Prescription Foods Seem to Have Low Quality Ingredients?

I have a question. My sugar baby Bear has been gone 3 weeks. I was looking over her diabetic dry food, and in comparison to a food like Wellness Core, the ingredients seemed very poor, particuarly the protein sources. Why is it that holistic foods like Wellness, Innova, etc., have high quality protein sources, but prescription foods never seem to be comparable? I have looked at this issue very closely lately becuase one of my civies has been diagnosed with CRF. Vet wanted to put him on prescription food. Is it correct that prescription diets seem to have second-rate ingredients, or am I missing something? Advice, please!

Cami & Bear (GA)
Civies--Buddy (CRF and Hyperthyroid), Scooter, Cricket, Annabell, and Howie

 

No, it's not just you: the prescription foods *are* crap. One of the first things we do is recommend that folks drop all the expensive prescription foods and go for something better. A lot of our diabetic cats do just fine on the low-carb flavors of stuff like Fancy Feast.

The main starting point for most cat food information is Janet and Binky's food charts; you can find links to them here. You may also want to check out the links provided in these posts by Melissa and Popcorn and Holly and Spader.

A good diet can make a *huge* difference. Gwyn had had kidney problems for several years when we (finally!) managed to switch her base food from A/D to Wellness Chicken. The next time we ran her senior wellness blood panel, the kidney values had improved significantly.