In Wikipedia's definition, a prescription is a medical document issued by a physician to a patient, and is an important basis for a pharmacist to dispense medicines to a patient. That is, a prescription is a drug that has a therapeutic effect. However, the so-called prescription feed on the market is only food, not medicine, and has no therapeutic effect. Therefore, the word prescription may mislead consumers.

There are many types of common prescription feeds for obesity, kidney disease, gastrointestinal and lower urinary tract diseases, which may seem convenient, but The reality is probably not so good. This article will discuss the composition and efficacy of a certain brand of kidney disease prescription feed (hereinafter referred to as A brand).

Dietary precautions for cats with kidneys

First of all, let’s take a brief look at how to care for cats with chronic kidney disease: due to the poor renal metabolic function of cats, Therefore, the intake of protein must be reduced, but it is still necessary to consume an appropriate amount of high-quality protein, as well as low-phosphorus and low-sodium food, and the water intake of cats should be increased to help metabolize waste in the body.

Prescription feed ingredients

The first few ingredients of brand A feed are brewed rice, corn gluten meal, pig fat, chicken by-product meal, dehydrated egg Products, dehydrated chicken, cellulose powder, fish meat meal... (abbreviated below). It was mentioned in the two articles [pets diet] cat food selection - dry feed (top) and (bottom) that the higher the proportion of ingredients listed in the table, the heavier they are, and The nutritional needs of cats are high-quality protein, which is muscle. However, the first three components of this brand of feed are not only poor quality grains and fat, but also the following components are not clean, fresh muscle.

This feed controls the disease by reducing the amount of protein, phosphorus and sodium in the feed, so that the blood test value returns to the normal range, but its protein content is not only exaggeratedly low, but also of poor quality.

Moisture content of prescription feeds

No matter whether it is prescription feed or high-quality feed, the moisture content of dry feed is not more than 10%, and the kidney Cats need a lot of water, so prescription feeds are definitely not suitable for long-term consumption by kidney cats.

What to eat without prescription feed

In addition to the nutritional supplements specially provided for kidney cats, it is recommended to choose low phosphorus, low sodium, and protein. Slightly lower canned or homemade fresh, and try to get your cat to drink plenty of water.

Prescription feeds should only be used briefly at most to bring values back into the normal range. It is not a medicine, it cannot treat diseases, and it cannot be eaten by healthy cats. Sick cats need to absorb enough and high-quality nutrition, and various diseases or symptoms must also be treated or improved by finding the root cause.