[danniko]

I had the same issues with cat food and the quality of the ingredients that were used. I, embarrassingly, would look at people in stores buying the"lower end" food and wonder how they could be comfortable feeding their beloved animals such crap and not want to feed them better.

...Then last year one of our 4 cats starting losing a ton of weight and stopped eating her "high end" kibble and we were desperate to make her eat. The food we found she would eat was one of the foods I would silently judge people for feeding. I was so frustrated, but it turned out her mouth was sore and wet food wasn't working for her, for various reasons. So the food we bought her had soft middles and was one I thought would never come through our doors, but she ate a whole bowl the night we brought it home. After a few months she gained a healthy amount of weight back and her issues sorted out and she is now back to eating her regular food. I honestly think the food I would judge people on saved her life because she had lost so much weight so fast and no one could get her to eat. So maybe it wasn't the best brand in the world but it worked, she is still with us today, will be 9 years old next week and still runs and plays like a kitten!

On the other hand, our youngest cat had only ever eaten the "high end" food" and we lost her suddenly at 4 years old in February of this year. It was so sudden that we were in shock and didn't think to have a necropsy done to find out what happened. We just know that our little girl who was seemingly healthy, never stepped foot outside and was eating the best we could get her passed away within 10 mins of being her normal self. *Not blaming the food, just giving an example of food not always making a difference with animals passing earlier than we expect or want*

Same thing has happened with Sophie. It is still too early to know if this food change is working for sure because she would go weeks between belly issues but a few weeks ago she stopped eating off and on and was throwing up daily. The vet recommended Hills I/D and I immediately got my back up about the ingredients in it and thinking that prescription diets were a load of crap with less than stellar ingredients and vets only recommend the food to make money. We decided to at least give it a try. She has now been eating the dry mixed with wet and has been doing well on it. Her poops are better, she now wakes me up for breakfast in the mornings and she just seems happier. I am still terrified that it is too soon to be excited and she will have issues again, but I am trying to stay positive. I still have trouble ignoring all of the things I have read about how bad these types of ingredients and the opinions I formed over the years but if it works, it works and she will continue to eat it.

Long story short, the issues with Sammie (the kitty) and Sophie over the last year have humbled me more than I could have imagined. I no longer judge or think people are trying to take the cheaper route or are being manipulated by their vet into buying a prescription diet. I have no right to judge anyone for their pets when I don't know the whole story or the potential struggle they have gone through to find something that works for their baby. My husband and I can afford the "high end" cat food but at that moment spending $6 on "low end" food was necessary to help our cat through her mouth pain to gain her weight back and I would have been devastated if I knew someone just thought we were not willing to spend the money on "high end" kibble for our cats and didn't care about them.

My pride is way less important to me than the health of my animals and I just keep telling myself, "if it works and the pets are happy and healthy, there is no need to agonize over the ingredients." I hate that I silently judged so many people or thought we were better because Sophie's diet was natural and "high end". If I could forgive everyone for that, I would. I just have to hope that people keep up to date with recalls and are at least aware of some of the issues that come up with the sourcing of some ingredients, but no judgements from me anymore, I have been put in my place!

*"high end" and "low end" were just used to distinguish between the groups of food for the purpose of this post. I guess I could have used grocery vs specialty pet store, but high and low were just faster to type!