. This is their current dry food:
Chicken + Duck | "I and Love and You" They get that plus one can of the Hill Science.

 

[Neo_23]

Thanks for the replies.
The kittens have been treated extensively for worms. They have none. Bene-bac and Propectalin are probiotics. They've been getting those for more than a month. We are trying to avoid the cost of the PCR test which is why we are on the restricted diet. This is their current dry food:
Chicken + Duck | "I and Love and You" They get that plus one can of the Hill Science.

If it is a parasite though the restricted diet won't solve the problem. You will need to get a test done unfortunately. And as already mentioned, it sounds more like a parasite because it would be weird that all 3 kittens have the same food allergy.

 

[Ardina]

I'd say it's likely a parasite - if not worms, something like giardia or T. foetus (which doesn't show up in regular fecal testing, by the way - you have to test specifically for it). The fact that their stools firmed up while on the meds further lends support to the idea that it's a parasite, not diet related. Some parasites will require multiple rounds of medication to fully eliminate the problem + extensive cleaning to prevent reinfection. You may have to get the pcr test to solve the problem.

 

[missmimz]

RX "digestion food" is a gimmick. I'd put them on s boulardii which is a probiotic that treats diarrhea. Kittens get diarrhea pretty easily from food changes. When my cats were kittens I used s boulardii for several months. I'd upgrade their food to high quality canned food only.

My Cat Has Diarrhea - What Do I Do?

 

[Miamha]

My vet prescribed Hills i/d wet food for our cats diarrhea along with Proviable sprinkled on top. It worked before we even finished transitioning from her regular food. We had to use Metro/Flagyl before that to take care of the root problem. It's good to have her tract flora back on track. I'm glad we have a vet we can trust.

 

[StanAndAlf]

I know lots of people don't like Hills, but I have always used them and have heard others in my area have success with them too. Of course not all cats respond well to it though, so I do think some trial and error is needed. Either way, you can get z/d and i/d as wet food, which might be worth a try while you try to figure out the problem. Z/d sells really quickly at my clinic, though a prescription is not required where I am....

 

[JulietteTruong]

Diarrhea is very dehydrating on the system. You lose a lot of water. Which is something you want to avoid! Dry kibbles will make the dehydration worse.