Therapeutic Diets for Cats
If your cat has been diagnosed with a condition or an illness, there may be cat food available that will help ease any pain of suffering it is causing. The types of illness that can be aided in this way range from allergies to diabetes to life threatening illnesses such as cancer and heard disease.
These special diets are called therapeutic diets. They are specially targeted formulas and they can have a very beneficial effect on the overall quality of life of your cat. They are so effective that they can prevent a disease from developing as well as ease any pain and aid recovery. These types of diets are not available in supermarkets however and can only be prescribed from your veterinarian. It is also important that they are not used instead of traditional medicine, but in conjunction with for maximum benefit.
Therapeutic diets were invented in 1960 when a vet prescribed a special diet for a dog suffering from kidney disease. The diet had a special balance of nutrition that reduced the amount of work the kidneys needed to do. The dog lived much longer than anticipated and didn’t feel the symptoms of the disease as severely as before. This diet was named the Prescription Diet KD (kidney disease). The vet went on to create Hills Pet Nutrition that continue to develop prescription diets to this day. (Prescription diet is the brand name of Hills Pet Nutrition, therapeutic diet is the general term that is used for these types of diet.)
Therapeutic diets are more expensive than the typical commercial cat food of course, but they can dramatically help a cat when they are suffering. Reduced pain and suffering and even elongated life expectancy are well worth the extra cost.
It is very important that therapeutic diet food is not given to a normal, healthy cat as the balance of the nutrients would be completely inappropriate and possibly cause more harm than good. If you are interested in finding out more about how your cat could benefit from a therapeutic diet, contact your vet who will be able to discuss it with your further.
