# If you think poodles are faddy...



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

...try feeding a cat with even mild CKD! At her recent check up Tilly-cat's blood test results had improved but she was significantly underweight for her size. Her vet and I agreed that the important thing was to get her eating more, even if that meant relaxing control of phosphorus levels in her food.

That was the start of weeks of experimentation and calculation. She will eat small treats of cooked meat but prefers raw. She prefers chunks to minced meat, but most chunks get ignored. Most renal diets are either refused altogether or make her vomit, as do many commercial non-renal cat foods, wet or dry. What she really likes is whole prey she catches herself, but she does not catch enough to put on any weight. 

It has taken a while but she is at last gaining a little weight and condition. In one bowl she gets around 25g/1oz of chopped raw chicken hearts, with a miniscule scraping of chicken liver and a pinch of ground eggshell. In a separate bowl 1/3 sachet of Royal Canin renal chicken or fish, with 1/2 sachet of Gourmet Mon Petit spread over it and slightly mashed in (not mixed in as then it is inedible, it seems!). Repeat 3+ times a day, with small bowls of renal dry and fresh water always available upstairs and down. It adds up to over 250kcal per day, and comes in at just under 150mg phosphorus per 100kcal, the recommended level for her stage of CKD. It is not perfectly balanced, but with some of the dogs' chicken pancake and a few drops of fish oil it is not too far off, and there are times when perfection is the enemy of the good enough.

I have a vast stack of boxes of rejected renal and other food (if anyone in the UK needs any, do let me know!) and therefore focussed my experiments on meat that either the dogs or I could eat to save waste. Even so a lot got thrown away until I hit on this combination - she still doesn't empty the bowl, but at least more is getting eaten than chucked. Fingers crossed she doesn't change her mind too quickly...!


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## Miki (Dec 25, 2021)

Been there/done that with my mini Sully. So frustrating, so expensive, such a rollercoaster. Renal food was too fatty for him and tipped him over into pancreatitis. At some point we fed him whatever he would eat - steak, eggs, hot dogs, yogurt, cereal, etc. Ultimately we had to start bottle feeding, but it worked to get the calories in him, which helped him feel better and become more willing to eat on his own. Until that didn't work, either. 😟

CKD is a struggle, but over the 7 months we struggled together, we had many more good days than bad.


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## PennyDog (Dec 23, 2021)

I’ve got an incredibly picky cat also, made worse by dental issues. It’s a constant struggle trying to get enough food into her.
Friskies and fancy feast (particularly the chicken pate) are like crack to cats. Have you/can you try that? Just be aware that if she gets addicted to it, that might be all she’ll want to eat.

Another idea if all else fails:
If she really likes whole prey, you can buy frozen mice. They come in a variety of sizes and you reheat them before feeding. They’re for feeding snakes and lizards usually. 
Just depends on if you’re willing to go that far lol. And if her diet allows it.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Fancy Feast isn't available in the UK - pity, as it is renowned for being highly favoured. I don't think she would like frozen mice, although had already occurred to me to try!


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## PennyDog (Dec 23, 2021)

fjm said:


> Fancy Feast isn't available in the UK - pity, as it is renowned for being highly favoured. I don't think she would like frozen mice, although had already occurred to me to try!


Fancy Feast is a blessing and a curse - once they’re hooked on it, it’s difficult to get them to eat anything else!

I considered mice for my cat before we found out she needed teeth pulled. Now she wouldn’t be able to chew it. If you do try, let me know how it goes!


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