Best way to convince kitty to eat wet food?

While I'm waiting for Ginger's latest labs, we've switched from Royal Canin
Mature 27 to Royal Canin Renal LP. Her labs two or three weeks ago showed
elevated creatinine and BUN, so we're looking at CRF. Before the RC, she
had been eating Innova, which is quite high in protein and something like
0.9 % phos. Ginger is getting 100 cc's sub-q fluids twice a week. Her
kidneys are congenitally about half normal size, so I think it's kind of an
uphill battle with her.

I'd really like to increase her fluid intake with some canned food. She's
never been fed canned food, and she's just not interested in it. I bought
some of the RC renal LP pouches, putting out a half a tablespoon of a time.
She'll take a couple bites, if she's in the mood, and then leaves the rest.
Should I continue with this? Will she gradually eat more? How often should
I replace the food?

How else can I get her interested in canned food?

Thanks,

Corey

I'd really like to increase her fluid intake with some canned food. She's
never been fed canned food, and she's just not interested in it. I bought
How else can I get her interested in canned food?

When one of my cats doesn't eat his canned, I put a little treat on top or
sprinkle some catnip on it; either of those get him going.

Some cats like pouch foods but some don't - she may be one of them. Canned
is more blended together which some cats prefer. You could try the Hill's
k/d "with chicken". There is another canned k/d formula too but the one that
says "with chicken" is softer and mushier. The IVD Modified Protein canned
food is very high in fat - she may like that. You don't have to feed her the
same brand's canned food. If she eats RC LP but won't eat the pouch, it's
okay to give her another company's canned food.

You could also mix some regular canned non-kidney food in with it at first to
see if she likes that, then reduce the regular canned a little bit each day
until all you have left eventually is the kidney diet. This is a slower
process than just giving her the kidney diet right away but may work better.


LMR

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You don't have to feed her the
same brand's canned food. If she eats RC LP but won't eat the pouch, it's
okay to give her another company's canned food.


RC now owns IVD too.


Kelcey

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LMR via CatKB.com wrote:

When one of my cats doesn't eat his canned, I put a little treat on
top or sprinkle some catnip on it; either of those get him going.

I tried the catnip--worked the first time, but hasn't worked since.

Some cats like pouch foods but some don't - she may be one of them.
Canned is more blended together which some cats prefer. You could
try the Hill's k/d "with chicken". There is another canned k/d
formula too but the one that says "with chicken" is softer and
mushier. The IVD Modified Protein canned food is very high in fat -
she may like that. You don't have to feed her the same brand's
canned food. If she eats RC LP but won't eat the pouch, it's okay to
give her another company's canned food.

Thanks for the tips; I'll give those other brands a try.

You could also mix some regular canned non-kidney food in with it at
first to see if she likes that, then reduce the regular canned a
little bit each day until all you have left eventually is the kidney
diet. This is a slower process than just giving her the kidney diet
right away but may work better.

Well, she's NEVER eaten canned, so I have doubts if any canned would appeal
to her. It's all very frustrating--when she was a kitten, the vets said
canned food was Bad News and to only feed dry. Now a lot of the vets I've
spoken too say to feed only high-quality wet, and no dry at all. I recall
that someone posted the nutritional content of Fancy Feast recently, but
can't seem to locate the link. Does anyone have it saved?

In addition, she vomited a whole stomach's worth of food after getting her
100cc's of sub-q fluids today. Sigh. I'm looking forward to getting her
bloodwork back tomorrow and having a long conversation with my vets.

Thanks for the advice,

Corey

Kelcey via CatKB.com wrote:

RC now owns IVD too.

My bag of Royal Canin has three brands on it: Royal Canin, IVD and Waltham.


Corey

My bag of Royal Canin has three brands on it: Royal Canin, IVD and Waltham.

Yup, RC acquired Waltham too.


Kelcey

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I went through this with my cat (who only had eaten dry), and it was a
rough road, but I switched him over to all canned. I'd suggest giving
her a high-quality canned diet and skip the renal food. (such as
Wellness or Nature's Variety).

for tips on switching over, visit my web page. (I'm not a vet. These
are my own experiences.)

http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/tucker/

rough road, but I switched him over to all canned. I'd suggest giving
her a high-quality canned diet and skip the renal food. (such as
Wellness or Nature's Variety).

It's irresponsible to say "skip the renal food" without even knowing anything
about this cat's condition! By the way, my sister's 23 year old renal cat is
probably still alive due to being fed renal food for the past 10 years.

NanCe

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Rene S. wrote:

I went through this with my cat (who only had eaten dry), and it was a
rough road, but I switched him over to all canned. I'd suggest giving
her a high-quality canned diet and skip the renal food. (such as
Wellness or Nature's Variety).

for tips on switching over, visit my web page. (I'm not a vet. These
are my own experiences.)

http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/tucker/

Interesting reading!

Unfortunately, there's just no way I could do that. I have several other
cats that do very well on Innova dry food.

I think I'm giving up trying to get Ginger to eat wet food. She's just not
interested, and her bloodwork is continually improving with just the renal
diet and fluids.

Corey

NanCe via CatKB.com wrote:

rough road, but I switched him over to all canned. I'd suggest giving
her a high-quality canned diet and skip the renal food. (such as
Wellness or Nature's Variety).

It's irresponsible to say "skip the renal food" without even knowing
anything about this cat's condition! By the way, my sister's 23 year
old renal cat is probably still alive due to being fed renal food for
the past 10 years.

Here's a brief run-down on Ginger:

She's an 8 year old DSH that, I believe, is highly inbred. I got her from
my hay guy, and she has several issues: missing teeth, poor vision, oddly
shapped legs and head, and her kidneys are about half normal size.

Her creatinine is 3.1, down from 3.7, which is down from 3.9. Her
phosphorus levels are low; her calcium levels are slightly elevated. The
creatinine labs are at roughly two week intervals. Initial labs were drawn
prior to a tooth extraction (one dead tooth in a mouthful of nice healthy
ones.) Urine was pulled at the time of the tooth extraction and she was
found to have a raging kidney infection, and we put her on 2 weeks of
Clavimox. Urine collected after the antibiotics showed nothing abnormal.

Two weeks ago, we switched Ginger from Innova dry food to Royal Canin Mature
27, and started with 100cc's sub-q twice a week. She's now eating RC Renal
LP.

I plan on pulling another set of labs in about a month, to see what
direction we're heading. She's acting more like a normal kitty since we
resolved the kidney infection and added the fluids. I'm not sure how the
food is affecting her, but figure it must be helping her kidneys.

She's in good weight--certainly not overweight, but not thin, either.

Corey