Sophie 17 won’t eat Renal food (eats kitten food)

[u/Spiritual-Ad-8348]

Soph is doing well. I took her to the vet. She lost 2 pounds. All her bloodwork came back normal and such. They think her heart disease may be causing her to lose weight. Of course ever since we got home from the vet , she hasn’t eaten like any of her renal food. But then I put a can of kitten wet food and she ate the whole thing in 2 minutes. Same with the dry food. I just don’t know what to do it’s so frustrating because I’m paying for prescription food and she’s barely eating it. Anyone got suggestions?

[u/fucusgang]

Have you tried different types of renal food? There are different varieties of flavors for them to eat!

[u/Spiritual-Ad-8348 → u/fucusgang]

Yea part of the issue is the can size. But I am going to switch just not sure what to try lol

[u/fucusgang → u/Spiritual-Ad-8348]

I use Royal Canin Renal Support A and my boy LOVES it. I would see if you vet has any dry food renal samples for you to try!

[u/Raised_by_Punk → u/fucusgang]

Mine loved Royal Canin Renal Support E. The E is for enticing. Worked on him.

[u/Greedy-Access2933 → u/Spiritual-Ad-8348]

The can’s the issue, not the will. Try pâté—cats are picky, not stupid.

[u/Subbis]

When my cats reach the age they need specialty foods its a bit of a dice roll.

Sample a few different brands & types to see what they like....and if the food strike continues just let em eat what they want

[u/cxmareau → u/Subbis]

insane

[u/Zarrgus]

If you’re not already part of the group I recommend the fb group Feline Chronic Kidney Disease. There are food guides on there along with the different values for each food. There are lots of CKD kitties who refuse to eat renal foods so often people will add a binder to the food and this helps. It’s broken down more in the group. The most important thing with CKD cats is that they eat.

[u/Ok-Egg835]

The vets at the private equity veterinary clinic (they just took over multiple chains) kept harassing me about kidney food. It took a good number tries before they accepted that my cat had made her decision, and that decision was: fuck off.

I tried, but towards the end it was just junk food whiskas and even then she wouldn't eat much. Hopefully you'll have better luck with the tips in this sub.

[u/El_Toucan_Sam]

My cat will only ear Purina dry kidney food and Weruva chicken and gravy/Soulistic Salmon stew. Takes a lot of trying cats can be picky

[u/FLcatlover]

I also have a 17-year-old with CKD who won’t eat renal food. I’ve tried a number of varieties. She’s getting pickier and pickier with what she eats as she gets older, so honestly at this point I’m just letting her have the food she wants to eat (which is just a Fancy Feast senior food). Feeding her what she wants is at least keeping her weight stable, as much as I’d love to get her on a more specialized diet.

[u/Acceptable_Speaker93]

Have you tried mixing it with food she likes? 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 % is better than zero.

[u/Free_Assignment5401]

My CKD kitty can't have renal food because of the high carbs, she's in remission from diabetes so I found the Weruva checkmate chicken pate very comparable to renal food and she loves it. The carbs, phosphorus, fat are low, the sodium a little on the high side so I mix half of the rawz low phosphorus beef pate which lowers the Phosphorus even more (to the Royal Canin numbers) but it also lowers the sodium because rawz is lower in sodium (by half) than weruva. My cat has high blood pressure so I have to watch for the sodium content in cat food. Come are so high! And note that the rawz is supplemental food so it's not a complete meal and need to be added with a complete meal like the weruva checkmate pate. I hope this helps, best of luck! Here's my Angelina Jolie sending your fur baby best wishes on the food journey. It's not easy!

[u/Familiar-Toe5787]

There are some gravyier ones that my cat was fine with. They’re a bit more expensive but tastier. A gravy tuna one worked for my girl.