[growler~GateKeeper]

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

i'm not sure what food to put her on (canned) since her pancreatis - which addmittly, they dont know what caused it, just hta she was in alot of pain, not eating at all and had every test under hte sun done on her to find nothing. so they said when they find nothing then pancreatis is diagnosed. So i have no clue what she shouldn't eat. I'd love it if I could feed the the same as the others (wellness turkey? or something kidney cat can eat). thoughts on that?

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.

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

to answer your other questions, we have started elevating kidney cats food dish - did this after i read that in this forum. she ate very well for her before bed snack of wellness turkey. not so great this morning but might have been full from last night. still doesn't want anything to do with the fountain. but on the plus side, fat cat loves the fountain and since she's on kibble it's probably a really good thing.

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.

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.

Rotating flavours/brands may help keep the interest of the currently-kibble-only kitty too.

She may still get there with the fountain, especially when she sees the others into it all the time, cats are great copiers

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

no one can come into our house unfortuatley. boht my parents are about 40 mins away from us (in opposite directions) so it's a bit much to ask for them to stop by twice a day. we are in a new neighbour hood so we dont have any neighbors yet. this would be our perfect solution though. is there any automatic timer dishes for soft food? it'd be hard cause i need to feed 4 cats with it (do i get 4 feeders?) but might be worth a shot.

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.

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.

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

ultimately, i just wnat the process to be hopefully easier (switching all to canned is not a big inconvenice and one i'm willing to deal with anyway) but i'd like to hopefully have them not on 4 different foods. that's the hard part right now.

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

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

Sorry, one more thing. Any thoughts on the SD seafood that the CRF kitty was on? It's lower in pho and protein (0.65 pho, 35.10 protein, 0.4 sodium) so i'm wondering if it's a better choice than the wellness? Or is the wellness better due to the better ingredients?

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.

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.

http://www.felinecrf.org/which_foods.htm#best_crf_food
In 11 guidelines for conservatively treating chronic kidney disease (2007) Polzin D, Veterinary Medicine December 2007, Dr Polzin makes the shocking observation that "in many or most dogs and cats with chronic kidney disease, death or euthanasia results directly or indirectly from starvation."

(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.

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

Also bought a can of the Evo Chicken and Turkey - comparison numbers with the wellness turkey are:

evo - 0.88 pho, 40.68 protein, 0.46 sodium
Wellness - 1.05 pho, 46.33 protein, 0.30 sodium

So in comparision, maybe kidney kitty should be on the evo (assuming she likes it, as I haven't given it to her yet). but are the increased sodium numbers more of a concern than the decrease in pho and protein (although the SD seafood she's been on has 0.40 sodium)? If she liked both equally which should I choose?

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.

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.

Originally Posted by mandyedwards

Would one be better for fat/hypoallegic kitty than the other (or both a risk due to similar ingredients)? Or am I stuck feeding her the one different food from the other 3?

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.