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Old July 15th, 2011, 10:37 AM
mandyedwards mandyedwards is offline
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QUOTE=growler~GateKeeper;1017828]I think it's highly likely it's the dry food that has caused or at least contributed to the weight issue. Probably the easiest canned food to try to transition her with would be either the z/d ~ don't buy a full case to start though maybe just a can or two ~ or the NB that no teeth kitty is on due to the limited ingredients, and you currently have it on hand The NB is still too high for kidney cat though unless the vet puts her on a phos binder ~ depending on the bloodwork probably not necessary at this point as phos is still an essential nutrient.
ok, NB for fat cat. WE have the venison one I believe. we also have a few z/d cans kicking around for when we tried her on it - I can give it try again. So I assume all the other foods we're considering (wellness, evo and SD) are a risk for fat cat and her allergies? I'm really hoping we can get her on the same food and her allergy was more related to the dry (she was on the weight control prescription when she got sick, I think it was O/M?) This is when she was switched to z/d, but admittly, she gained weight as well. Prior to this, she had lost a pound on the o/m (from 13 to 12lbs) and she was on it for a year and a half with no issues. I kinda think there was some other stresser that caused her illness. She was acting very skiddish with everything, hiding under the bed etc - which is not her regular behaviour. She is normally the outgoing one.

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The higher quality foods have less fillers so they sometimes eat a bit less than the other food, as long as she is maintaining weight/activity level, and is within the foods' recommendations.
She eats about 1/4 of a can, twice a day. Sometimes a bit mroe, sometimes less. I believe the recommendation is a can or a can and a half a day. She has never eaten this much (at least not for hte last 5 years).

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Some cats also prefer a variety of brands/flavours, so this may be an option for you saving a little money in the long term if you rotate through the low phos holistic foods and mixing in some low phos Science Diet or Fancy Feast etc. Ideally a variety is better so if/when a cat decides they won't eat X-food anymore, you know they already like/will eat Y-food.
Valid point. Oddly enough, she did not want the wellness turkey last night, or but ate the evo c&t. Then this morning wouldn't eat the evo at all (not even sniffed it) but i opened another new one, the wellness beef and chicken and she gobbled it up without breathing. She seems to want just different food - she'll be done with this beef one by tomorrow i'm sure. So perhaps I hsould just open a different food each time i'm done a can. Would I run the risk of tummy upset if I do this? Or now that she's tried them all I should be ok? I'm thinking i'll do the SD seafood, Evo C&T, Wellness Turkey, Wellness Beef in the rotation and just maybe every few cans switch it up (for all 3 kitties). Let me know your thoughts on that plan.
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Rotating flavours/brands may help keep the interest of the currently-kibble-only kitty too
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Definately, just need to find a few she can have! lol. She really is not huge on the canned food, I gave her the rest of the evo C&T that kidney kitty didn't touch last night and she was all excited, had a few bites then decided she was done. For a cat that rarely eats half of the recommended food intake I really don't understand how she is overweight. I really think that something else is wrong with her but the vet assures me that its probably just her activity level. Granted she is older but she does play here and there but I just dont see the amout of food she's actually eating causing this much overweightness.

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She may still get there with the fountain, especially when she sees the others into it all the time, cats are great copiers
Score! Caught no teeth kitty drinking last night!



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There are some auto feeders with a cooler that you can use canned in, I've not heard from anyone that has actually used them, so I'm not sure how fresh the food stays or how the cats react etc. Plus there's no guarantee each cat is eating their own portion & not eating another cats unless they were all separated for the entire time.
True.

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Another option is once you find a local vet, asking a receptionist/tech that you are comfortable with to stop in check on, feed etc.
I think I might look into some of those "pet sitters" to see if I can find a good one. PRobalby is they need to give kidney kitty teh calitrol. I might just try to bring her to my mom's so I know she's eating getting her drugs then leave the other 3 with dry for the few days.

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Or if they will all rotate through the same variety at the same time

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Personally my I would stay away from fish flavours unless there is at least 1 other named meat source preferably higher in the ingredient list than the named fish. I also personally am not a fan of SD, and I feel the ingredients in Wellness are better.
Totally agree. If I had my way she wouldn't like this one. BUT, she does go back to this one most times (and when she's done a few feedings of any other new food she decides she's done with it). And its not bad on pho, or protein.

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However, (a) you know kidney cat will eat it so that's a plus ~ hopefully not but there may come a time where it will be a battle to get her to eat anything and at that point you feed whatever they will eat regardless of phos value or ingredients just so they will eat

There's a saying to do with CRF cats ~ The best food for a CRF cat - is a food they will eat. ~ The food with the lowest phos or the best ingredients will do no good to a cat who won't eat it.



(b) it's got a great low phos value
(c) if you are comfortable with the food/ingredients, can afford to feed it, cat is doing well on it, etc then by all means continue or keep it in a rotation
(d) it's not my cat I'm just here to guide a little, I don't want to say you have to do this or you must feed that, there are no absolute answers what works for one may not for another.
Still totally appreciate your thoughts!

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Just be sure you are always getting the Evo 95% C&T with the orange label not the regular C&T with the purple label.
I will check on this tonight. i've had so many new cans in my pantry that I can't be positive! I know it says 95% on it though!

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Assuming that she (& the others) like both, rotate the flavors. Add the SD & anything else that's low phos they will eat to the rotation, that way you will even out both in nutrients and costs too.

The 0.30-0.46 sodium is not a huge difference and definately not the highest on the market, if kittys bloodwork indicates high or high end normal sodium then you would want to look a little closer.
I got the vet to fax me kidney kitties results so I could figure out where she sits.

From April 2010
Urea 12.8
Creatine 343
Phos 1.96

Last bloodwork from April 2011
Urea 17.6
Creatie 298
Phos 1.17

So she has gone down in the year she's been on calsitrol (other than the urea - which admittly, i'm not sure what that means). So she is in Stage 3 according to the links you provided.

I would see how she does with the attempt at the canned z/d or NB first, if she still can't tolerate those or refuses all transitioning attempts you may have to leave her on the dry.[/QUOTE]

I will look over the ways to transition her. For someone that just refuses to eat alot of foods (including her dry z/d - she only ever eats about half the amount recommended) I really dont understand how she is so overweight.

Again, thanks for your help!!

Last edited by mandyedwards; July 15th, 2011 at 10:59 AM.
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