He won't eat the prescription food

[cheshirecat]

The vet prescribed a "dissolving" diet that consists of wet food only. He is to have nothing but this canned food for 30 days.

The only exception was his cat grass and a few of the UT dry kibbles as a treat. But this should be no more than 10% of his daily food intake.

I got home from the vet at 1:00 yesterday afternoon. Put down some food and took up all the dry that was in his dish. He sniffed it and walked away.

Last night before bed I refreshed it and mixed a bit of water in. This morning it was still there.

I threw that out and gave him some fresh from the can. He wouldn't touch it. I mixed a half a dozen bits of kibble into it. I think he ate a couple of the kibble then walked away.

Since yesterday he has been mopping around and bugging me for treats. Last night I went to bed super early to get away from it. If this goes on I may sleep all weekend.

I will call the vet first thing tomorrow and ask for a different food.

 

[mews2much]

My sisters cat will not eat the wet urinary food at all so the vet said he can have the dry.
He had surgery for crystals and stones1.5 years ago and so far they have not come back.

 

[cheshirecat]

Originally Posted by mews2much

My sisters cat will not eat the wet urinary food at all so the vet said he can have the dry.
He had surgery for crystals and stones1.5 years ago and so far they have not come back.

She said that he could go back to the dry urinary food after the 30 days on the dissolving diet.

I don't know how long he will go without eating.

 

[snickerdoodle]

I may have missed it but what time of wet RX food is he on that he won't eat? I've found my Boo eats his wet hi Tor if I mix it with warm water and make it soupy. He didn't like it straight out of the can after awhile. He never had a problem with C/D wet or dry, always liked it. As for fountains, my cats wouldn't drink out of the one I bought either but they drink out of cups and glasses great, and tub water. Maybe try a nice small stream in the tub faucet and see if he'll drink that?

 

[mews2much]

Can you try another brand?
My Coco had stones and crystals before she had CRF.
They used S/D to dissolve the stones and C/D after that until she had to be on kidney food.
There are some other brands you can try and see if he likes them.
What is he on now?

 

[mystik spiral]

I would agree with talking with the vet to try other brands/formulas. I had to put Holland on a wet food only diet for a few weeks after she had her teeth pulled. It didn't take long for me to realize that she will NOT eat the "pate" style of wet food. At all. It has to be the grilled/seared/chunky style of food, anything but pate. I know it's hard, because you believe they will eat if they get hungry enough, but you can only leave wet food out for so long before it gets disgusting and inedible.

 

[farleyv]

Does your cat have crystals, struvite? My vet prescribed s/d for the first 4 months after he was treated for them. He would not eat the wet, so we went to dry. He was also on a urine acidifier tablet. Can you ask your vet about that? Maybe then he could go on dry as long as he takes the tablet.

After the 4 months, he went to dry c/d and has been fine ever since. But I would definately look into the tablets.

Your cat cannot go without eating, a host of other probs can crop up. The wet won't do him any good if he won't eat it.

I know how frustrating it can be. I was crawling into the back of the closet to syringe feed him the wet. It just wasn't working.

Please keep us posted.

 

[cheshirecat]

They gave me Hill's S/D canned. The vet said that it did not come in a dry but I see a place on line that shows dry.

At this point I don't know what to do. I can't give him pills because he is almost impossible to pill. He is on liquid medicines and I have to get help to give him that.

I still have some of the other wet food. He did eat a tiny bit of that. Would it be really bad to mix that with this food?

Monday can't come fast enough!

 

[mews2much]

Hills S/D comes in dry Coco had to be on that for 2 months to dissolve her crystals and stones.
Do not let the vet say it dosent come in dry.
She would not eat the wet at all.
If he does not eat he will get fld.
My vet never forced the wet food on us.

 

[AbbysMom]

This is going to sound weird, but try putting it on a flat plate and give him some. I had a horrible time when I had to switch Abby to an allergy diet. She will only eat her food from a flat plate. I mentioned it to my vet and it made sense to her. They often feed cats coming out of surgery from a flat plate as they are more likely to eat that way. It's worth a shot.

 

[cheshirecat]

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

This is going to sound weird, but try putting it on a flat plate and give him some. I had a horrible time when I had to switch Abby to an allergy diet. She will only eat her food from a flat plate. I mentioned it to my vet and it made sense to her. They often feed cats coming out of surgery from a flat plate as they are more likely to eat that way. It's worth a shot.

At this point I'll try anything.

Fortunately I gave away all his old food. If not I think I would have given in by now.

 

[farleyv]

I would definately call the vet and ask about the dry s/d. It did the job for us. Don't let him tell you it does not come in dry.

The minute I brought the dry home, he scarffed it right down, what a relief.

So that may be an answer for you. I did not want to go on dry, but my vet knows best about these things, and he was right.

 

[cheshirecat]

I tried the flat plate and it was no go. Last night I gave him some fresh from the can mixed with warm water and added a few kibble to the top.

I left it over night and it looked like he might have taken one tiny bite. If he did it was only to get at the kibble.

This morning I called the vet. I think she could hear Chester howling in the background.

She was very sorry about her mistake. It does come in dry and they do have it. I almost yelled at her "yes I know I saw it on line" but I was nice.

So I ran up there and got a bag and returned the unused cans. He was very excited when I got home and started opening the bag. He ate some but not a lot. Then walked away. But he does seem happier and he's stopped begging. And at least he has his dry if he decides to eat.

 

[farleyv]

Oh good, glad to hear you have the dry. As I said, I feed wet to my other cats, but the dry is also medicine. That is the way I look at it.

Good luck and I hope he keeps eating it. My Beeba is on dry c/d possibly for the rest of his life.

But whatever works......