Hills KD - have they changed the recipe?

[BlueHeather]

Thanks for that will look into it - my vet only does the Hills which Toby hates with a vengence 

[Desley (booktigger)]

Chicken and fish should be fine for a CRF cat, as long as it is only part of their food. Royal Canin and Hills renal foods can be bought online from VetUK, but as they are classed as prescription diets, you can't buy them in supermarkets. Zooplus do sell 2 renal foods though, think one brand is Integra, and can't remember the other - but Rosie preferred the Integra to the RC. We had 4 different kinds from the vet, excluding k/d, my vet finds it rarely gets eaten - there was some beef pate stuff in a tray, beef pouches (which I never tried her on, she didn't like beef flavour normal food), chicken and tuna.

[BlueHeather]

Can you only get the Royal Canin from the vets?  Toby is a very very picky Birman eater like Franta on another thread, he licks gravy or jelly off mostly, he will eat chicken and fish when freshly cooked although he is not suppose to have it with his recently diagnosed renal problem, however the vet said he either ate it or starved to death as he would not eat anything else so - no contest really.  But if I can get him to eat something he likes which is for renal problems I would be over the moon

[swampmaxmum]

thanks Jasmine. Hills food is transported from America, so sometimes I think the time in transit/shipping affects the consistency too. I suppose it gets well frozen in a shipping container. RC on the other hand, is from Europe. In theory there's not much difference between the 2 if I recall (I had the full nutritional details but can't find them!), other than that k/d has a few more calories, which can be important if a cat isn't eating well.
Glad things are working out on RCR though.

[Jasmine]

I've received the following response from Hills:
   '...This is an unusual report and, for your reassurance, there have been no
   recent changes in the formulation of Hill's Prescription Diet Feline k/d
   Minced with Chicken and no similar reports have been received...'

I expect you were right Swampmaxmum, and just more oil got added during manufacture for this batch.

Her solids are now back to normal again on the RC, so no vet visit required.

Hi - Blueheather, what does your Toby eat?
Martha likes the RC Beef - I daren't try her on the Tuna, which my other cat with CRF, Metoo loves.
(neither touched the chicken flavour!)

[swampmaxmum]

there's a lot of water in the food I think too.  If the batch you had was gooey, that probably means more oil in the food (sometimes you can see it in the can residue), which may have tasted better but not helped his tum. I did find a big difference in the pooing after RC (lactulose was on the menu every night). However I've also found that his coat is much silkier on k/d than on other foods including RC Renal. In the end, I think it's which one they prefer. In Swampy's case it's k/d. Max will sometimes eat a little k/d but he thinks RCR is utterly vile and covers it up with his paw   

[BlueHeather]

Toby drinks a lot of water but some days he hardly touches it so - maybe that's a yes - doesn't always refuse though.

Sadly he will not touch the K/D pouches - I was thinking of trying the Royal Canin one - assume your cats like it?  Do they do different flour in the pouches?

[Jasmine]

Thank you Swampy's Mum,

I did some research on ingredients last night and it appears RC Renal Beef Pouch has fish oil in it too.  However, I am going to email Hills later to see if some other ingredient, sourcing or quantity has changed.  Like you, I've noticed a difference in batches as well and the one I've just finished was particularly gooey.

This may all be coincidence of course, but I fed her RC yesterday and there was a solid poo today.
So I am going to do the same today and consider reintroducing the Hills again slowly - interesting what you say about the fibre and not having to lactulose.

Slighty off the issue now... does anyone else have a CRF cat who refuses to drink water!?!

[swampmaxmum]

They've certainly redone their website! I would give Hills CS a ring or drop them a line via their contact with your questions. They have been helpful in the past. You can ask them to email you full product nutritional info too. I haven't noticed any real change other than that they can't find the same consistency - some batches are drier and so less palatable - between one batch and another but I'd be interested in the fish oil thing too. AFAIK it's just been recommended for osteo arthritis in people so that may be why they are using it? (also omega 3 and 6 from fish??). Sometimes they can't source certain ingredients so use a replacement though. I am nervous of ALL pet foods in the recession (cheap - Chinese? ingredients). I've asked them many questions so questions coming from someone else would be great! eg do any of your ingredients in k/d come from China and do you test them to make sure they are safe (if you ask that, they will ring you up).

Before Swampy became so ill, I noticed that moving him from RC renal to Hills meant I didn't need any more lactulose dosing though for him, although it was never IBS gassy or runny. K/d must be higher in fibre I think than RC renal. I always had to give lactulose when he just ate the RC pouches.

[Jasmine]

I was just wondering if the following renal food has changed its ingredients?
http://www.hillspet.co.uk/adult/products/product.aspx?pid=63&packform=Can&sc_lang=en-GB
I notice fish oil is added - is this new?

The reason I ask is Martha has had loose poos for several days now and before she went onto the Prescription diet, she suffered terribly from IBS-like symptoms - her infamous 'Vesuvius' botty used to splatter poo juice up the walls and it's almost got to that stage again today.

She seems quite bright in herself and not dehydrated at present, so I'm not putting her thru the stress of a vet visit just yet.  Normally I would withdraw food for 24 hours and see if that settles the tum, but I can't do that with Martha because she won't drink water (only added to food).   I'm just giving her a RC pouch in small amounts today and so far no movement since 3.00 am (yesterday, I had to change her litter tray 4 times), which makes me wonder if it is the other food?