[93SRV]

I think this is a Canadian brand so this may not pertain to people out of Canada. I have my cat on it, but my girlfriend has her cat on Iams hairball food. Scottie (my cat) is now starting to eat a little bit of Asha's (her cats') food, and I don't really want either of them to be eating Iams. haha. I was just wondering if there would happen to be a hairball formula of MediCal that I could ease Asha onto, and then eventually have them both on a Diet/Hairball MediCal mix so it doesn't matter if they are eating each others food.

Is this a wise decision? Or should I try to keep them both on seperate diets (Asha on hairball, Scottie on Diet). Either way, i'd like to get Asha off of the Iams cause she has a dandruff problem and i'm thinking the food isn't helping.

 

[queen of the nile]

I'm pretty sure that there isn't a hairball control formula from MediCal. What you could do, however, is feed Asha a fingerful of petroleum jelly (Vaseline) on a regular basis to help deal with the hairballs.

About the dandruff, I've found my cats' dandruff has completely disappeared on a wet food diet. If you increased the wet food in their daily food, I'm sure you would see a difference.

I also just wanted to comment that MediCal really isn't a very good food (and neither is Iams :wink. I know that the first animal ingredient in both the wet and dry MediCal is Meat by-products. You could get a *much* better food for the price the vets gouge you for anyway :lol:. Just my 2 cents. It also isn't necessary to feed a diet food in order to achieve weight loss. My kitties used to be on the MediCal wet and did okay but their fur is much better now that they are on Innova wet. Overall, they have lost more than 4 lbs each!

 

[93SRV]

Is there something you could reccomend that's a dry food that's better than medical? I was led to believe it's a pretty good food, and i know scottie has improved wonders since he's been on it. lost a couple of pounds and his coat is awesome..

 

[Maleke]

MediCal is ok.....but there is better out there. I could list a bunch, but I'm not really sure about which one is good for hairballs so I'll leave it to someone else! My cats don't have hairballs. Another idea for hairballs is Kitty Malt. I think you give them an inch long strip a week (it looks like brown toothpaste and it comes in fish and malt flavours. Apparently cat love it?!!) and it really helps. We sell a lot of it at the pet store I work at.

 

[queen of the nile]

Since your kitty previously had a weight problem, there isn't really any dry food that I would recommend unless you increase the proportion of wet food in his diet. MediCal and other prescription diet foods contain 30% less calories than regular dry foods. What has worked for me was to switch onto a higher quality wet food. If you increased the wet food he eats (since wet food is lower calorie than dry), you could also switch to a better dry food as well.

Foods I've heard having great success: Felidae, Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul, Natural Balance, California Natural, Innova, Wellness, and Blue. The best thing to do however, is to decide for yourself what you think is a good food.

Here is an article by Jean Hofve, DVM, that details what is good in a dry food.
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=004

Ingredients for MediCal dry:
Brewer's Rice, Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Potato Protein, Corn, Fish Meal, Dried Whole Egg, Liver Digest, Flax Meal, Beet Pulp, Cellulose, lots and lots of additives...

Reasons it isn't the best:
1) Grain is 1st ingredient - not good
2) Only one meat ingredient in the 1st 5 ingredients
3) Contains a lot of corn and other fillers such as cellulose (think insulation)

Basically, the price for the food does not match with the quality of the ingredients and so you would be better off buying a higher-quality food for the same price. My two cents of course :wink: (maybe it's a quarter by now :lol

Here's another on the benefits of canned food in a cat's diet.
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

Sorry for the long post, but it is not as simple as just "what's a good dry food", so I had to ramble for a bit :wink:.

 

[93SRV]

I definantly appreciate the long post!

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