Are prescription diets better for my cat?

If your cat has a health problem that your vet recommended a prescription diet for, then yes. Otherwise, prescription diets are suited for specific medical conditions. And so there's no health benefit to your average, young, healthy cat to eat, say, a kidney diet or liver diet. They may become unhealthy in those circumstances because certain nutrients are limited in those diets. And so we wouldn't want to feed them without a true recommendation from your veterinarian.

We make the recommendation for prescription diets when there is a need for them, whether your cat's prone to urinary tract infections or they have some renal or liver disease. Maybe they’ve got some skin issues or a sensitive GI tract. There are general cat foods over the counter that you can get out there that are great, but I like the prescription diets when we're trying to manage something specific.

Suppose your cat has a condition that a prescription diet can slow the progression of or reverse. In that case, absolutely, a prescription diet based on what your veterinarian is recommending is a good way to go. A healthy cat has no reason to be on a prescription diet. So that's something to discuss with your veterinarian, but I don't think you need to be afraid of prescription diets. Again, food is medicine, and if we can treat a disease through dietary means, in my opinion, that is a much better way to treat it than in other ways we can do that.

It depends on if your cat has a specific condition or disease that requires a prescription diet. Renal or kidney disease is very common in aging cats, so we put them on prescription diets for that. Those diets have, for instance, good quality and a bit less protein. It's not necessarily better but it is essential for cats with certain diseases.

It depends on your cat's condition. In general, no, because they're targeted for specific medical needs. If you've got an otherwise healthy cat, there would be no reason to put them on a prescription diet. The more common issue we see with commercial diets is with cats with urinary tract issues. In some cases, those cats do need to be on a prescription die to try to prevent the formation of crystals or stones in the bladder, which can lead to a blockage in male cats, which sadly can be life-threatening. We would look out for those things in cats having urinary issues. But in general, no, we don't just uniformly want to say cats need to be on a prescription diet until there's a specific medical need for it.

Prescription diets are recommended when there is a medical reason for it. It's not recommended for just the general healthy cat to have a prescription diet. A prescription diet is not necessarily more healthy for your cat; it's just been prescribed for a medical reason.