Question:
Some of you may remember the following thread about my cat Snickers and a recent change I made to his diet:
He has early chronic renal failure which we control through diet. I have been very gradually switching him over (due to his sensitive tummy) from the prescription Eukanuba renal formula (dry) to Sensible Choice Senior (also dry).
He loves the new food, but he is starting to put on too much weight again. He was 19 lbs. a year ago, then was down to about 14 lbs. after being on a reduced-calorie diet. Then the renal issues surfaced, and we had to switch from reduced calorie food to renal. He didn't like the renal food and the ingredients were not the best, so after getting help here and doing some research, we started the switch to Sensible Choice.
It's really a catch-22. Given his renal issues, I'm really glad he's hungry! These kitties often lose their appetite -- not a problem here. He also gets into my other cats' Natural Balance. But I need to control his weight without killing his appetite.
Snickers has never liked wet food. He only licks it and consumes very little. But, it seems that reducing his dry food and adding wet would be better for managing his weight. Plus, I know it would be better overall to have wet food in his diet, though I will continue to feed some dry food as well.
Any suggestions for a good-quality wet food that would fit the bill? I don't have too many places to obtain cat food -- we have PetCo and one small independent store that I don't like much (difficult owners).
I would also love to hear from anyone who switched to wet food even though their cat was averse to it.
Sorry for the long post! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Owned by Pepper and Pumpkin RIP Snickers 8/22/00 -- 11/28/06
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Answer:
I'm afraid I don't know what a good food is for renal failure but I'm sure if you ask your vet they can give you guidelines.
But as for swichting to wet I had a terrible time with my cat Sundance. He was a complete dry food junky. But he also had IBD and skin allergies so I was determined to get him off it. Also, I should mention, he WAS THE MOST stubborn cat I have ever come across! I started by trying to ween him off it. But he just wouldn't eat until the dry came out in the evening. So then I started mixing them together. He wasn't happy about that and tried to pick around the wet but he did eat. Then I just cut out the dry all together. For the first couple of days he barely ate. Looked at me like "Mom, don't you get it!" I felt HORRIBLE! But then he finally gave in. He would never eat while I was around, cause that would admit defeat, but he'd sneak in when I wasn't looking. Of course the minute I was in the kitchen he'd scream bloody murder as if he were starving! After a couple of months he was eating normally and not complaining anymore. He had also been overweight and within a few months of being on the wet food he did slim down to a perfect weight and remained that way unil years later he became hyperthyriod. But that's a whole other story!
Obviously, with a serious condition like renal failure you want to be careful that he doesn't go without any food but as long as he's eating I think the best thing to do is stay firm. Anytime, for the first few months, Sundance got dry we were back to square one. That's why I ended up cutting it out altogether for a long time. Just try to find a wet that he tolerates and go with it. Maybe try some bribe foods mixed in like tuna juice or human meat baby food but check with your vet first to make sure they're O.K.
You also mentioned that he likes your other cats Natural Balance. Why can't he eat that? It comes in cans and maybe he'll like it?
Hope this very long post helps!
Answer:
Thankfully I've never had to deal with CRF.
My understanding is that they've now decided that phosphorous content is the important thing.
Here is a good site. Its for diabetics, but the same concepts apply
http://www.petdiabetes.org/chronic_renal_failure.htm
And here are some great food charts that breakdown what's what in the different foods
http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_dry.htm
http://www.felinediabetes.com/cat_food_nutrition_canned.htm
Jennifer
Jennifer and the monsters
They say...
it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a Day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.
Answer:
nanook wrote: You also mentioned that he likes your other cats Natural Balance. Why can't he eat that? It comes in cans and maybe he'll like it?
Unfortunately, NB is too high in phosphorus and protein for him. What are you feeding your cat?
Nanook, thanks for sharing about your cat. I will probably have to switch Snickers over kind of slowly as his stomach get upset easily. But, I will try giving him the wet stuff when he ravenous as you did. Hopefully that will help!
Jennifer, thanks for the links. The food charts are great -- I will compare them to the others I'm using to find some foods that look good. You're right -- the phosporus content is the main issue, followed by protein.
Does anyone have any suggestions with regards to the weight loss part? Can anyone recommend a food that their cat lost weight on?
Owned by Pepper and Pumpkin RIP Snickers 8/22/00 -- 11/28/06
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Answer:
All my cats had weight problems until I switched to mainly wet. I had tried every kind of low cal food (even Science Diet R/D) and they just continued to gain!
When I switched Sundance I had them on Wellness. They were on that exclusively for several years until recently. Right now they are on a rotation of Wellness, Eagle Pack and Natural Balance canned and they get Evo dry as a snack. I don't know what the phosphorus and protein levels are though.
Answer:
Thanks, Nanook. I'll check on my various lists to find out the levels in those foods. Wellness Chicken looks like one that I might be able to use. Snickers definitely needs to lose some weight, so I'm glad to hear those foods worked for you.
If you don't mind my asking, how did you happen to choose those foods? Did you look for a certain fat and/or calorie content or just go with the high-quality stuff?
Do you have to go to a specialty pet store for food? There aren't many places to buy pet food around here -- Petco and one, maybe two, smaller specialty stores.
Owned by Pepper and Pumpkin RIP Snickers 8/22/00 -- 11/28/06
http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/

Answer:
I have the same issues with weight since I have a diabetic and while it's a good sign when she gains weight, too much can be bad.
Basically for me is to just find a food that she will eat then adjust the amount of food to her weight. A good, general formula is 20-30kcal per pound of cat per day. The more active cat gets the 30kcal, the lazy cat gets the 20kcal.
For Korbel for example, at her high she was 15lbs. I wanted her to loose weight, but gradually. So at first I calculated it for 14.5 lbs and worked my way down. She's a pretty normal cat, so I put her calories at 25.
So, 14.5lbs * 25=362.5 calories per day. Then I use those food charts again and figure out how much to feed her to get that caloric amount. I'm not that exact, so I'd aim for 365 calories, or the closest calorie amount that is easy enough to measure out.
Jennifer
Jennifer and the monsters
They say...
it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a Day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.
Answer:
Hi Lymecaps,
I mostly looked at the guality of the food overall. High meat content and low grain. I first tried Innova and California Natural but my cats refused to touch them. I think I also chose Wellness becaue it was human grade. But really, I just went through all the foods, picked the ones that had the best ingredients and then tried to figure out which one they would eat. I remember being quite overwhelmed at the time and throwing out a lot of food!
I would love to feed them Prairie but, as much as I hate to say it, it's simply too expensive for me right now. But it looks great.
I've found that the smaller, independent shops tend to carry a better variety. Where I am Petco doesn't have much but luckily I have a lot of other choices. My friend lives in Vegas and they don't have many of choices for pet food so she orders online. There's some site that has all the top high quality brands but I don't know what it's called. It's either Natural pet foods online or Premium pet foods online.