How can I make renal support wet food more appealing to my cat?
August 30, 2023 11:01 AM Subscribe
Violet is 14 and has stage 3 kidney disease, so the vet has put her on renal support food, but she is a picky eater and doesn't care for it much. What can I add to her food to make it appetizing?
Her prescription food is Royal Canin Renal Support, which comes in larger (5oz) cans of pate and smaller (3oz) cans of stew. I've tried them both and neither was a hit.
For a while she was on the larger cans, which she'll happily eat when first opened, but once they've been refrigerated she turns her nose up. I have to refrigerate them since she eats less than a can a day (she's a very small cat, 3 kg, and also gets some Greenies for her teeth). I've tried mixing in some Fancy Feast, which she loves on its own, and that worked for a while but then she lost interest in it and basically wasn't eating her wet food at all. (She's healthy though and clearly has an appetite.) I tried microwaving her food once it's been in the fridge or adding a little hot water, but neither worked.
I switched to the smaller cans of stew and for the first couple of days she seemed happy with them, but only if I left them unrefrigerated and gave her a spoonful at a time -- once it's been in her bowl and dried out a bit she again wasn't interested. And now she'll hardly look at it at all.
It's not an appetite problem since she would happily live on Fancy Feast alone. It seems to be a flavor problem. I've tried adding some liquid from a can of tuna or salmon but this also didn't do much. Violet's a very picky eater and doesn't like most human food or anything much beyond Fancy Feast / Friskies pate really -- if I could figure out what makes those irresistible to her and find a way to add that flavor to her kidney food, that might be problem solved. Ideas?
Her prescription food is Royal Canin Renal Support, which comes in larger (5oz) cans of pate and smaller (3oz) cans of stew. I've tried them both and neither was a hit.
For a while she was on the larger cans, which she'll happily eat when first opened, but once they've been refrigerated she turns her nose up. I have to refrigerate them since she eats less than a can a day (she's a very small cat, 3 kg, and also gets some Greenies for her teeth). I've tried mixing in some Fancy Feast, which she loves on its own, and that worked for a while but then she lost interest in it and basically wasn't eating her wet food at all. (She's healthy though and clearly has an appetite.) I tried microwaving her food once it's been in the fridge or adding a little hot water, but neither worked.
I switched to the smaller cans of stew and for the first couple of days she seemed happy with them, but only if I left them unrefrigerated and gave her a spoonful at a time -- once it's been in her bowl and dried out a bit she again wasn't interested. And now she'll hardly look at it at all.
It's not an appetite problem since she would happily live on Fancy Feast alone. It seems to be a flavor problem. I've tried adding some liquid from a can of tuna or salmon but this also didn't do much. Violet's a very picky eater and doesn't like most human food or anything much beyond Fancy Feast / Friskies pate really -- if I could figure out what makes those irresistible to her and find a way to add that flavor to her kidney food, that might be problem solved. Ideas?
My vet suggested freeze-dried salmon - you can crumble it in your fingers to make a flavor dust to sprinkle all over the wet food. It worked until my kitty was too sick to eat anything at all. Nowadays there are all kinds of “toppers” for sale at the big box pet shops.
posted by stowaway at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by stowaway at 11:22 AM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Fortiflora may work to add flavor. You don't need to use the whole packet, just sprinkle a bit on top as "seasoning." The Churu lickable treats can also be used as a topper or mixed in. Violet is a beauty!
posted by XtineHutch at 11:41 AM on August 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by XtineHutch at 11:41 AM on August 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Is there a reason you’re sticking with wet food? My cat wouldn’t eat the wet renal support food but did eat the dry.
posted by FencingGal at 12:12 PM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by FencingGal at 12:12 PM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
There's a VERY popular and informative web site someone published, all about feline renal disease support. There's a section entirely devoted to diet and feeding - what to feed your cat, how to entice your cat to eat, and when to just give in and let your cat have some damn Friskies instead of the expensive prescription stuff (in some cases, a given flavor of Friskies might actually be okay).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:14 PM on August 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:14 PM on August 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
If you have not already found it, Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease is an amazing resource. Her section on Tempting Your Cat to Eat was very helpful with our cat Smokey.
Be very careful about what you add. A CKD cat needs to have a low phosphorous diet, and some toppers are high in phosphorous. You want under 1% phosphorous. We used the Fancy Feast broths.
And yes, unfortunately it is not unusual for cats to reject food once it's been in the fridge. That was a particular problem with Smokey. Apparently the metal of the can can react with the food and give it an "off" taste. See if she likes it more if you store it in a bowl instead. We also found warming the food helped.
posted by rednikki at 12:21 PM on August 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Be very careful about what you add. A CKD cat needs to have a low phosphorous diet, and some toppers are high in phosphorous. You want under 1% phosphorous. We used the Fancy Feast broths.
And yes, unfortunately it is not unusual for cats to reject food once it's been in the fridge. That was a particular problem with Smokey. Apparently the metal of the can can react with the food and give it an "off" taste. See if she likes it more if you store it in a bowl instead. We also found warming the food helped.
posted by rednikki at 12:21 PM on August 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Fortiflora has pork powder in it - it's designed to taste good.
My foster cat will eat more, or start better, when I offer the food by holding it in my fingers -- but he really has a strong desire to be mommied.
I just saw a patent for a special dish that placed good-smelling food (protected by something so it couldn't be eaten) near healthy food to make the healthy food seem more delicious.
posted by amtho at 1:02 PM on August 30, 2023
My foster cat will eat more, or start better, when I offer the food by holding it in my fingers -- but he really has a strong desire to be mommied.
I just saw a patent for a special dish that placed good-smelling food (protected by something so it couldn't be eaten) near healthy food to make the healthy food seem more delicious.
posted by amtho at 1:02 PM on August 30, 2023
Maybe talk with your vet about this one, but one of my cats just got advised to switch to a kidney diet. My vet suggested (among other things) Epakitin, which gets mixed into wet food and binds phosphate. I'm using that with their normal Fancy Feast pate.
I haven't had follow-up bloodwork yet, so this is a very tentative recommendation. But I'm fighting the cats on kibble and getting to keep the regular wet food for now is a relief.
posted by mersen at 1:17 PM on August 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I haven't had follow-up bloodwork yet, so this is a very tentative recommendation. But I'm fighting the cats on kibble and getting to keep the regular wet food for now is a relief.
posted by mersen at 1:17 PM on August 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Violet is beautiful!
Strong seconding of Tanya's Guide. We use it to shop all our local pet food stores and our renal cat's renal failure has held steady (no deterioration) eating foods at the top of her list. It's handy because we can buy a huge variety of foods and rotate through them so cat cat always has a variety. My vet also said - first priority is that senior cats eat enough food. Second priority is getting renal food into them.
We have also had good luck feeding the renal dry food. Is that an option to supplement the wet?
posted by some chick at 1:20 PM on August 30, 2023
Strong seconding of Tanya's Guide. We use it to shop all our local pet food stores and our renal cat's renal failure has held steady (no deterioration) eating foods at the top of her list. It's handy because we can buy a huge variety of foods and rotate through them so cat cat always has a variety. My vet also said - first priority is that senior cats eat enough food. Second priority is getting renal food into them.
We have also had good luck feeding the renal dry food. Is that an option to supplement the wet?
posted by some chick at 1:20 PM on August 30, 2023
Our cat will happily chow down on Hill's k/d dry food. We were surprised because she completely ignored the wet variety.
It might be a tough sell if yours is not used to kibble, but your cat might think it's just a huge bowl of Greenies.
posted by credulous at 1:37 PM on August 30, 2023
It might be a tough sell if yours is not used to kibble, but your cat might think it's just a huge bowl of Greenies.
posted by credulous at 1:37 PM on August 30, 2023
Agree with FencingGal's suggestion. We had a cat in renal failure who would only eat the dry renal diet but not the wet stuff - we would portion the day's amount into a shallow little plastic lidded box and just carry it around the house with us and because she was both a picky eater and also awesome, she basically taught us to open the box for her when she fancied a few mouthfuls by nudging it and looking at us. That way she got enough to eat and the kibble was kept fresh.
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 3:21 PM on August 30, 2023
posted by Martha My Dear Prudence at 3:21 PM on August 30, 2023
Response by poster: I should have mentioned that I did get a sample of renal support kibble from the vet but, not at all to my surprise, Violet wasn't into it.
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 4:00 PM on August 30, 2023
posted by hoist with his own pet aardvark at 4:00 PM on August 30, 2023
Would your vet be willing to prescribe a different canned food? We had to try a few things before finding something our guy would eat. He wasn’t into the Royal Canin renal food after a few days, but he’s been happily eating Hills Kidney Care (mostly the chicken kind) for months now (knock on wood). It comes in small cans, which is great—there’s no way he’d eat refrigerated food. We give him handfuls of Royal Canin renal dry food as a snack from time to time, and he’s into that. I also sometimes put a Greenie or two into his wet food, and often he will eat the treats and then keep going. Good luck—it can be hard adjusting to a new cat routine!
posted by bijoubijou at 4:27 PM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bijoubijou at 4:27 PM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
There's two other brands of Veterinary renal diets - Hill's Science Diet and Purina Pro Plan Veterinary - that might be more appealing. My oldest cat won't touch the canned food anymore so it's dry food all the time. He's not super into the dry anymore either so we do as someone mentioned above and use food toppers like Fortiflora or Fancy Feast broths to make it more interesting. Right now he's into bone broth add-ins like Solid Gold Bone Broth with chicken. Just a little dab on top to make it more interesting.
Lots of senior or geriatric cat foods have low phosphorus and sodium, so if she just won't even with the vet diets, try the non-prescription foods on Tanya's list.
posted by fiercekitten at 5:01 PM on August 30, 2023
Lots of senior or geriatric cat foods have low phosphorus and sodium, so if she just won't even with the vet diets, try the non-prescription foods on Tanya's list.
posted by fiercekitten at 5:01 PM on August 30, 2023
If you're allowed to add it, I recommend bonito flakes (aka katsuobushi).
They're used in Japanese cooking all the time, and cats ADORE them. I've convinced a cat to eat chicken baby food with a quarter of a Benedryl crushed into it, just by stirring in enough bonito.
Amazing stuff.
posted by yellowcandy at 9:28 PM on August 30, 2023
They're used in Japanese cooking all the time, and cats ADORE them. I've convinced a cat to eat chicken baby food with a quarter of a Benedryl crushed into it, just by stirring in enough bonito.
Amazing stuff.
posted by yellowcandy at 9:28 PM on August 30, 2023
Have you tried warming her portion of the refrigerated canned food with a little bit of hot water? That made it palatable for my old cat.
Seconding adding Fortiflora or the cat version of Cosequin. They taste good in addition to their health benefits.
posted by bink at 2:47 PM on August 31, 2023
Seconding adding Fortiflora or the cat version of Cosequin. They taste good in addition to their health benefits.
posted by bink at 2:47 PM on August 31, 2023
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posted by praemunire at 11:17 AM on August 30, 2023