Finicky felines

njg55

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I have three cats, and all three seem to have become very picky lately about their food. One of them was placed on a special diet for kidney disease about 2 months ago and has been tolerant, though not enthusiastic, about the special diet of canned and dry food the vet prescribed. Lately she's been turning up her nose to both. She had been fairly good with the canned food but nibbling only small amounts of the dry. There is only one alternative brand, as far as I know, and I'm not eager to switch since if she gets tired of that, what next? Then my two cats on regular food also seem to be on a "hunger strike." They got tired of the Purina canned food I'd been giving them for about a year, and so far I've tried reverting to previous favorites (which they also grew disinterested in) like Science Diet and Royal Canin and even tried Fancy Feast. They seem to dislike everything! No one has starved yet, so yes, I'm exaggerating, but I am dumping a lot of food down the garbage disposal. Right now I'm giving them Iams in the small pouch-like containers, which on any given day one or both of them may ignore, eat a little of, or empty the dish. Should I go back to the pet store aisles and choose yet another new brand, or might there be something else going on since all three have become so picky? One of them has cutaneous lymphoma, which is being fairly well managed with medications, but that could partially explain his occasional eating issues (he also has some litter box issues, which I won't go into here). He had been super picky, not eating much canned or dry, but just in the past few days seems to have begun eating more normally. He had a checkup just last week with the oncologist; his lab results were fine, and I didn't get any feedback on weight loss. It just seems very odd that all three have begun to reject just about everything. When they don't eat, I get stressed, and I'm sure they're picking up on that, but what's the way out of this cycle?
 

game misconduct

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:lol:sorry i am not laughing at ya i found myself at that same point you describe with graycie in the past.(picky eating) i just kept testing a few new cans of this or that until she finally settled on nulo so i still have about half a case of wellness just sitting:lol:that i will try feeding her here and there still just to change things up
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi! I feel your pain! I only have one cat (Feeby, 16+yo) but am having the same issue with her foods. Up until about 3 years ago, she was on dry only and ate the same food without question for about 10 years - it was urinary care food. I added the canned version and she 'converted herself' from the dry to the canned only, and that went well for about a year. Then, I started her on Fancy Feast pates, and I had a period where she was happy with those. About a year ago, she started to turn her nose up at those. So, I also started feeding her Sheba and Nutro Perfect Portions, and eventually added some Purina True Nature pates, & Wellness Core pates. She likes the 'newer' additions to her food better than the 'older' ones, but swapping them out has resulted in her eating them all. There are a few Fancy Feasts that got rejected totally, but I will try adding those at a later date when one of her current repertoire starts to 'bite the dust'.

So, right now, she eats 7 different foods, so she is not getting any repeats for a whole week for her main meal. However, she does get a few of the Sheba or Nutros as her additional meals daily, and since I don't have 7 different kinds of those, I have noticed her waning on those. Will have to replace those somehow soon.

I'd say try adding some other foods, similar to what they are eating now and see if you can end up with enough variations to last at least a week without repeating.

Re: the kidney care foods - did you check out the Nutrition section of this site to see if there any ideas in it?
Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Diet and Nutrition Overview (felinecrf.org)
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I also have picky eaters. And it does seem when one isn't eating well, the other starts the same thing. Part of it is seasonal, I believe.

My two do not like the same things, at all. So, I feed them completely different foods for each and every meal. Yours may be the same way. One may like pate, one may like slices. One may like fish, the other may like turkey, or lamb, or beef, etc. You get the idea. It's really a matter of finding what each one seems to like and taking it from there.

As far as the kidney cat goes, I've had three kidney cats in my lifetime, and none of them ever ate the prescription kidney foods. They just didn't like them and our Vet said just find something they DID like and give it to them! She said it's much better to have them eat than to starve, and as you probably know by now, kidney cats tend to lose their appetites easily. So I used the chart referenced above and tried to find foods with a phosphorus level of 1% or less. Even those a little higher, if they ate them, I didn't sweat it.
 
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njg55

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Thanks. I don't think Luna, the kidney cat, ate anything all day. I let her have an Inaba Churu pureed treat around 10 p.m. just to get something in her stomach, as well as some approved Science Diet treats for kidney cats. I'll call the vet in the morning and stress the urgency as well as discuss other foods that might be OK, referring to the table Tanya has in her guide. I was told the only available foods for kidney disease were the Science Diet I have and some Royal Canin foods. It seems there are other possibilities, but they might have to be a special order. The clinic I go to has the SD food on site, maybe the RC, but it wouldn't make sense to keep a lot of others in stock. Hopefully there will be a way to get some other choices. Luna was pretty good about the SD canned food until just a day or two ago, and lab tests from a one-month follow-up vet visit showed she had made significant improvement on the special diet. Just when I was feeling optimistic, wham, total rejection. I thought she had cleaned the dish this evening but then found out a family member had slipped up and Luna's mom was the one who ate everything while leaving her own untouched!
 

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Mine are all picky and no one has ever eaten prescription food. It is not just you. Currently they are eating Sheba but only cuts, Fussie Cat but only the ones that do have carrageenan, and Fancy Feast Medly but only Wild Salmon Primavera. I got really tired of going to the store and buying one can of every expensive obscure cat food only to give it to the raccoon and possum. And no, Kidney Boy at my house is not eating the diet food.
 
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njg55

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My kidney cat has rejected the special Science Diet food after being fine with it for two months. Out of desperation, this morning I gave her some Iams, which she liked, but I don't regard that as a long-term option given her diagnosis. It was an emergency food since she had barely eaten anything for a couple of days. I bought it for my two other cats, but most of the time they don't like it, go figure. I'll try to use up my supply because sometimes at least one of them will eat it, then it will be time for another shopping trip. I have no idea what brand to get, and with three or four aisles of choices at PetsMart, it's difficult to know what's a quality brand. I saw the vet today and came home with three cans of a Royal Canin food for kidney disease. Hope my girl likes that. I found a list via this site of other special diet foods, so if absolutely necessary I could probably persuade the doctor to write a prescription for something else. But hopefully being offered something new will help her recover her appetite.
 

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My last kidney cat ate Iams Purrfect Delights (TunaTopia) with gusto, and frankly, I was delighted (no pun intended) because the potassium was .88%, which was just what I was looking for. And she loved it! Problem is, it's now been discontinued. BUT, perhaps some of the other Purrfect Delights are around the same phos level, which is not too bad for kidney cats. Not sure which one you dished up, but maybe it wasn't too bad for her.

As far as I know, there are only three kidney foods that require prescriptions. Hills K/D , Royal Canin Veterinary Diet and Purina N/F. I believe all others can be purchased without prescriptions.
 

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It's because renal diets are revolting for cats, they have basically no protein or real meat taste in them. Much better to feed your cat their favourite wet food with a phosphorus binder mixed into it. Had great success with my previous baby, but it's not effective for late-stage kidney disease (nothing is really, at that point).

Also, please cut out the dry k/d food completely. It's appalling to me that the option even exists and is peddled by vets as it does nothing good for your kitty! They need all the moisture their little kidneys can get :(
 
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