Adding More Wet Food to Diet - Possible Kidney Issue

MySmokey said:

If he has chronic renal failure:

Most important ... Keep fresh water everywhere! I got several water fountains, put cups in sinks to fill whenever he came meowing and he even started jumping up on edge of tub to drink shower spray. Ultimately we still ended up giving him subcutaneous saline IV several times per month, which he was NOT happy about.

Be careful of different food. Build up of phosphorous in his system causes calcification in muscle tissue. Very painful. However, the vet provided me with a phosphorous binder powder that I put in his wet food to help with that. Also, my Smokey was Very Finicky. He ate what he liked and then would stop eating when he got bored with it. Thankfully, he always loved Temptations kitty treats and if he wouldn't eat anything else, then Temptations was better than him starving to death.

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These suggestions on water and phosphorous are good and worth discussing with your vet. We used fluids with our cat, too, and they helped a lot.

And even if you find Tanya's site overwhelming--I did, too--the food lists are a great way to compare foods and eliminate some with the highest phosphorous levels. In our case, that was one of the best things we did for our cat and those lists were my best resource.

I have water bowls all around the house. He drinks from all of them, but I think he drinks less from the one near his food bowl. My other cats are like that too. I do have a Drinkwell fountain, but I keep having problems with the motor. The other dry kibbles I was going to try are an Iams grain free and Taste of the Wild. Boogie Bear and Sgt. Pepper will eat it if he won't. Or I can give it to my mom for her cat if nothing else.

I read over Tanya's site more today. According to her website, Jumbo is stage 2 with CREA at 2.6. The reference range on his lab results is 0.8 - 2.4 normal range. It is noted "H" for high. The vet didn't specifically say Jumbo had kidney disease or renal failure. When they called back with the results they just said it was a little off and they had Rx food available I could pick up IF I wanted. They said I could still schedule a dental cleaning. But I'm still hesitant to do that because of the weight loss. I would like to get some weight back on him and redo the blood work and then if it's lower, do the dental. Maybe I'm thinking wrong there. 

Ive seen startling images of kidney failure which arent posted on this thread

Human kidney failure and cat kidney failure are really worrisome

Another Update:

I called my vet's office a little while ago to schedule the dental cleaning for Jumbo. I told the receptionist I was concerned about the cleaning because from my research he does have kidney disease, but the tech didn't actually say that when she called with the blood test results 2 weeks ago. I asked if they would do gas instead of anesthesia because of the kidney issue. She looked through the vet's notes and said he has cleared for the standard anesthesia. I told her that still bothered me because Jumbo has lost so much weight and I can't seem to get him to eat much of anything. She said then that could be other health problems and I would need to bring him back to retest. That  is scheduled for Saturday morning (in 2 days).

I've taken my cats to that practice for 9 years. I have family members and friends that have taken their pets there as well. I took my mom's cat to be neutered there last year even though it was more expensive because I trusted them. There are 5 vets there and I've seen all of them at different times except the newest one. But I have always trusted those 4. And the techs and front desk people are always very nice. But now I'm getting very frustrated. Should I be looking at different vets now? Or should I keep trusting them? 

CatMinionJess said:

 
Another Update:

I called my vet's office a little while ago to schedule the dental cleaning for Jumbo. I told the receptionist I was concerned about the cleaning because from my research he does have kidney disease, but the tech didn't actually say that when she called with the blood test results 2 weeks ago. I asked if they would do gas instead of anesthesia because of the kidney issue. She looked through the vet's notes and said he has cleared for the standard anesthesia. I told her that still bothered me because Jumbo has lost so much weight and I can't seem to get him to eat much of anything. She said then that could be other health problems and I would need to bring him back to retest. That  is scheduled for Saturday morning (in 2 days).

I've taken my cats to that practice for 9 years. I have family members and friends that have taken their pets there as well. I took my mom's cat to be neutered there last year even though it was more expensive because I trusted them. There are 5 vets there and I've seen all of them at different times except the newest one. But I have always trusted those 4. And the techs and front desk people are always very nice. But now I'm getting very frustrated. Should I be looking at different vets now? Or should I keep trusting them? 

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I am incredibly picky about the vets i take my cats to. I moved states about two years ago and saw several different vets in the area before i found one i really liked. I sought her out specifically because she does a balance between holistic and modern medicine and she was amazing. I drove almost an hour each way and it was totally worth it. I say go with your gut. When I've seen vets and felt annoyed/bothered/uncomfortable it was a red flag for me to find another provider. Since your vet office has multiple vets perhaps consider going back one more time and seeing whichever vet you liked the most, and if you leave feeling unsatisfied find a different provider until you feel 100% comfortable. 

I couldn't agree more with @missmimz. I wasn't comfortable with our previous cat's vet practice (nobody there was really great with cats, something I really fully grasped in hindsight) so we switched to a cat specialist for our new cats. It's a wonderful feeling to trust her so much, particularly after the past experience! She's fantastic with cats.

Well we are just having a really bad day now. About an hour and a half ago, Jumbo went into the kitchen where the Boogie Bear and Sgt Pepper are hanging out/hiding from him. I didn't notice right away. Once I did, I followed him telling him to leave them alone. Boogie was on the ground and Sgt Pepper was on top of the cabinets. I told them to be nice and Jumbo to come with me back to the living room. But he ended up rushing her and chase ensued. I sprayed them each with the spray bottle to break it up. Boogie jumped up to the top of the cabinets with Sgt Pepper and somehow Jumbo slammed into the bottom cabinets. He ran off to the living room and was shaking his head weird and meowing angrily and kept running from me. It was like he had something stuck in his mouth. I finally caught him and was trying to see what it was. Took him to the bathroom and sat him on the closed toilet seat. Then a long string on blood came running out of his mouth. Took him back to the living room and spread out an old sweatshirt to wrap him in and exam his mouth. There's a hole where his left front canine should be. 

My vet was already closed of course. I called the number they give when you call after hours to ask if I should bring him in or if I should just take him to his regular vet in the morning. I talked to someone who said if I brought him in there isn't much they could do except stop the bleeding and give pain medicine as they don't have the dental equipment etc. I could hear him drinking water from their bowl in the bathroom at this point. She said if he's stopped bleeding I could wait and take him to his regular vet in the morning. But definitely yes, I should bring him in if he doesn't stop bleeding. He seems to have and has calmed down. He tried to lick at his wet food in his bowl.

I feel like a really crappy caregiver now. I should have been watching him better. Jumbo had enough problems already and this will so not help with getting him to eat. I will have to call first thing in the morning and see if they can see him and not wait until Saturday.

CatMinionJess said:

 
Well we are just having a really bad day now. About an hour and a half ago, Jumbo went into the kitchen where the Boogie Bear and Sgt Pepper are hanging out/hiding from him. I didn't notice right away. Once I did, I followed him telling him to leave them alone. Boogie was on the ground and Sgt Pepper was on top of the cabinets. I told them to be nice and Jumbo to come with me back to the living room. But he ended up rushing her and chase ensued. I sprayed them each with the spray bottle to break it up. Boogie jumped up to the top of the cabinets with Sgt Pepper and somehow Jumbo slammed into the bottom cabinets. He ran off to the living room and was shaking his head weird and meowing angrily and kept running from me. It was like he had something stuck in his mouth. I finally caught him and was trying to see what it was. Took him to the bathroom and sat him on the closed toilet seat. Then a long string on blood came running out of his mouth. Took him back to the living room and spread out an old sweatshirt to wrap him in and exam his mouth. There's a hole where his left front canine should be. 

My vet was already closed of course. I called the number they give when you call after hours to ask if I should bring him in or if I should just take him to his regular vet in the morning. I talked to someone who said if I brought him in there isn't much they could do except stop the bleeding and give pain medicine as they don't have the dental equipment etc. I could hear him drinking water from their bowl in the bathroom at this point. She said if he's stopped bleeding I could wait and take him to his regular vet in the morning. But definitely yes, I should bring him in if he doesn't stop bleeding. He seems to have and has calmed down. He tried to lick at his wet food in his bowl.

I feel like a really crappy caregiver now. I should have been watching him better. Jumbo had enough problems already and this will so not help with getting him to eat. I will have to call first thing in the morning and see if they can see him and not wait until Saturday.

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Aww I'm sorry! Obviously he is def having dental issues which explains his issues with food. I'd def get him into his reg vet tomorrow and go from there. I hope he feels better soon. 

missmimz said:

 
Aww I'm sorry! Obviously he is def having dental issues which explains his issues with food. I'd def get him into his reg vet tomorrow and go from there. I hope he feels better soon. 

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Thanks, I hope so too. And I had just found a dry food, Iams Grain-free Naturals chicken and salmon that he was actually eating for the last 2 days. He's probably going to stop eating that now. He just finished licking up the rest of his wet food that was his dinner. I don't if that's okay or now with what just happened. 

CatMinionJess said:

 
Thanks, I hope so too. And I had just found a dry food, Iams Grain-free Naturals chicken and salmon that he was actually eating for the last 2 days. He's probably going to stop eating that now. He just finished licking up the rest of his wet food that was his dinner. I don't if that's okay or now with what just happened. 

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He'll probably be okay to eat dry food once his teeth are in better shape. Cats usually swallow most of it anyway rather than chew it up. 

Here he is currently snuggling with me on the couch at the moment. His belly pouch makes him still look pudgy here, but I can tell he's lost weight when I touch him or pick him up. - I hope with this incident he has finally learned a lesson to not fight with the other cats.

missmimz said:

 
He'll probably be okay to eat dry food once his teeth are in better shape. Cats usually swallow most of it anyway rather than chew it up. 

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Indeed! Our previous cat lost a fang at some point and we didn't even know it until she yawned one day and we noticed a tooth was missing. We have no idea what happened to the tooth but she never seemed to miss it. Or a meal.

I got Jumbo in to the vet this afternoon. We had to go to the 2nd "fancy" location that they do the surgeries at, which I don't particularly care for. I only went there because the receptionist said he'd be seeing the vet that did his blood work 2 weeks ago. I guess he was still in a surgery, so Jumbo was actually seen by an auxiliary vet I haven't seen before, but I usually take my cats to the original location which is usually not as busy.

She was good with him though and listened and answered my questions. I told her about the the minimal info I was given by the tech on his blood work and what I'd found in my research since then. She explained that they look at 3 things to diagnose it as kidney disease; bun/urea, crea, and urine specific gravity. Since only his crea was high that they would still do the cleaning the standard way, but would have extra fluids as precaution to account for that. She said that any one of those things could be high or low at different times (even with humans) and that's normal. This is why they didn't outright say he has kidney disease. She said the special food can sometimes help reduce the levels in pre/early stages. She and the tech (from today) both said I was doing great giving him more wet food meals daily. The best thing I can do for him. And he should start having blood work done at least every 6 months to be safe from here on out.

It turns out the root is still up there and will need to be extracted and some uppers on that side appear to be missing now as well. They gave him a pain med shot and will do another on day of the cleaning which is scheduled for Monday. They also gave me an antibiotic to administer daily until the bottle is empty. But we all know those oral meds fully never go in their mouths. But if we can get through Monday, things should be looking up for Jumbo.

CatMinionJess said:

 
I got Jumbo in to the vet this afternoon. We had to go to the 2nd "fancy" location that they do the surgeries at, which I don't particularly care for. I only went there because the receptionist said he'd be seeing the vet that did his blood work 2 weeks ago. I guess he was still in a surgery, so Jumbo was actually seen by an auxiliary vet I haven't seen before, but I usually take my cats to the original location which is usually not as busy.

She was good with him though and listened and answered my questions. I told her about the the minimal info I was given by the tech on his blood work and what I'd found in my research since then. She explained that they look at 3 things to diagnose it as kidney disease; bun/urea, crea, and urine specific gravity. Since only his crea was high that they would still do the cleaning the standard way, but would have extra fluids as precaution to account for that. She said that any one of those things could be high or low at different times (even with humans) and that's normal. This is why they didn't outright say he has kidney disease. She said the special food can sometimes help reduce the levels in pre/early stages. She and the tech (from today) both said I was doing great giving him more wet food meals daily. The best thing I can do for him. And he should start having blood work done at least every 6 months to be safe from here on out.

It turns out the root is still up there and will need to be extracted and some uppers on that side appear to be missing now as well. They gave him a pain med shot and will do another on day of the cleaning which is scheduled for Monday. They also gave me an antibiotic to administer daily until the bottle is empty. But we all know those oral meds fully never go in their mouths. But if we can get through Monday, things should be looking up for Jumbo.

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Poor Jumbo, feel better! He's lucky he has you taking such good care of him. 

Jumbo had his dental cleaning and extraction of broken tooth root yesterday. The vet did a urine specific gravity before the procedure and confirmed he does have kidney disease afterall. Jumbo got through the procedure alright. He was walking okay last night and this morning, just a little bit slower than normal. I think that may be from of the anesthesia earlier and the catheter/iv tube was on too tight. He jumped up on his cat tree bed and got in the window with no problems. He drank from his water bowl and I even noticed he had used his litter box at some point yesterday evening. 

They sent us home with Hills Rx k/d canned and dry food and the discharge tech said he has to be on that forever and nothing else, not even treats. Actually they sold this to me without me realizing as they made me pay before even going back to the discharge room. This annoyed me greatly, but I'm supposed to be able to return any of it that he won't eat for a full refund. Of course Jumbo can only have the wet food for the next few days and  he will not eat what they gave us. I had already told them he wouldn't eat Hills. I got him to eat little bit of kitten food that I already had (picked up at the pet store by mistake) this morning if I held the saucer in front of his face. But he didn't eat much. I called the vet office this morning to see what to do about him not eating. Had a very frustrating conversation with the receptionist and finally later got the vet to call me back later.

He was at the original location so I took Jumbo there. He said Jumbo's weight was still pretty good and his mouth was already healing well. They could 1) administer fluids for another $110 (I've spent over $600 since Friday) or 2) remove the catheter/iv tube out and see if his appetite improves in the next few days and come back later in the week if it doesn't.

I decided to have them remove the catheter/iv tube out as it was on there so tight his paw was swollen twice the size of the other paw. We talked about the food, but they apparently only have Hills and Royal Canin Rx there. So they sold me 2 cans of Royal Canin for $4. We'll see if he will eat them or not. I think he might like the Iams or Purina versions better because I was feeding all 3 cats those brands dry food until the last 2 or 3 years with no complaints from them. They still eat those brands canned food regularly. 

He also wants me to give Pepcid (or generic equivalent famotidine) 10 mg tabs divided in to 2.5 mg twice a day. There is a Walgreen's practically just around the corner from my house, so I took him home and went there and got the store brand famotidine. It didn't cut it in half very well, it went more in to thirds. I tried to give him the smallest piece, but he just kept spitting it out.. I may grind some up tonight and put it in his wet food and see how that works. Anyone have experience with giving Pepcid to a cat? 

I finally went in to work at noon (8:30-9:00 on a regular day) and I hope to see that Jumbo has eaten eaten something by the time I get home tonight. I left a few spoonfuls of the Hills Rx and the kitten food in separate dishes. After all this ordeal with minimal info given to me and bad communication, I'm really considering looking at other vet offices come time for Boogie Bear's annual in January. 

Apparently people tend to over feed their cats these days when then they free feed. I think wet food would be easier on your cats digestive track. I buy a large can of cat food and split it into 4 feedings. I only feed morning and night. I also add more water to the wet food. Mookie eats it like clock work. Once or twice a day I'll give her some treats... About 2 pieces. The big can of Friskies costs about 1.65- 2.00 a can depending on if I can find it on sale. That works out to about 41-50 cents a meal in USD. Which I think is pretty decent for Bermuda. Plus she never leaves food behind so I dont worry about bacteria either. Since she doesn't seem to drink water no matter how I put it out for her I had to resort to sneaking it into her food. Which seems to be working. Hope you find a good healthy solution for your kitty! quote name="CatMinionJess" url="/t/305997/adding-more-wet-food-to-diet-possible-kidney-issue#post_3834751"]I've had Jumbo for about 4 years. He was a stray, neutered, de-clawed and is around 8 years old now. I took him to the vet for his yearly checkup in May. When they weighed him, he had dropped from 12.44 last year to 10.88. The vet said the weight loss and him being an extremely vocal cat could suggest hyperthyroidism and that he could really use a dental cleaning.

I had noticed he wasn't eating much of the senior kibble (Hills Science Diet) I'd switched all 3 cats to earlier this year. So I got him a bag of the previous food they'd been eating (Nature's Recipe). He did seem to start eating more then. I took him back a week later for the thyroid test. That checked out okay. No hyperthyroidism. 

But it seems lately he's back to not eating much again. I put 1/2 cup of kibble in his bowl in the morning and often, half of that is still in his bowl the next morning. On the weekend they've each been getting half a 5 oz can of Friskies for breakfast, then their usual amount of kibble later in the day. Jumbo will usual eat all his wet food by lunchtime. He will also eat Greenies and vitamin or calming chews when I give them to him. 

I've been concerned about getting the dental cleaning due to his weight loss, plus I've had a very busy last few months and couldn't get to it. He did have one 2 years ago. I obviously don't want to risk putting him under anesthesia if he's sick. Additional blood work is required for cats over 7. Normally they do it the same day as the cleaning. But my vet's office has 2 locations and does the surgeries and dental cleanings at the one that is farther from my house. So I took him Saturday morning (2 days ago) to the get blood work done at the closer office were we go for yearly exams. It didn't take long at all. As we were leaving, the tech said they'd have the results today and if everything checks out, I shouldn't wait more than 6 weeks to schedule the cleaning. They'd need to retest if I waited longer no matter what the results were.

The tech called about half an hour later. She said everything looked good, but the vet said his kidney levels were a little off. She said it would still be okay to schedule a dental cleaning. She said Hills Science Diet and Royal Canin make a kidney diet food that they carry if I wanted to start him on that and to let them know any time if I wanted to pick some up or need a prescription. She did not actually say Jumbo has kidney disease. Would you have a dental cleaning on your cat if it had a kidney problem? Or a potential kidney problem?

So I'm a little confused now and still worried about Jumbo. I thought I could find a kidney diet food at Petco or 1-800-petdmeds, but I'm not seeing anything. Is kidney diet food only sold through a vet? I don't want to have to order food from the vet's office. I know he won't eat Hills Science Diet and I haven't tried Royal Canin for my cats. 

I think maybe he hasn't been eating as much because his teeth hurt and perhaps that is what has caused the weight loss and kidney level issue. He does always seem thirstier than the other 2 cats. Maybe he does need more wet food in his diet, not necessarily the RX kidney food. I did pick up a case of Iams 18 count 3 oz cans at the store on Friday thinking the smaller cans would less wasteful to dole out to him. They've all eaten Iams before and been okay with it. He ate one can that night. Not all at once though. I had to keep putting him in front of his bowl to nibble. He ate 2 cans plus a small amount of kibble throughout Saturday and again on Sunday. This morning I gave him half of a can in one food bowl and filled his other bowl with kibble. By the time I left for work he'd only eaten half of that half can. I imagine he will be starving when I get home and won't have touched the kibble. I would really like to get him back up to 12 lbs.

For those of you that feed a mostly or all wet food diet, how do you manage it working full time and not being home for over 10 hours a day? Also what brands (affordable) do you recommend? I know I will not buy Blue Buffalo. When I tried a bag a couple years ago, my girl cat developed a cough which went away when I went back to their old food. Also the Hills Science Diet is most likely out for Jumbo as he doesn't like the senior food. They also won't eat the Nature's Recipe wet food.

Sorry this is lengthy, but I wanted to include all the back info to get the best recommendations. Thank you for reading this far!

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OK, first off, YES, kidney food is only sold via prescription.  AND, to make matters even worse, each Vet may sell only one particular brand.  Some vets will sell Royal Canin, others will sell Purina, others will sell Science Diet (all RX).  BUT, they can write a prescription and you can get it filled at other Vets (we did), or if you find one your guy will like, you can even get them filled via the internet.

All that having been said, you can still buy foods at the store that may work for him...I have a kidney cat in the late stages of the disease, and she doesn't eat the prescription foods. 

Now, here is a website you may want to bookmark: http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm  This is my "go to" for all things kidney related.  Within that site is this page:  http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm#canned_usa  It ists "regular" food that you can buy in order of the % of phosphorus in it.  That's what you want to look for...low phosphorus.  And try to get him to drink as much as possible to flush out his kidneys.  I add water to my girl's food with each meal, plus have a fountain which she loves to drink from (plus she gets sub-q fluids, but your guy is a long way from that, I suspect)

@mookieboo  It looks like your quote of my first post got all jumbled up, weird. But thank you for the nice sentiment  ! I want him to get better too. I personally don't think I overfeed my cats with free feeding. For Boogie Bear and Sgt. Pepper, in the morning I feed them 1/2 to 1 cup dry in one bowl and 1/4 to 1/2 can (5.5 oz cans) wet in another bowl. In the evening they get another 1/4 to 1/2 can wet and 1/4 to 1/2 cup dry. Their food bowls are so small to begin with, they only hold up to 1 cup of food, and all that is splitting between 2 cats. Jumbo gets fed separately because they don't get along. These days he gets 1/4 cup dry and 1/4 of a 5.5 oz or a whole 3.0 oz can in the morning and evening. If he actually eats the food, I give him more because he needs to put weight back on. I add a few tablespoons of water to all their wet food.  

@mrsgreenjeens  Thank you, I've gotten pretty familiar with tanya's site in the last several months. Jumbo's kidneys have gotten worse in the last 3 months according to his recent bloodwork. CREA went from 2.6 to 3.0 so that's not good. He's tried most of Rx wet foods out there, Science Diet k/d, Royal Canin LP Modified, Hi-Tor Neo, Iams Renal Plus, Science Diet k/d stews (tuna & chicken) and Royal Canin D morsels. He wouldn't eat the Science Diet k/d or Royal Canin LP Modified. It seemed like he was liking Hi-Tor Neo and Iams Renal Plus, but then not so much. He also liked the first cans of Royal Canin D morsels and the 2 Science Diet k/d stews, but would barely eat them the next time I served them. He's been nibbling on the Royal Canin A dry Rx sample I got from the vet. When this all started, I was also offering him lower phosphorous wet foods. But lately he's been refusing to eat them too or if he eats them, he throws up soon after. His vet just keeps pushing the Rx food even though I'm not really purchasing any of it through his office. The only other thing he has me do is give him 2.5 mg Pepcid twice a day. 

CatMinionJess said:

 
@mrsgreenjeens  Thank you, I've gotten pretty familiar with tanya's site in the last several months. Jumbo's kidneys have gotten worse in the last 3 months according to his recent bloodwork. CREA went from 2.6 to 3.0 so that's not good. He's tried most of Rx wet foods out there, Science Diet k/d, Royal Canin LP Modified, Hi-Tor Neo, Iams Renal Plus, Science Diet k/d stews (tuna & chicken) and Royal Canin D morsels. He wouldn't eat the Science Diet k/d or Royal Canin LP Modified. It seemed like he was liking Hi-Tor Neo and Iams Renal Plus, but then not so much. He also liked the first cans of Royal Canin D morsels and the 2 Science Diet k/d stews, but would barely eat them the next time I served them. He's been nibbling on the Royal Canin A dry Rx sample I got from the vet. When this all started, I was also offering him lower phosphorous wet foods. But lately he's been refusing to eat them too or if he eats them, he throws up soon after. His vet just keeps pushing the Rx food even though I'm not really purchasing any of it through his office. The only other thing he has me do is give him 2.5 mg Pepcid twice a day. 

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My girl has NEVER touched any of the RX foods.  She's extremely picky, but finally I found some foods she loves, and they are actually much lower in phosphorus than what she was eating before.  (she only eats wet food, BTW).  Anyway, it's Iams Purrfect Delights.  Now, granted, even the ones that are chicken contain fish, but the phosphorus level is still at around .8% on a dry matter basis, so I'm good with it.  Besides, with a chronic illness, I'll feed her anything she'll eat!  And for the first time, she actually gained weight at her last Vet visit.  The strange thing about those foods is...she never liked fish before!  Now she really likes the Tuna Topia, and the Sardines, plus Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.  If Jumbo likes Turkey, they also have Turkeylation that he might like.  Callie normally likes pate, but she does NOT like the Purrfect Delight pates.  Figures.  Anyway, might be something to check into if he's rejecting the RX foods.

So....your Vet has not recommended you begin Sub-q's yet?  I think we started Callie on them when her creatinine was still in the high 2s. When her Creatinine went up to 5 this last visit, I asked what we could do, and the Vet said the only option was to increase her sub-q's from twice a week to 3 times to help flush her kidneys.  There are other options for SOME cats, but she also has liver issues, so cannot take many meds.   (She also gets prescription Pepcid as needed - she gets it as an injectable because she is absolutely impossible to pill.  Even the Vet Tech's have trouble. )

As far as Jumbo throwing up a certain food, do you think maybe he liked it so much he ate it too fast, or what?  It's hard with kidney cats trying to figure out just what is wrong.  I usually give a food two chances, and if Callie throws up both times,then I know it's the food, or an ingredient in the food.   But it's unusual for her to do that.  But, then again, I feed her about 8 wet meals spread out throughout the day AND night.  She eats at 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. also, as I keep 2 food dishes on ice packs on my night stand for her.  This really helps keep her early  morning stomach acid under control . (it helps that I'm no longer working  )

mrsgreenjeens said:

My girl has NEVER touched any of the RX foods.  She's extremely picky, but finally I found some foods she loves, and they are actually much lower in phosphorus than what she was eating before.  (she only eats wet food, BTW).  Anyway, it's Iams Purrfect Delights.  Now, granted, even the ones that are chicken contain fish, but the phosphorus level is still at around .8% on a dry matter basis, so I'm good with it.  Besides, with a chronic illness, I'll feed her anything she'll eat!  And for the first time, she actually gained weight at her last Vet visit.  The strange thing about those foods is...she never liked fish before!  Now she really likes the Tuna Topia, and the Sardines, plus Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.  If Jumbo likes Turkey, they also have Turkeylation that he might like.  Callie normally likes pate, but she does NOT like the Purrfect Delight pates.  Figures.  Anyway, might be something to check into if he's rejecting the RX foods.

So....your Vet has not recommended you begin Sub-q's yet?  I think we started Callie on them when her creatinine was still in the high 2s. When her Creatinine went up to 5 this last visit, I asked what we could do, and the Vet said the only option was to increase her sub-q's from twice a week to 3 times to help flush her kidneys.  There are other options for SOME cats, but she also has liver issues, so cannot take many meds.  

(She also gets prescription Pepcid as needed - she gets it as an injectable because she is absolutely impossible to pill.  Even the Vet Tech's have trouble. )

As far as Jumbo throwing up a certain food, do you think maybe he liked it so much he ate it too fast, or what?  It's hard with kidney cats trying to figure out just what is wrong.  I usually give a food two chances, and if Callie throws up both times,then I know it's the food, or an ingredient in the food.   But it's unusual for her to do that.  But, then again, I feed her about 8 wet meals spread out throughout the day AND night.  She eats at 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. also, as I keep 2 food dishes on ice packs on my night stand for her.  This really helps keep her early  morning stomach acid under control . (it helps that I'm no longer working 

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I did buy 2 variety packs of the Iams Purrfect Deliights back in August when he had stopped eating his (former) dry food, before the CKD was confirmed. It was the pack with turkey, chicken and salmon. He liked them. They didn't seem to upset his tummy that much at the time. But after a while he just stopped eating them. The same happened with the 2 chicken flavored Solistic cans and Wellness turkey. That was the last one I remember him throwing up shortly after eating. He was again not eating much that day. So I was babying him and brought his bowl to the couch where we were snuggling and watching TV. He ate happily for a few minutes. But then starting making the odd meow that I know means he's about to throw up. I jumped up and got him to the hallway that has laminate flooring so he could throw up there and not all over the couch or living room carpet. He also now seems to throw up the fishy Solistic pouches that he liked at first.

Some evenings I catch him sneaking into Boogie Bear and Sgt. Pepper's wet food in the kitchen which lately has mostly been Halo pates. (They're all only in the same common areas when I'm home in the evening so that doesn't go on all day.) I feel bad scolding him when he's actually eating something, but he's supposed to be eating "Rx only". So I usually scoop him up and carry him back to his bowls. Sometimes he'll eat his food then, but sometimes he won't. The funny thing is, if feed him the same thing in his bowl that he got out of their bowls, he won't eat it! 

He had a liver test on 12/28/15, 3 month follow up after blood work and urine test in September. He didn't see the vet that day, but I spoke with him on the phone when he called about the results. I told him about his lack of appetite. Where he may like something for a day or 2 and then refuses to eat it. And how I was basically alternating between the Iams Rx and the different lower phosphorous regular foods. I asked how bad really was tuna (catfood tuna, not people tuna) because he seems to like tuna. He just kept saying diet is the key right now, Jumbo needs to be on Rx food only blah blah blah we have some here blah blah. I told him I was still giving Jumbo Pepcid like he said to. He said that was good, keep doing that. Then he had their office "nutritionist" call me about all the Rx foods they carry. From her I got a couple sample cans of Royal Canin D morsels and sample bag of the A dry. They also gave me a sample pack of the Science Diet stews, which ended up being the dog version, not cat version. He wouldn't eat it obviously, but I at least tried. He gobbled up the Royal Canin D cans so I ordered a case online. Now he won't eat it!  I ordered a case of Science Diet stews in chicken and another tuna. He ate the first can of each. Now he won't eat them!