How to get my cat to try new, healthier food???

thunder road

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My vet has diagnosed our 14-year-old male cat with the beginnings of chronic kidney disease (in terms of slightly elevated levels of a couple of things), after we took the cat in due to weight loss (from about 11.5 to 10 pounds over the past six or twelve months). But the vet says the cat might be able to live several more years with the help of a kidney-friendly diet. The problem is, so far our cat has rejected the kidney-friendly hard and soft foods from a couple of manufacturers (Royal Canin and Science Diet) as well as the supplement pills we've bought, all on the vet's recommendation. Also, he's rejected even the soft food he usually likes if we grind up the supplement and mix it in to the regular cat food he likes. He's also rejected his regular food when I've tried pouring a bit of salmon oil and powder recommended by the Pet Vet store where I bought the kidney-friendly food.

The only thing that's worked a few times so far is if I've mixed a tiny bit of the kidney-friendly soft food or ground-up supplement into his regular food. But if I try to increase that mix, he again turns up his nose.

In the meantime, aside from the weight loss he's in pretty good shape in terms of appetite (since of course we eventually feed him his regular food if he keeps refusing to eat the kidney-friendly mixture), water intake, energy, jumping, affection, etc.

SO...any thoughts on what if anything else we can try to entice our cat to increase his intake of the healthy kidney food and supplement? All suggestions much appreciated! Thanks.
 

stephanietx

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What you actually need isn't necessarily the prescription food.  What you need is a food low in phosphorus. 

Here's a good list of foods and their phosphorus levels.  It's not exactly current (2014), but it's still a fairly comprehensive list.

http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm

Tanya's whole site is excellent for kitties with kidney issues.  Here's the homepage:  http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

Here's an article on phosphorus content with kidney kitties.  http://feline-nutrition.org/answers/answers-kidney-disease-phosphorus-and-raw-diets
 
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thunder road

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Thanks so much! I'll definitely check out those resources. But my immediate question is whether anyone has any suggestions on how to get my cat to eat more-kidney friendly food. He's quite resistant to trying any foods other than those he's been eating for years.
 
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thunder road

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Thanks!!! I'll check out some of these suggestions, though thankfully he has an appetite and is fine with his regular food...the problem is he's a very picky eater set in his ways, so keeps rejecting the healthier options. But it could be that one or more of these suggestions will work.

Also, it's good to know that onions are toxic to cats and that certain human foods contain onions or onion juice. I hadn't known that.

More suggestions are more than welcome!
 
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