Source for prescription kitteh food?

March 6, 2015 1:31 PM

Kitteh is 17 and going strong, except that he's lost three pounds in the past several months. His vet has prescribed special food. I bought samples of two brands from the vet to see if he'd eat them and he likes them both (good kitty!) Now I need to find the best source to buy them from in bulk.

The two brands are:

Purina Veterinary Diets NF Kidney Function Formula Feline
Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Renal LP Modified Feline

Preliminary shopping search shows that prices vary widely - the Royal Canin is more than twice as much from Amazon (I have Prime) than it is from other sources, but the Purina is about the same.

Tell me, hivemind: Is there an excellent, low-cost source for prescription cat food that you recommend?

posted by caryatid to Pets & Animals (8 answers total)

Best answer: I get my kitty's prescription food from PetFlow. The site design is eye-popping in an unpleasant way, but they deliver quickly, will contact your vet themselves for a prescription, and can arrange regularly scheduled deliveries so you don't get caught short. I've had nothing but good experiences ordering from them.
posted by jesourie at 1:48 PM on March 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Chewy.com has consistently offered low prices and incredibly fast shipping. I've used them for the past few months and I've never had a problem. Looks like both of your brands are available.
posted by longdaysjourney at 2:24 PM on March 6, 2015 [4 favorites]

Best answer: +1 for chewy.com! Great prices, great service.
posted by Fig at 2:26 PM on March 6, 2015

Best answer: We've used PetFlow until our dog's prescription food wasn't available there any more. Then we switched to Chewy.com. Both are excellent. And the subscription option offered by both is great.
posted by kathryn at 3:10 PM on March 6, 2015

Best answer: I've also had success with Chewy for Royal Canin. That and PetSmart. If you go to to PetSmart in person you have to go through this slightly annoying process of getting their version of an rx card but it's been very easy after that to get Royal Canin in bulk from them.
posted by rdnnyc at 4:47 PM on March 6, 2015

Best answer: Prices do fluctuate, so I usually check chewy.com and wag.com and buy from whichever is cheaper that month. With wag.com I've had some shipping damage (cans dented/popped open) and they've been great with issuing credits.
posted by bgrebs at 4:55 PM on March 6, 2015

Best answer: I have used both chewy and pet flow for royal canin. Theyre within 1$ of each other usually. No issues with either tho chewy customer service is near instantaneous
posted by misanthropicsarah at 6:43 PM on March 6, 2015

Response by poster: You are all awesomely helpful! I set up an auto order with Chewy.com. Thanks so much!
posted by caryatid at 12:10 PM on March 10, 2015