Cat isn't liking new prescription diet?

After Rocky was diagnosed with a UTI, we've been feeding him 1 can of Hills s/d per day for about a week now.

Until as of late, he had no problem with the new diet, and transitioned to it very quickly. However, he's started being a bit more.. finicky.. I guess in the past 3 days. It takes him a couple of hours just to finish a quarter can.. he seems very reluctant to eat the food. He has no problem eating any other food though! He is always trying to steal Bijou's food, or steal something from the table, in fact I caught him trying to eat some butter that I had accidentally left out on the kitchen counter!!

This prescription canned food was very expensive and I still have about 24 cans of it left.. if Rocky doesn't eat it, then all that money goes to waste.. The feeding situation is inconvenient, since we have to keep Bijou and Rocky separated until they finish their food, and while Bijou finishes her portion within 15 minutes, Rocky is taking his good old time.

I don't understand why Rocky has suddenly grown this disinterest in the prescription food.. one of my guesses is because he got tired of the flavor or something? He still has quite an appetite, and seems to want to eat anything other than his food.

He may just be sick of eating the same thing every day. When our last cat had a UTI, we had to use three different brands of prescription food. Alternating every day wasn't ideal, but it worked.

Shadow hated his royal canin urinary wet food too...we eventually gave up on it (he now eats mostly non prescription wet with a little s/o dry).

Have you tried sprinkling something on top to get his interest? Crumbled freeze dried treats or fortiflora spring to mind, but a little of his favourite 'human' meat very finely chopped might get him going too.

It's probably food boredom. You could try toppers or different brands of food. Or see if a wet diet with extra water added addresses the issue. If you go the non-prescription route I'd check the urine pH with home test strips and lab tests.

Whatever food you wind up with, consider mixing the prescription food you already have in so it doesn't go to waste.

You don't say if Rocky had crystals or a different uti. With crystals, the easiest way to see how things are going is to use clumping litter. Big clumps = everything is ok; lots of small clumps = trouble is brewing. This can be really helpful if you're looking at moving away from prescription diets. Sometimes, grain free (or very low grain) wet food, maybe with added water, is all it takes to prevent re-blocking.

I agree with the others. My Rocky who has urinary issues has to eat separately also. He used to be like that. It would take him FOREVER to eat. We would leave the bowl locked in the bathroom so the others couldn't get to it. Then he'd go in & out every time someone opened the door. But, he was on dry food, so the food wouldn't go bad if it sat out. I wouldn't do that for wet. 

When we switched him to wet food, he went bonkers. He loves it! He gobbles it up sometimes faster than the rest & meows to be let out! Since changing his food may not be an option for right now, using toppers helps like others suggested. Bonito flakes, chunks of tuna, crumbled freeze dried treats. Always add water. You can even add the water from a can of tuna instead. That'll change up the flavor

Buy purebites chicken freeze dried treats online chewy or amazon. Buy large dog size not cat size, it's more economical. Crumble on food and feed as treats. The cat will eat anything!

Why can't you return the food if you don't use it? We were able to when ours refused it. I hope for Rocky's sake, he does continue to eat it though.

I had to try different allergy foods too, my cat seemed to eat it but then kinds stopped it and became constipated, I had to give up and return to normal diet to get her digestion going again, it may be a common issue. I have not yet found a specialty diet she would eat and ended up with Simply Nourish fish cans because at least they dont contain gluten and chicken. You may have to keep looking to alternatives, since the best food is no good when cats dont eat it