[Blur's_Mom]

Hi Lefty
You have come to the best place to get info for your CRF kitty. Growler is the best!!

My 16 year old cat, Blur, was diagnoses in August 2010 and he sound like he has the same taste in food as Rosebud. I try to get him to eat Wellness Turkey, which he will sometimes, but not always. He will sometimes try Merricks Thansgving Day Dinner as it is less chunky than Cowboy Cookout, but that doesn't usually go over well either. My other cat (17 year old Spot) will eat Merrick's so at least she will eat it up when he doesn't.

Blur loves licking the gravy off Wellness Healthy Indulgence Turkey and Duck pouches (0.86% phos) and will even eat a couple chunks of food once in a while. Once he licks the juice off, I add a couple tablespoons of water and he usually licks that up too. It is expensive cat water, but sometimes it gets him started and then he will move on and eat canned food.

My best option on a regular basis seems to be EVO 95% chicken and turkey (0.88% phos). When he has been really picky and I have been forced to try other things (having worked through all the natural foods) I even tried a few tins of the lower phos Hill's Science diet, which he likes. I keep a few on hand when he turns his nose up at everything else now, but it is not my first choice.

I have tried them all, even buying some Fancy Feast once when he was looking especially thin. But it was so gross. Of course he loved it, but I can't buy it again. He also loves Natural Balance, but all their varieties are higher Phos (1.69%). I have emailed the company asking them to start working on a better formula for CRF cats, but I won't hold my breath. I keep one can in the cupboard for emergencies, cause even with high phos it has to be better than Fancy Feast!

My hubby built little cat food stands (I should post a picture sometime) for my cats' food dishes and since using them Blur seems to be throwing up less. He's always had a bit of a tendency to throw up, so I am kind of used to it.

Blur was never very keen on dry food, but I bought Now Grain Free Adult dry food (0.65% phos) to transition Spot to a lower phos dry as she ate dry almost exclusively until I learned that wasn't a good choice. Luckily with all the great canned food choices I put out for Blur now, she eats very little dry now and he doesn't eat it at all.

Other than that he has Sub_Q's twice a week, no other meds and is doing quite well.

Good luck with Rosebud. It sounds like you are doing all the right things.