Our kitty eats Y/D Hills Science Diet dry food. Apparently the company is not able to get this manufactured right now. We were told to call any vet office and our vet would send an RX if a bag is available. Well…I’ve called every vet in the area, plus checked Chewy and Pet Smart. NONE available. I’m reaching out to the hive here to see if anyone has this!
Our vet has said that if necessary the kitty will need to go on Thyroid medication and then can eat any food…until the RX food becomes available again. Apparently the thyroid meds come in the form of a cat treat we hope our cat will like. He is picky.
Anyway…if anyone has a source for Y/D Hills Science Diet Dry Cat food, please let me know?
What a PITA! No advice on how to find the low iodine diet, but wanted to let you know that if the cat needs a thyroid med, it usually comes as a regular pill. So ask if that prescription can be sent to a compounding pharmacy for formulating into a treat of specific flavor your cat might enjoy. It is a giant pain and a hassle to give a cat daily meds… but they work well.
Has your vet recommended a more radical treatment approach? I mean the radioactive iodine procedure. We opted for it instead of pills (diet was not an option because her thyroid was sky high). Last check up showed her thyroid level was back to normal. It is expensive but it was worth the cost.
Funny to read this thread today as my 16 year old cat was just put on thyroid meds today! He can’t have the food because he’s on a special kidney diet. Good luck finding the food.
The thyroid meds come as a “cat treat” in many different flavors.
Yes, the radioactive surgery was recommended, but we opted to try the diet first and it worked very well…thyroid level returned to WNL, and kitty gained some weight.
I picked up two cans of wet Y/D, but so far the cat is less than impressed.
That can be a real YMMV situation. I’ve had cats where I could pop a pill down their throat whenever, no big deal. And I’ve had others who could hear me thinking about dosing them and retreated to the deepest darkest corners under the furniture. I had the meanest cat ever - she had neon warning stickers on her vet records - but for many months she let me give her insulin shots and ear pricks for blood testing. So you never know…
Lol, I can easily pill a mountain lion. By pain and hassle I mean making sure the cat gets the meds 2X day at the same time every day… that is a PITA!! And cat sitters become expensive if the cat needs to be medicated.
The $1,500 “nuclear option” won over inconvenience for us.
My diabetic cat refuses to eat his DM wet food but is OK with dry DM kibble. I feel your pain… at least with diabetes, I can give him his low carb Fancy Feast. No such solution with low iodine diet… hugs.
Two small pieces of advice. Do not let him go over 1 day without eating. Cats will starve to death before they eat something they don’t like- they can get liver disease. So if the dry food isn’t in, feed him another dry food while you wait. Unfortunately it will cause the thyroid to be less than ideal. Also the medication can also be formulated into an ear gel, so you don’t have to give him pills or treats. It is not as reliable as far as dosing, but it works pretty well. You could ask about that.
We have food left in our current supply…but would run out after the first week in January. Thus the search. And we would never not feed our kitty! The vet will prescribe thyroid medication in a treat form for him, if needed. I’ll ask about the ear gel, but this cat isn’t one who loves to be patted!
I don’t think many people have heard of them, so they tend to still have things in stock after the better known places have run out. Glad you were able to find it there!
A technique I used to use for giving our senior cat meds. If it’s a crushable pill, crush, mix with a dab of butter and a drop of cream, and smear in and around her mouth. She would clean it off by licking it, so everything got inside her.
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you would not feed him. I meant if you were trying to get him to eat canned and didn’t offer dry because he had canned. But cats are very texture loyal, and if they don’t like canned food, they won’t eat it. I’ve had people think they could just offer canned and if the cat got hungry enough he would eat it. I didn’t think you wouldn’t feed your cat!!! Sorry about that!
You’re welcome! Good to hear it arrived. I found them earlier this year when Hill’s t/d was sold out everywhere. Not as big a deal as kidney diet, since it’s for dental health, but one of my two is very finicky. He will not eat at all rather than trying something new.
The PetFlow people were awesome, working with my vet to get the prescription and shipping it asap.
Mine is thyroid, not kidney. I can order another bag on January 6….I hope they still have one in stock then! Either that…or that Hills starts making this food again!
I like these people so well, I might switch to them entirely!
Oops! I meant thyroid, I think I just saw the kidney thread and had that on the brain. I get my kitties prescription dry food from Chewy, just because I’m lazy and that’s where I originally went, but I have their wet food set up with Autoship from PetFlow. This past week was the first time they have been backordered on it, and it still shipped only four days late. I’d recommend them to anyone.
By pain and hassle I mean making sure the cat gets the meds 2X day at the same time every day… that is a PITA!! And cat sitters become expensive if the cat needs to be medicated.
