Expensive cat food

[PurpleLass]

My cat has just been diagnosed with early stages of renal failure. So the vet has recommended that the cat is put on special cat food which is more sympathetic to their kidneys which makes sense to me (controlling it by diet sounds about right) but, and here's the crunch, the only place you can get this special food is at the vets.

It costs £6.80 for 12 sachets, more than twice the cost of Felix or Whiskas.

So, does anyone know where I can buy Royal Canin Renal food (dry food and sachets) without it costing the earth? Has anyone else had to do this?

[mez]

http://www.pet-supermarket.co.uk/ero...50%252FGS.html just had a look in this website mabe it will help ok

[lettie]

Try to google it Purplelass. You may be able to find a list of stockists or buy directly from the manufacturer. The vets must be making some sort of profit for selling it, so you may get it cheaper.

[jason]

Cheaper to get rid of the moggie!!!

[entwisi]

Purplelass,
Have a look here http://www.felinecrf.org/what_is_crf.htm

It seems to be a very well balanced site with lots of useful info.

Ian

[pendy]

Funnily enough, some years back I had a cat (a little bit elderly, and got as a stray a long time before) who liked dried catfood rather than canned stuff. This suited us very well, because we were both working, children at school, and the cat had sole charge of the house for most of the day, and even in very hot weather, the food always stayed fresh.

However, he (his name was Christmas Ginsberg, but that's another story) developed problems in the urinary area, and we were told that it was the dried catfood that led to this - cats fed on dried catfood developed kidney stones, which then got stuck in the urinary tract, leading to all sorts of problems. Any road up, at vast expense our cat was re-plumbed. What used to go forwards was re-routed to go backwards. When he came home from the vets after the op, it was an absolute wonder to watch this cat trying to have a pee - he plonked himself in his litter tray, pointed in the right direction, and then looked in absolute amazement as what had previously targeted itself nicely forward, all of a sudden was going backwards!!! It took a little while for us all to get used to this - him to cope with it, and us to cope with the very confused whimperings from the litter tray!

Perhaps not a lot of use for your problem, but just to let you know you are not alone with cat problems! If you have a good garden centre/pet centre nearby, that could be a good resource, otherwise look in Yellow Pages and find your local Pets'r'Us (or similar) who do almost everything that vets do (apart from drugs) and at a very much better price.

[Margaret Pilkington]

Pendy...what you are describing is Feline Urinary Syndrome and it is common in cats who are fed on dry food and who do not (for whatever reason) drink enough water.
The renal failure is higher up the plumbing system and can only be helped by the appropriate diet.
Purplelass......you may be able to buy this food over the net.....it is certainly worth googling to see. I hope you are successful in your search and I hope your cat is Ok.

[Neil]

Is the cat not in pain?

[PurpleLass]

Things have taken a slight turn for the worse. After feeding him the expensive cat food for three days I came down this morning to the sight of most of it spewed back up onto the settee. It could be that he ate it too fast or that he had a fur ball but it's not likely. Having said that he doesn't seem to be in pain but he did look a bit sorry for himself. I'll keep you posted.

[WillowTheWhisp]

I've just been looking at the article entwisi posted and it's full of useful information. How old is your cat Purplelass? I do hope that this morning was just a temporary hitch and that he is able to eat the prescribed food without it causing the same problem again.