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Old July 13th, 2011, 02:56 AM
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Hi mandyedwards, welcome to the forum

Let's see if we can't get them all on canned to start the canned food can be left out even after it dries & gets a bit crusty - some cats actually like it like that, adding a bit of water to it will soften it back up again. I would leave it for no more than about 8hrs out though, depending on how hot it is.

Have you considered a raw diet?


Quote:
Originally Posted by mandyedwards View Post
one kidney kitty - 14 years old, 6lbs, very picky and mind of her own - eats science diet seafood

If she won't eat the Wellness Turkey, there is also the Beef & Salmon w/good numbers, & a fishy content. Also have a look at Wellness Healthy Indulgence Pouches. Their Chicken, Duck & Shrimp recipe, and the Chicken, Crab & Herring recipe both have good phos numbers and may appeal to the fish lover. Stay away from the Tuna though! While the phos number is good, tuna is more addicting than other fish it seems & constant feeding can cause a vit imbalance.

one fat kitty - needs hypoallergic food due to pancreatis, 9 years - eats the k/d brand but hypoallergic (not sure the letters?) kibble, she will not eat cans

Much as I don't like the prescription foods, have you tried her on the canned z/d (I'm guessing she's on this one the low allergen)?

Were you able to determine what exactly she reacts against? a specific/all protein, grain, anything over a certain fat content, etc?


one kitty with no teeth - well had them pulled in different stages due to rare gum disease, 7 years - eats natural balance green pea and duck cans (mainly becuase she was on hypoallergic with her gum disease but now that we've pulled the teeth its not as much an issue)

Will she eat other canned foods? The NB green pea & duck canned is high in phos & while it may not be an issue w/this cat and if the CRF cat has a couple of nibbles it wouldn't be an issue, you wouldn't want that available to the kidney cat all the time.

one kitty with no problems - 3 years, eats chicken soup kibble
Will s/he eat canned? Can you switch her/him to canned something/anything & off the dry as a main food source? That would at least eliminate 1 of the different foods being bought

Even getting the kidney cat, the no teeth cat & the healthy cat all eating the same brand of exclusively canned will go along way to helping ease the feeding circus & then you can work on slowly switching the pancreas kitty to canned.


Quote:
Originally Posted by mandyedwards View Post
so, they all have seperate foods, all get fed in seperate bedrooms. Its a wee bit high maintence, especially for when we go away and we have "helpers"

So, kidney cat is my main concern. She gets fed 3 times a day (we found the extra feeding before bed was useful to maintain the 6lbs), and takes 0.45 calitrol once a day. She only likes science diet seafood (looks like its not bad in pho at 0.65) and the vet said that was ok given how picky she is. Now, she only likes it warmed up, with a few k/d kibbles on top (and we must put it in a pile after she eats a bit as she doesnt' like putting her nose in the bowl!). Yes, picky. Well, she goes through spurts every other week of "I dont want to eat, but I will puke instead". So i'm wondering if I should change her food to something better for her. It seems the science diet is better than the wellness for the pho rating, but i realize it's more crap food. I have bought some wellness turkey to see if she'll eat it.

Now, my question is, for the other 3, is there any kidney failure food that is hypoallergic? That way I can leave some kibbles out and not worry about the kidney cat having an issue if she actually decides she wants a few pieces? The other issue is NO Teeth kitty, as of course, she has no teeth (not that any of them actually chew their food - but she currently is on soft). So i'm not sure if there is a solution that is less hetic at feeding time for us, given all the cats seem to have one issue or another. Then getting them all to like the same food is another story.
No kidney specific hypoallergic diet, however the Hills z/d is low phos. Ideally you would want to eliminate all dry food as canned (or better yet raw) is much healthier for them all.

This CRF specific site has some tips for persuading your cat to eat (also good to try when starting a new food) http://www.felinecrf.org/persuading_cat_to_eat.htm

This site has some tips for transitioning off dry food http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Tips%20f...%201-14-11.pdf
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