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 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!

Help!

[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 My OH has just cut up the prawns and mixed it in with his food-he gets all the fun jobs 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 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! 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! 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? 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?

[JBalways2000]

Originally Posted by 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?

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!