From: (jamie)

Steve Crane wrote:

Here's the decision you must make.
Do I feed a food with excesses of phosphorus in order to justify some
other emotional need/desire/preference I have, even when that
need/desire/preference cannot be proven to show any benefit?

According to the lists at
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/jmpeerson/canfood.html
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/jmpeerson/dryfood.html
The chicken, turkey, chicken & herring, and turkey & salmon
flavors of Wellness don't have significantly more phosphorus
than most of the varieties of Science Diet. The mixed seafood
flavors have more, but so do a few of the Science Diet dry varieties.

My cats (now 13 and 17) were on Science Diet dry most of their lives,
until LeMieux was diagnosed diabetic in January. They ate Adult
Maintenance for many years, and then Sensitive Stomach. (a 20 lb
bag's worth of Lite and Senior at different periods caused them both
to get noticably fatter, and develop large amounts of dander.)

LeMieux (13) maintains normal bg (80 to 115) on Wellness canned.
I tried Science Diet and Iams canned kitten food for several weeks
(recommended by the vet as low-carb) when LeMieux was first diagnosed,
but while they enjoyed both as a new treat for the first week or so,
after that they both sniffed it when I put it out, and then avoided
eating it for several hours until they were too hungry not to.
I haven't had that reaction to the Wellness, which also smells a LOT
better than the Science Diet and Iams, and has less carb content.

BTW, Hills prescription M/D canned is higher in carb than Science
Diet canned kitten food. Why?

Gideon developed a bladder full of struvite crystals on the Science
Diet dry. Fortunately, he never developed a blockage, but because
his developing hyperthyroid caused him to drink and urinate more,
he didn't have any obvious symptoms of bloody or concentrated urine,
and he never broke litterbox training. His only obvious symptom
was walking stiffly, and he was misdiagnosed as arthritic by my
previous vet. The new vet took an X-ray to check, and found no sign
of arthritis, but his bladder on the X-ray looked like it was *full*
of fishtank gravel. Between the extra drinking from the hyperthyroid,
and the Wellness diet, he managed to dissolve or excrete all but a
marble-sized cluster of crystals before his pre-op X-ray (the vet
was really surprised) so we cancelled the bladder surgery that was
to be done along with the thyroid and dental.

I'm really glad to hear how Wellness has helped your kitties. Yours is not the
first post I've read where after switching to Wellness food, the cats do
better. I had fed my previous cats Science Diet and they did poorly on it too.
IMO there are better foods out there.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm