Hey folks -- if anybody can help me with this, I'd really appreciate it. My 18 year old cat needs a food that doesn't strain her failing liver. My vet likes to mention Hill's G/D, but Lucky won't eat it. She's super picky, and she will starve all day rather than eat something she doesn't like. She eats only tinned foods. (yes I know they're bad... but she refuses dry food too) Anyways, does anybody here have the same problem, or know of a good tinned food for her? thank you!
RWJ, I am so sorry to hear about you little cat. (((hugs)))
Maybe a bit OT, but like your cat, my cat was old and sadly, very sick and my Vet wanted him on a special diet.
He wouldn't touch it! Not one lick...not one bite.
My mom told me to buy baby food for him. So I went to the store and bought the little jars of Gerber baby food. Beef, chicken, turkey were his favorites. He LOVED it and would eat quite a bit of it. He seemed very content and I was glad he was eating and getting hydrated through the 'wet' food.
Probably not what the vet wanted, but my furry best friend seemed quiet happy and was actually eating. He lived longer than the Vet expected....maybe it was the baby food? Who knows.
Anyway, I wish you and her fur-baby well.
beachbum -- thank you! I'd forgotten about baby food. Wouldn't that be hysterical -- ME buying kid food? LOL. My vet knows that she has had all the best foods, eats them for a while, then turns a disdainful nose up at them after a while, and nothing makes her go back to them. Right now she's eating pouched food -- whiskas and purina. I know it's garbage, but she loves any food with gravy... I'm thinking of getting her GD and spooning gravy on top of it to make her eat it! Unfortunately she's smarter than that. She'll just lick the gravy off and ignore the rest.. sigh...
(09-07-2009 06:07 PM)RantWoman Wrote: [ -> ]Unfortunately she's smarter than that. She'll just lick the gravy off and ignore the rest.. sigh...
LOL! I would bet money on that!
Try the baby food. Seriously....chicken was his favorite.
(I am sure the checkers/cashiers probably thought I was nuts only feeding my 'baby' meat products only...no fruit, no veggie, no cereal. Ha!)
beachbum: thanks for the laugh! (and well wishes) the funny thing is the vet seemed unable to wrap his head around the fact that my girl eats like a horse (no diabetes, she's been checked) and doesn't have a picky appetite when she gets what she wants! He said a cat with liver problems will stop eating.. which makes NO sense..
RantWoman, best wishes to you and your cat, and please let us know if the baby food works!
Good luck RantWoman, I know it's so hard to deal with when they won't eat. I often mix a bit of tuna in with a good food, but so far I have been lucky that none of the sick cats were too picky. They just wouldn't eat because they were sick and I had to wait for the antibiotics to kick in, but once they did everything worked out. My heart goes out to you, and I hope that the baby food works!
A friend of mine does fostering and has a highly special needs cat. We once drove to Buffalo to get him a special tinned food. I just emailed her and when she replies I'll post her answer.
Rantwoman
& So sorry to be late posting here.
First off
to the boards.
Second off, If your kitty needs special food for her liver condition.
There are is only one brand name that most Vets reccommend and that is Science Diet.
I know my poor Collie Mix may she
had a failing liver and was put on the soft Hill Science in cans. But I am not sure if they make it in cans for cats? If they do, then you can get that.
If not, use the DRY and take either tuna oil or sardine oil and mix it up that way. If that does not work. Try mixing the dry with a nice beefy gravy. Does your cat eat people food? If so find her fav people food and mix that in with the dry SD food.
I am so sorry your baby is so ILL
I will pray for a speedy recovery.
I agree with the baby food.
When Keeley was very sick and not eating we started her on the baby food and she slowly ate it but once she started, she loved it and then we moved on to the regular cat food.
You might want to try canned tuna as well.
From my friend Doris who is the FOAK for sick kitties!!!
Hi Jo!
Poor kitty, it's sooooo frustrating when they won't eat!!! (BTW, canned foods are actually better for them than dry!)
The #1 rule with cats is they have to eat SOMETHING, anything, so honestly at this point with an 18-year old cat I would let her eat what she wants. Best case scenario--if there are a few foods she will eat, I would try to avoid by-products as that can be taxing on the liver and kidneys, but a good quality canned food should be fine for her. One ingredient to avoid is fish as it results in uric acid production which is bad for the liver.
Here are a few really good foods, I would go with flavours like chicken or turkey:
Wellness
Eagle Pack
Go Natural
Precise
Pet Guard (avail. in the US only--that's the one we went for!)
Natural Life
There are also several holistic supplements available for liver support but I would definitely talk to a vet before going that route.
Hope this helps!
(09-07-2009 05:21 PM)RantWoman Wrote: [ -> ]Hey folks -- if anybody can help me with this, I'd really appreciate it. My 18 year old cat needs a food that doesn't strain her failing liver. My vet likes to mention Hill's G/D, but Lucky won't eat it. She's super picky, and she will starve all day rather than eat something she doesn't like. She eats only tinned foods. (yes I know they're bad... but she refuses dry food too) Anyways, does anybody here have the same problem, or know of a good tinned food for her? thank you!
there is nothing wrong with canned cat foods. Canned cat foods are better for cats than dry. It's a myth that dry cat food is better. One - cats are carnivores so they should be eating meat not crackers. Two - cats don't have a good thirst mechanism and should be getting most of their water from their food. Which they can't get from dry cat food. My cat eats about 90% of her food from canned. I still leave dry out but she gets two solid meals of canned per day.
If you go here
http://www.tailblazerspets.com/index.html there is lots of information about good quality cat food. Basically you want to avoid any fillers (corn, wheat, barley) and make sure meat is one of the first ingredients listed. My cat is elderly too and has vomiting issues so I try to avoid any grains in her food but basically if she'll eat it I give it to her.
The other thing is give your cat variety. People seem to think cats should eat the same thing day in and out and I disagree. How would you like to eat that? Cats are very finicky in their taste and I find in my experience my cat does better with a variety. She likes to eat different brands
and different flavours. I try not to give her the same brands and flavours two meals in a row (don't ask me how she knows but she knows). She does much better that way. And yes she will eat something and then decide she won't eat it. I usually find something else for her to eat and just hold off on the one she won't eat for a while and then give it to her again. So I stock up on lots of different flavours and different brands and alternate them.
And to be honest I wouldn't put too much stock in Hills. I've heard that it's not that great of a food but that the company has some sort of deals with vets so that's why they push it. That may or may not be true but don't pin all your hopes on that food. Your best bet is a speciality pet food store. They aren't loyal to any brands and can help you decipher labels and stuff. I still buy my cat Fancy Feast and generic pet food but I read the labels more carefully now. Even tho I'm willing to buy the high quality cat food she won't eat it regularly. So we cope.
And be careful with the tuna. Tuna is fine as a treat and to stimulate appetite but it doesn't have vitamin E (I think it is) in it and it's not well balanced enough for cats to live on.
I agree with Doris' theory... cats can survive on the most odd of foods so at 18 years old the best thing is to feed her something that makes her happy. A bit of dry food is usually recommended so that they can get some teeth cleaning but with an older cat that's not exactly your biggest problem! In 'the wild' they would eat animals that have bones and other crunchy bits and would clean their teeth that way.
Up to 25% or so of a young cat's meal can be 'non standard', meaning that a young healthy cat can eat their regular meals but have 1/4 of their food as treats and still be healthy. With kittens learning to eat I will often do a 'mush': 1/4 tuna, 3/4 wet kitten food, and mixed with enough water to make it into a goop that they can almost drink up. Over time I eliminate the water and then the tuna (I also initially include the tuna because it gives stray cats and kittens a healthier coat).
That said, if fish is worse for a liver then it wouldn't be a good idea for you. Still, the 25% rule still applies and you might be able to find a baby-food/cat food mush that would work for her.
Hi everybody -- and thank you! Lucky is eating, she just won't eat what the vet wants her to eat! Stubborn cat. She won't eat the Hill's G/D at all. She is, ahem, forgive me, eating Whiskas and Purina pouch food with the gravy. The vet knows this. He knows she won't eat the Hills, but keeps trying me to get her to eat it anyway. She also will eat Royal Canin. For anybody who also has a cat that will only eat tinned types of food with gravy, it is exactly the same texture that the Purina and Whiskas foods has... I bought it from my vet last night, it's for Renal Failure. Oh, and thanks for the tips on the no fish food -- she has minor crystals in her pee, the vet says, so that's a great tip! Thanks everybody!!!! I very much appreciate all your help, as does my old furry girl.
You know gang, I am so very blessed with Boots. Not only does he eat the same food every day. He never complains about it.
Plus, ( knock on wood) he is healthy as a horse.
He has been eating "Purina One Healthy weight loss and hairball control
formula" every day for the past year and a ½ that we have owned him and he has not turned up his nose once at his food.
He loves it, and I am grateful. Cause we are in no position to be able to afford the wet can food for him.
He gets all the water he need out of my Jug.
(See Photos)
AND, I can only hope that he stays healthy, till my husband can find work.
Rant woman: Continued
and
good luck wishes for you & Lucky. I do hope you can get her to eat
what she needs to be eating.
Please keep us posted
(09-09-2009 07:55 PM)RantWoman Wrote: [ -> ]. She won't eat the Hill's G/D at all. She is, ahem, forgive me, eating Whiskas and Purina pouch food with the gravy. The vet knows this. He knows she won't eat the Hills, but keeps trying me to get her to eat it anyway.
again I wouldn't put too much stock into what food the vet wants. The fact that he is trying to push this even tho she won't eat it tells me he doesn't really care that much - he's just trying to sell the food. Anyone with a cat knows you can't get them to eat what they don't want to. Vets actually get very little training in pet food nutrition and I saw on a CBC documentary that the training they do get is sponsored by the pet food company (ie Hills) - not sure if that's true or not anymore
Quote:She also will eat Royal Canin.
royal canin is a fine food. Nothing wrong with it. In fact the ones bought from vets (as opposed to pet food stores) don't have (usually) any grains in them so that's good.
I actually took my friend, Doris' advice, and bought some of those brands. My Eli is almost 15, and he has no teeth and loves his canned food (Friskies). And he typically does not like the premium brands. So I am mixing them right now. He sniffed one plate, and as soon as I added some of those chunks and gravy that he loves so much, he gobbled it all right up. LOL
I call that crappy food the "McDonalds of the Feline World". They all love it, even though it's crap.
My vet told me that if your cat isn't eating, feed it anything - even fresh shrimp or fish - anything to get it to eat. Once it starts to eat, you can switch to normal cat food and add some fish or shrimp later on as a treat