How many of us actually win this food battle?

I'm about to raise my white flag, and let them eat whatever the heck they want.
How many people successfully get their cats to eat the prescription foods that they are supposed to eat? And how many of us just give up?
I've tried every combination of mixing 'scrip foods and other canned foods and dry/wet and dry alone - I swear I feel like a cat food alchemist.

They have two conflicting health issues (oxalate vs. struvite), separating them for customized feedings can not happen with my schedule (long hours, long commute, high exhaustion level). I can't handle this anymore.

I'm really afraid my big struvite boy will develop fatty liver disease because he's barely eating and he's lost weight. Which he does need to do, but I don't want him to get sick from weight loss. I try to lock him away and feed him alone for at least one feeding in the evening to give him something that he'll eat. But then the girl oxalate cat smells the kitty "junk" food and she won't eat her healthy stuff because she wants to get at the Friskies.

I'm kind of at the end of my rope, and feel bad because I'm forced to sacrifice on of my cat's heath just to get them both to eat. Any practical advice? Sorry for whining...

You need to have a sit down with your vet .....

for most cats without issues I would say feed them what they want

I think that if it that bad I would let them eat whatever they want as long as it is wet food.

Milo, my CRF cat, loves EVO dry so he gets a few pieces of it on his wet food to add calories. He shouldn't be eating EVO but I'd rather feed him that than have him lose a bunch of wieght...he also picks what canned food he wants

Thank you!

I'm kind of leaning towards anything they want as long as it is wet. Maybe I can sneak in a little of the RC urinary with the junk canned (and I don't mean to offend anyone with the term "junk" food, I'm just using it to differentiate from the "premium" food that I've been trying to give them - that they loved at first).

And sharky, I have talked to two different vets (three actually) and the varying answers I get range from "you can't give the oxalate cat anything but 'scrip food or else she'll stone up so bad she'll turn into a statue" - to "well, you do what you can and if you have to mix the foods to get them to eat, so be it". Nobody agrees on oxalate treatment. but one thing is certain - the boy isn't eating much at all and if he keeps this up he will get sick.

I just don't want the boy to get sick because I'm trying to treat the girl. He's such a good boy and he causes no trouble at all. I'm just going to do the best I can.

I have a chronic struvite crystal boy (Muddy) here. He refused to eat all of the Science Diet prescription foods, so I had my vet order other brands. He loves the Purina UR and Royal Canin Rabbit. He'll tolerate the occasional Royal Canin Duck. My theory is that the Purina tastes a bit like junk food. He gets most of a can in the morning and regular canned food at night with the rest of the cats (Nutro, Authority or Science Diet). I free feed the entire household Science Diet CD because they all like it. I tried other prescription dry food and couldn't get all of them to eat.

I don't particularly like these foods, but the cats do, and I've managed to maintain Muddy's health even with some non-prescription food thrown in. When I tried to force the quality grain free foods on the household, Muddy wouldn't eat them and became ill because he wasn't eating enough wet. And when I switched to non-prescription foods entirely, he blocked. I have cats with other health issues (not crystal related) and it sometimes more important to get them to eat than not eat at all.

Don't give up on prescription foods, but do try to find kinds that they will like. And mine would jump all over Friskies, but I kept trying different food until I found food that they liked that at least was a little better quality.