cats will hardly eat the renal diet

J

Jenn

Member Since 2026
Hello. I have 1 kitty with Stage II Kidney disease and one that has the start of the rise of the S _ _ _ something level and would benefit from being on it. They are both over 10 YO and were put on purina one advanced care NF renal diet but 1 of them wont eat at all any of it and the other kind of does. I have put churo on it crushed up temptation treats on it both of which they are not supposed to have and still hardly nothing .. i was given ok by vet the ok to put science diet regular food 7+ on it as a topper to try to entice but tractor supply was out and got Wertura (sp) to try as a toper and 1 kitty easts of it and the other kitty still none ... help please .... what can i put on this to help get them to eat it 😭😭😭
 
Hi there! Maybe “SDMA” is what you’re referring to? It’s one of the kidney markers vets look at along with the traditional BUN, creatinine, phosphorus, etc.

What were they eating before? I’d be thinking about getting the one who’s not eating at all eating something at least in the interim. Did you do the food transition slowly? Over the course of a week or so.

What’s their bloodwork like? My guy is stage II as well and I’ve been working on feeding low phosphorus foods, not necessarily the renal diets. There’s some debate about renal diets in early stages with the protein restriction. I think @Kat & Trixie was just investigating this too, maybe she can share her experience.

There are a couple other toppers and tricks in the last two paragraphs of this post:
Nausea & Decreased Appetite
 
Hi Tim. Yes, it is SDMA. Unfortunately i panicked and just started them on the renal diet without transitioning the food slowly. ☹️ They were eating Iams Proactive Health. I am not sure on the blood work as it is not readily available at the moment. Has Pookey's blood work maintained just on low phosphorus foods? I will check out that post. Thank you.
 
Jenn said:
Has Pookey's blood work maintained just on low phosphorus foods?
Click to expand...
It’s been about a year and things have been pretty stable. He’s a bit older than your two though. We get new labs this coming week so I’ll keep you posted!

You can definitely ask the vet for the bloodwork. And any older labs might be helpful just to see how things are trending.

Let me know how the toppers go or if you can get them to eat the normal food!
 
Tim is right, I have been doing lots of investigating when it comes to renal diets. There are lots of differing opinions about it and when and how much to reduce protein.

Was a urinalysis done at the time of diagnosis? Was there protein in your cat's urine? If so, it is a good idea to start to reduce the protein in their diet to lessen the load on their kidneys. Another test that can be done is a UCP (Urine Protein/Creatinine) which measures the amount of protein leaking through your cat’s kidneys. Did the vet mention if your cat's phosphorus levels were up? If so, you can add a phosphorus binder to their food to help.

Another very important part of managing CKD is to make sure your cat is getting more water to help flush out toxins in the kidney. Are you feeding wet food? If not, you may want to introduce some wet food to their diet as well. Maybe try adding some of their old food back in with the new diet and that may help with transition?

With Trixie, she is in diabetic remission, and she has to have a low carb diet and many if not most of the renal diets are high carb and not an option for her. The wet food / canned renal diets are a bit lower in carbs but still too high for my girl, so it's a delicate dance.
 
Wow Kat, I have been stressed out over this since my 1 kitties diagnosis (Her name is Kitty) in April when had Stage I, would not eat the Science Diet brand I bought at the vet and just gave all my cats (3) the wet food. The information you just gave me stresses me out more 😭😭😭😭

Bean is my other kitty with start of CKD that I had to have repeat blood work done for thyroid issues (he is on meds) and that is when was told to put him on renal diet as well.

Kitties blood work when was repeated was Stage II now so went from stage I in april to stage II in june and was told she needs a renal diet.

I have seen both Bean and Kitty drink water all the time. I usually have to refresh a lot for Kitty as she is bougie. Right now they are getting wet food a Topper and trying to get them to eat the renal diet with that but they just eat around the renal diet and eat the wet. I was afraid to introduce the old food in with renal diet for afraid of making them worse ... but they need to eat.

I do not know if a UA was done. I will ask. Thank you for all of the information.
 
Oh gosh, Jenn, I did not mean to stress you out. :bighug: Just wanted to provide some more information on things that can be looked into to get a better understanding of what is going on with Kitty. I do apologize. I know for myself, the more information I have helps give me a better understanding of how to best proceed with the best path forward.

It is great that you are feeding a wet diet to all of your cats and that they are drinking water. It's easy for the vet to say they need to be on a renal diet, but you are the one that is at home with them struggling. I do understand your apprehension to add the old food back in. Trixie is my 3rd CKD cat and with my first, he was not able to go on a renal diet since he was prone to crystals, and I was not willing to risk a urinary block by switching his food which could have been fatal for him. I managed his diagnosis for years with meds and supplements as the disease progressed.

Continue doing what you are doing, there are some really good toppers out there that can help and hopefully they will start to eat better for you. The link that Tim provided has some great information in it.
 
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