Food for Picky Cat with Renal Failure

I'm back with another question for another cat!

I have a 14 year old female, Suki, who had her teeth cleaned and a cracked tooth removed last week. Her pre-anesthesia bloodwork showed very early renal failure, according to the vet. So, she was prescribed Royal Canin renal support.

However, she is a very picky eater, which was made worse by the stress and pain of the tooth extraction and cleaning.

I ended up trying a bunch of flavors and brands of food and finally got her to eat on her own after a week, albeit very little. I had to hand feed her since she was starving herself.

Right now she will only eat Fancy Feast in any kind of fish flavor. I don't like feeding it to her, but she won't eat anything else, not even her old food. I tried mixing a little Fancy Feast in with the Royal Canin she refused to eat anything.

What other kidney friendly foods can I try?

Also, the vet cleaned her ears because they said they looked dirty (she has always been indoor only, so I don't know why), and now she is itching and shaking her ears a lot.

Check out the "Diet" tab on Tanya's site:  http://www.felinecrf.org/

Thanks!

I'll keep trying to slowly work in a kidney diet of some sort. I'm just happy she's eating again...

Why would her ears be itchy? The vet didn't mention seeing an infection when they cleaned out her ears and now I wish they didn't clean her ears because she is very itchy when she wasn't before!

You may want to try Soulistic brand canned food, either Good Karma Chicken or Sunrise Harvest Chicken and Pumpkin. That's what I feed my cat with kidney disease and he really likes them. They are low in phosphorous. He actually also has dirty ears most of the time which comes back after I clean them, and he's indoor only also. The vet said she wasn't concerned about his ears and to just leave them alone.

Thanks! I'm willing to try whatever works! My husband jokes we have somany kinds of cat food in our cabinet that we could open a store...

I would avoid the kidney diets, they caused extreme muscle wasting and weakness in my cat.  Renal diets typically if used are best in late stage renal failure however they do cause muscle wasting because they are low in protein.  What you want to do is find the low phosphorus foods on the Tanya's website and feed those.  If your cat isn't eating, it may need an appetite stimulant.    My cat loves fish flavored anything....while not the best to feed regularly at this point (stage 3) she is getting whatever I can get her to eat.  My cat is a very picky eater and I have to keep up a wide variety of rotation in her diet to keep her eating most of the time.  Did they give your cat any pain medications following extractions?

cprcheetah said:

I would avoid the kidney diets, they caused extreme muscle wasting and weakness in my cat.  Renal diets typically if used are best in late stage renal failure however they do cause muscle wasting because they are low in protein.  What you want to do is find the low phosphorus foods on the Tanya's website and feed those.  If your cat isn't eating, it may need an appetite stimulant.    My cat loves fish flavored anything....while not the best to feed regularly at this point (stage 3) she is getting whatever I can get her to eat.  My cat is a very picky eater and I have to keep up a wide variety of rotation in her diet to keep her eating most of the time.  Did they give your cat any pain medications following extractions?

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There is a lot of info on that website that I am combing through!
My vet gave me a hard time for not feeding Royal Canin, so I know she will give me "that look" if she finds out Suki is eating Fancy Feast. I tried adding a little Royal Canin under the Fancy Feast this morning and Suki refused even to try her food so I will have to try Fancy Feast alone if she hasn't touched her food by lunch time. She is a very sensitive cat.

What do you feed your picky eater?

Also, I did have 3 days of buprenex for Suki, but she gets so stressed from any vet visit that she is out of sorts for weeks. She is finally cuddling with me again. She soiled herself on the way to and from the vet and they had to bathe her after they tried to get her in her carrier when I came to pick her up...so she might still be wary of everything still right now, which would explain why she is acting like her old food is poisoned and is also why I would prefer not to hand feed her again...

My Sandra also has renal failure.  She is in the advanced stages.   She is a very picky eater, so when the vet recommended a prescription diet I was worried.  We tried the Hills k/d diet, and she really likes it.  She eats mostly canned (chicken & vegetable stew flavor).  But I also keep the dry version out for her too.  The canned is more chunky texture, but I find if I mash it for her with the back of a fork, she likes that more.  Before her favorite was Fancy Feast pate canned foods.  Maybe you can ask your vet about trying different brands of k/d food.  

Tamu708 said:

My Sandra also has renal failure.  She is in the advanced stages.   She is a very picky eater, so when the vet recommended a prescription diet I was worried.  We tried the Hills k/d diet, and she really likes it.  She eats mostly canned (chicken & vegetable stew flavor).  But I also keep the dry version out for her too.  The canned is more chunky texture, but I find if I mash it for her with the back of a fork, she likes that more.  Before her favorite was Fancy Feast pate canned foods.  Maybe you can ask your vet about trying different brands of k/d food.  

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Thanks for the suggestion! I got every flavor/type of Hills and Royal Canin from the vet and so far she has rejected them all! I tricked her into trying a little of her old food today by adding some Fancy Feast on top, so I'm hoping to slowly switch her to a more kidney friendly diet with the suggestions mentioned.

She seems to like pate the best, so at least I have something to work with now. I mush up the pate and add a little warm water for my other cat and Suki will have a fit if I touch hers...so picky!