What will tempt him?

[JBalways2000]

Hi guys,

Anyone who has seen my thread about AJ now having bladder problems and finding struvite crystals in his urine, will know that he was put onto the urinary diet. we were given this last thursday and we have tried so many different ways to try and get him to eat it, but he really doesnt like it bless him. he will eat some of it if he is starving, which i feel so cruel doing, but even then he wont eat it all. he's tried both flavours of the royal canin wet food(chicken and beef) but its a shame because all our guys tend to like the fish wet foods over anything else!

I rang the vets today to see if there is anything else we can try and they basically want us to persevere because the vet really doesnt want him having dry food. they suggested sprinkling small amounts of tuna flakes and brine into the food to wean him over.i already told them i have basically done this with all the foods he usually has but he eats the bits he likes and most of the prescription food gets left in the dish!

So i wondered if anyone here might have some suggestions of how to get AJ to eat this obviously horrid prescription diet food:lol: My OH has just gone out to get a bag of prawns as these are a favourite treat with our guys so i had the idea of mixing some in with the food, maybe even cut them up a little so its harder for him to just pick them out. but if that fails i dont know what to do!:mad:

Help!:shock: :lol:

[Phoenix]

Try chopping the prawns up into tiny pieces and mixing them in the food. I can't think of any other way of getting AJ to eat it.

Beauty used to respond well to me mixing tuna in to her food sometimes (she had kidney problems)

[dandysmom]

Wish I could help, but have no suggestions other than what you've tried. Leia absolutely refused to eat it, I ended up giving it to Onyx who ate anything. Maybe the finely minced prawns will help .....

[Tink]

Is it possible that if you change the texture it will help?
I've noticed some of mine hate a canned when it is pate but will eat it fine if i chop it lengthwise or sometimes add water to break it up...?

[angieh]

I am really sorry JB, I can add nothing of much help. You could try searching the net for low pH diets and see if there is anything else you could try ...... another make perhaps.

What about trying to add a small amount of tinned sardine, which is quite strongly flavoured?

[Elaine]

How about mushing something a little smellier like sardine, through the food, perhaps even heating it slightly.

[dandysmom]

Oh that's an excellent point about the pate type; I always break it up with a fork and add water and it gets eaten!.

[yola]

I was going to suggest heating it a little. Also try adding water. Even if AJ doesn't eat all the food at least he's getting both nutrients and liquids from the 'juice'.

[JBalways2000]

Thankyou all for the replies:D My OH has just cut up the prawns and mixed it in with his food-he gets all the fun jobs:lol: so i shall report back on that shortly;)

We hadnt given him anything since last night and so when he got hungry this afternoon he did eat some of his prescription food with nothing added in it, and the chicken flavour at that! he has preferred the beef a little more then the chicken so far, but the vets only gave us 4 pouchs of beef so we have ran out of that.

the pouches he has are like tiny chunks of meat in a very watery gravy sauce-he has no problem eating pate type foods and any other type of pouch really, but then i dont think we have ever gave them one that looks like this. i did think the same as you all though that maybe it was how it was being presented so we tried mushing it down-wouldnt touch it. tried mushing it down and adding a little pate-wouldnt touch it:roll: As i said we have pretty much tried anything we can possibly think of so far-fingers grossed that he wolfs it down with the prawns;)

I wouldnt even bother trying sardines, for some odd reason our guys have never liked them. its so strange how they all seem to have the same tastes with food-except Rhino who would absolutely wolf down the prescription diet food if it was him!:lol: poor little guy *always* wanted Raven's food and now the same is happening again, he must think we are torturing him too bless him.

The only thing we havent tried yet is heating it, i didnt think of that-that will be next! along with adding some water, really glad i posted now, thanks all for the suggestions!

And i can update before i have even finished writing the thread to say that AJ ate most of his food!:D yay! we shall try him with the rest in a little while before bed time but lets hope we are onto a winner here! whats the betting he gets used to having prawns every day now and wont eat without them?:lol: He is now sat digging at the place we hide away the Da Bird, ready for his play time-a cat slaves job is never done is it?:roll: :lol:

[JBalways2000]

I am really sorry JB, I can add nothing of much help. You could try searching the net for low pH diets and see if there is anything else you could try ...... another make perhaps.

What about trying to add a small amount of tinned sardine, which is quite strongly flavoured?

Sorry forgot to say that i did have a look a couple of days ago, there is another brand that the vet told us most cats turn their noses up at so it will be worth a try for us if we really cant get him onto this properly i think. Im wary of trying another diet unless the vet has suggested it-we saw a couple of other brands and i think if it gets to the point where we need to try something else i shall have a chat with my vet and see if he can look into them to make sure they will do the same thing etc i was quite shocked at how many brands of urinary food there are now-there were only 2 when Raven started on it and that was only just over 2 years ago! just a shame no one does a fish flavour one-its all chicken!:roll:

[dandysmom]

Oh great that he ate it with the prawns mixed in! :D

[Darwin]

I am suprised the vet said add tuna flakes in brine. Is brine not full of salt, therefore not ideal for any cat, let alone one with renal problems?

How about trying salmon oil? You can get capsules from Holland & Barratt, just pierce the capsule and squeeze over the food. It would be easier than chopping up prawns and may give that fishy taste & smell he likes.

[JBalways2000]

I am suprised the vet said add tuna flakes in brine. Is brine not full of salt, therefore not ideal for any cat, let alone one with renal problems?

How about trying salmon oil? You can get capsules from Holland & Barratt, just pierce the capsule and squeeze over the food. It would be easier than chopping up prawns and may give that fishy taste & smell he likes.

Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately i tried my boys with pure salmon oil a few months back and they wouldnt touch the stuff-explain to me how kitties that love fish food so much can dislike pure salmon oil?:roll: :lol:

AJ doesnt have renal problems, he has crystals in his urine, but that didnt cross my mind about the salt either! maybe its because it would be a short term thing to try and get him eating? either way we havnt given him the tuna, the prawns are still working quite well. even though we are chopping them up he is still managing to pick them all out:roll: but luckily he is getting most of the other food with it too. he has only had his prescription food and prawns the last two days now. he hasnt eaten very much of it, about 1 and a half pouches plus the prawns today, but im hoping he is starting to get used to it!

I did find an alutray version of this royal canin food, its still chicken flavoured but it seems like it is in jelly rather than gravy which we might have more luck with. i emailed an online pet pharmacy and royal canin themselves to see if they can tell me what the difference is and also see if i can get a sample from somewhere so i shall let you all know how i get on with that.

[Darwin]

Could you try tuna flakes in spring water? I would have thought this was without added salt but you would need to check. Good luck!

[JBalways2000]

So AJ had some of his chicken flavoured food today without prawns! he eventually ate it all but it took two sittings and was only half a pouch:? He just isnt eating much with this at all which means he isnt pooping much either! but neither are the other two because their routine has been messed up by not having dry food down all the time, the only thing that has stayed the same is them having a wet meal in the evening. I think from tomorrow we are going to start giving Rhino and Hernie a wet meal in the morning aswell as evening. at the moment we are putting their dishes down with dry food in throughout the day when AJ is in the bedroom having his, but Hernie isnt quite getting that he needs to eat at that point too bless him.

I am actually going to collect some of the alutrays from the vets tomorrow-turns out they could order it in for me after all! so im really hoping we have more luck with that so we can get him eating as much as he should be. shall report back when he has tried it!

[angieh]

I do hope that AJ likes the alternative JB. Good luck, fingers (and paws) crossed here for him to tuck in.

[Shelley123]

Thanks for the update, i hope you manage to get him to eat more. It's such a worry and very difficult in a multi Cat household.

[dandysmom]

I hope the alutrays work. Fingers crossed.