When you walk into a pet store, there are shelves upon shelves of food. It can be overwhelming to decide which dog food or cat food is best for your pet. To complicate the decision making process, there are foods called “prescription foods” that are available for pets.
How can you know if a commercial pet food will suffice, or if your pet needs a prescription diet? First, it helps to understand what prescription foods are and when they’re recommended.
What are Prescription Foods?
Prescription foods are available only with a veterinary prescription and are sold at veterinary offices. They are specially formulated to manage specific medical conditions that are diagnosed by a veterinarian. Below is a list of conditions for which prescription foods would be appropriate:
The proportions of ingredients and nutrients in prescription foods are tailored to manage a specific medical condition. For example, a prescription food for managing advanced chronic kidney disease in cats has reduced levels of protein because the kidneys can no longer efficiently filter out waste products from the body.
Prescription foods for managing food allergies have novel protein sources, such as kangaroo, to which a pet has not been previously exposed; this novel protein would not trigger an allergic response to the food.
Weight loss diets have fewer calories while maintaining proper nutritional balance.
Overall, prescription foods can be a useful disease management option. Having these foods available only by prescription means that only the pets who need the diet will receive it. Also, veterinarians who prescribe prescription foods can closely monitor a pet’s progress as a result of eating the diet.
Expense of Prescription Foods
It’s no surprise that prescription foods are more expensive than commercial diets. The increased price is due to the extensive amount of testing that is required before these foods can be sold. This testing involves not only feeding the diets to animals but also performing numerous diagnostic tests (blood work, urinalyses) to determine whether the diet is effective for the condition it’s formulated to manage.
Overall, prescription foods can be a great benefit for pets with health conditions like chronic kidney disease or food allergies. If your pet has been diagnosed with one of the conditions listed above, a prescription food can help you manage the condition and help your pet feel better.