Your favorite "crack" cat foods

[Simkie]

I fear my 18 yo kidney cat is declining. She has one functioning kidney and her lab values have been gradually climbing over the past 10 years. She’s really done VERY well and the vet was floored with how good she looks for a cat her age (never mind her kidney issues) at the last checkup.

She’s not been eating well for the past couple days, though. She’s on fluids, and she’s on Cerenia as needed. I gave her some today.

My normal go-to for her when she goes off her food is Tiki Cat. She’s “eh” about Tiki this time. She’s never been fond of the normal “junk” foods like Fancy Feast.

What sort of super exciting wet food has worked for your kitties? I need to get her to eat.

[Laurierace]

Have you tried Nutri cal? Not really food but something to keep them going until they feel like eating again.

[Marshfield]

Trader Joe’s tuna cat food. Weruva

[alto]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7849281]

What sort of super exciting wet food has worked for your kitties? I need to get her to eat.[/QUOTE]

Not exactly a wet food, but Kitty says this is definitely “crack”

Orijen Free Run Duck

(we’ve tried all the flavor options)

It’s marketed as “treat” so not for longterm feeding , but if you can get kitty eating with this …
I often dump some in a dish with water, let stand 10 min, Kitty will usually carry on & eat whatever food is there along with the duck.

I was going to include links to the raw food we use, but distribution is very limited, so nevermind.

What is your vet saying about this (I’m wondering if she’s feeling nausea re poor kidney/liver values, hence the refusal to eat) - did vet do IV fluids to see if that improves appetite?

[Jarrn]

Came here to suggest Tiki Cat, but obviously that won’t work!

Did you try the Avoderm line? If she likes fish, they have fish flavors that are similar to Tiki Cat (chunks of fish).

Also seconding trying Weruva.

[js]

What about offering some water pk’d tuna or some meat baby food.

[Simkie]

Thanks for the suggestions, all. Will hit up the pet store today and see what I can find.

She normally eats chicken and can be funny about proteins, so that makes this a little tougher. This morning she was interested in Portia’s Wild Calling rabbit, so gave her some of that. She ate about half of it and then puked it all up. Right–I guess that’s why we don’t give her rabbit. Sigh. The kitties do get Weruva with some regularity and she isn’t interested.

What’s funny is she was doing really well and then BAM…2 or 3 days ago totally lost interest. I’ll get her into the vet this week. Alto, she’s on subq fluids at home.

[StGermain]

Here’s a website with a large section devoted solely to feeding CRF cats.

StG

[GoForAGallop]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;7849333]
Have you tried Nutri cal? Not really food but something to keep them going until they feel like eating again.[/QUOTE]

This. They say put it on a paw and they’ll lick it off. I always just glob it on my finger, and scrape it off on the roof of their mouth. I know they get it that way. It tastes good and they don’t try to spit it out…I just feel like it’s nicer for the old kitties to not give them sticky paws that they then have to clean off.

[QUOTE=Simkie;7849823]

What’s funny is she was doing really well and then BAM…2 or 3 days ago totally lost interest. I’ll get her into the vet this week. Alto, she’s on subq fluids at home.[/QUOTE]

Not to worry you, but this is usually how it gets towards the end. Everything goes really well (or, as well as can be expected) for a while, and then out of the blue, for no reason at all, they just crash. My vet says it usually goes along with some sort of weather or temperature change, but not always.

Seconding the suggestion of the baby food. Get one of the all-meat varieties, and put it in the microwave for a bit. It’s nice and runny, and they’ll lick at it.

[chestnutmarebeware]

My 18-year-old’s Kitty Crack is an Original Recipe fried chicken breast from KFC!

I remove the skin, and he gets the shredded meat. That cat would follow me to China for his KFC!

[alto]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7849823]

What’s funny is she was doing really well and then BAM…2 or 3 days ago totally lost interest. I’ll get her into the vet this week. Alto, she’s on subq fluids at home.[/QUOTE]

I’d get her into the vet quickly when this happens, with kidney/liver issues, I suspect it relates to toxins building up & making her feel not so great (often nausea).

Hope kitty feels better soon.

(if she will eat it, I’d have her on the prescription foods that are already “part-digested”, ie proteins etc are already partially hydrolysed (enzyme or acid) so she will have an easier time with nutrient access.)

[Simkie]

Alto, this isn’t an emergency for this cat. We know what’s going on with her, and it’s sort of par for the course.

GfaG, I really hope this isn’t the end for this kitty. I know it might be a slippery slope, though

Drove around today kitting local pet stores and I am SO GLAD for Chewy’s. We would be so screwed without their shipping service! No one carries Tiki. No one carries Nutri-Cal! No one carries the Orijen duck treats. Sigh. This is such a black hole for fancy pet food

The good news is that she’s chowing down right now on some FreshPets Select! It’s not totally awesome food but it’s also not terrible and she’s eating. I’ll take it.

[chestnutmarebeware]

I get my Nutri-Cal at my vet’s office. I’ve moved around a lot, and never run into an office that didn’t carry it. You might try that…

Although I must say, I’ve never had a cat that would eat it voluntarily. When it got to the point that one needed it, dispensing it quickly evolved into a wrestling match. And it stings like crazy when the disgruntled cat slings a big glob into your eye!

[GoForAGallop]

[QUOTE=Simkie;7850474]

The good news is that she’s chowing down right now on some FreshPets Select! It’s not totally awesome food but it’s also not terrible and she’s eating. I’ll take it.[/QUOTE]

It gets to the point that ANYTHING is better than nothing. My 18 year old with a brain tumor lived off of those (tiny! expensive!) Fancy Feast single serving pods for the last few years of his life. (Mixed with me globbing Nutri-Cal to the roof of his mouth to keep the pounds on him!)

It’s what he wanted to eat, who was I to argue. :lol:

[Romany]

Try warming her food, too - that makes it smellier, therefore more tempting.

When my elderly cat was nearing the end, I’d open two or three different cans and have them in little china dishes around him, like a catty mis-en-place. He’d turn up his nose at one, and lo and behold! there was another to take his fancy. It did work!

[french_fry]

We’ve had her on a few different things and she’s always been a decent eater but my cat has been attacking her Natural Balance venison with a ferocity that borders on frightening me. It smells SO BAD (which must mean it tastes SO GOOD, right?) We just mush it up with some water and she goes to town.

[AllWeatherGal]

Friskies Shreds is truly kitty crack. And I don’t think it’s nutritionally great, either, but I have yet to see a cat walk away from the flavors with gravy.

Except my BF’s youngster Angus who refuses anything but PureVita cat food and Little Lion treats.

In fact, all 8 of the indoor cats (don’t ask) ADORE Little Lion treats. I have seen them at Petco.

[shiloh]

When my little love Tessa was failing I gave her whatever she would eat. Sometimes that meant sitting on the floor with her and feeding her Temptations kitty treats or Whisker Lickins’. Sometimes she could eat the whole bag and other times not. Try those, try baby food, also try Fancy Feast has a new range called Broths. My most recent invalid adores these. It may make you grit your teeth but hey I live by my vet’s words - “I don’t care what they eat so long as they’re eating.” I serve Friskies canned food now (oh, the horror - lol!) Also try Sheba pates. I don’t know what they do but their food seems more fluffy to me and they stick to kitty’s tongue better and almost melt in their mouths so no real chewing involved. Like the kitty mise en place idea.

Give kitty a kiss and I give you a (((hug))) - I know how hard this can be.

[Chall]

Honey covered ham slices (!) that come in flat packages, tore up into teeny tiny pieces, no chewing needed. Hand fed.
Shrimp, cut into teeny tiny pieces, but they didn’t have an odor so she lost interest in them.
Tomato paste, the type you squeeze out of tube.
Asparagus soup - organic only. Again, a tablespoon put on the plate at a time.
Basically never presented her with too much food at a time.
Btw whatever happened to Tunafish oil once they stopped using it canned tuna? My childhood cats would go wild over that.

[Jeito]

My two cats won’t touch human food. Their favorite treats are Greenies. If I say “Greenies,” they come running. Not sure if that qualifies as food, though.