Prescription diets for pets | Princeton Veterinary Hospital

The great thing about regular preventative care and good nutrition for dogs and cats is that our family pets are living longer. As our pets get older, they can start to develop some chronic health problems like kidney disease, diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis to name a few. The good news is that with regular physical examinations your veterinarian can diagnose these problems before they become serious. And while some of these diseases will need medications to help your pet stay comfortable and happy, a prescription diet can be helpful in many cases.

Why can?t I buy these foods at the store?

Prescription diets are formulated specifically to help manage chronic illnesses in dogs and cats and are only available from your veterinarian. These foods are designed specifically for dogs and cats with a particular medical problem. While they are formulated to be a balanced diet for animals with specific diseases, they are not balanced diets for healthy animals.

How do prescription diets help?

Each prescription diet is formulated to help manage one specific disease. Pets with chronic diseases have different nutritional needs than healthy animals, and a cat with chronic kidney disease will have different nutritional needs than a cat with diabetes. Let?s look at a couple of examples.

There is a prescription diet for cats with chronic kidney disease. This food is lower in protein and the electrolytes calcium, phosphorus, and sodium than regular adult cat food. In a healthy cat, the kidneys are responsible for removing extra protein and electrolytes from the blood. The main source of these nutrients is from the cat?s diet. When a cat has kidney disease, her kidneys don?t work as well and they can?t remove as much of the extra nutrients from the blood. If a cat with kidney disease stays on a ?regular? food, her kidneys will have to work harder, they won?t be able to remove the extra nutrients from the blood, these substances and other waste products will build up, and the signs of kidney disease can advance rather quickly. If she is switched to this prescription diet, there are less of these nutrients in the blood (but still plenty to have a balanced diet). Because there is less protein and electrolytes, the kidneys don?t have to work as hard, and they can still function to remove normal waste products from the blood. This will help to control the signs of kidney disease and help to keep your cat feeling well.

Dogs and cats of all ages can develop bladder stones. Not all pets will have problems with bladder stones, but once your pet has a bladder stone it is likely that he will have another. There are prescription diets that can help decrease the development of bladder stones. These diets have lower protein, higher calcium, and lower phosphorus and potassium than regular adult foods. Protein, phosphorus, and potassium are the building blocks of bladder stones. Animals that are prone to developing bladder stones have difficulty metabolizing these nutrients, and need less of them in their diets. While this type of diet is a complete and balanced food for pets that are prone to bladder stones, it does not have enough of these nutrients for a healthy animal.

There are also prescription diets available for pets with food allergies. Although there are some over-the-counter foods that may help with food allergies, pets with severe allergies may need to try a prescription diet to get their symptoms under control.

How do I know if my pet needs a prescription diet?

This is just a small example of some of the chronic diseases that can be better managed with a diet change. The Princeton Veterinary Hospital carries a full line of prescription diets to help with many chronic illnesses. If your pet is on a regular medication to manage a health condition, ask us if there is a prescription diet that can help keep him healthy and happy!

ePetHealth?is a free service we offer to our clients. Through this service, you can access your pet?s medical records online, view educational articles and videos, sign up for email reminders, and more! Check out?this article?to learn more about what ePetHealth can do for you. It?s easy to sign up ? all you need to do is?call?or?email?us to add your email address to your records.

Source: http://princetonvet.net/2012/10/prescription-diets-for-pets/

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