What can I feed my kidney cat tonight if I ran out of renal food?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would just feed him a canned food diet for the weekend as the increased moisture will help dilute his urine. Any canned food will be ok for the next few days. That will save you from having to buy a bag of dry food you won't then use. You can also ask your Vet to write you a prescription for the food so you can get the food at a Pet store that carries is. Some pet stores that have Vet clinics attached will sell prescription food, but you need a written prescription. That way if this happens again you have a solution. These pet stores will also keep your prescription on file for the future and give you a card. I wish you the best!

We always say that it doesn't matter how good a food is if the pet won't eat it. This is especially true with cats. Your goal with a diet for a kidney patient is to avoid foods that are too high in protein, so you will want to avoid any kitten foods. Most non-prescription diets are very similar in their protein levels because they are made for the needs of an average adult cat. If Cricket was previously on a dry food, I found the best way to get my cat to eat canned food was to grind up dry food, then sprinkle it on the top of his canned food to get him eating. I am attaching a link to a handout below with tips to transition a cat onto canned food. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3041 Since Cricket has been a fussy eater, the most important thing will be to find a food that she likes. I have found that cats tend to like Fancy Feast the best, so that might be an option if you can't find something else that she will eat. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Yes, it is ok to eat renal food, but only as a treat or supplement to the main diet of Hills Rx Senior. Renal food is lower in protein than normal cat food since the kidneys can't handle excess protein when they are failing. So it would be best for long-term health if Tony gets plenty of protein, which is in the senior diet!

You can certainly try the others tonight or give him the other half of the royal canin one tonight and try the others tomorrow. Your vet likely sent home a variety in case he didn't like one you could try another. If you can find what he likes the best you can likely just stick with that. I hope this helps!

Yes, if you give her normal food it will shorten her life span but I agree with you, her quality of life is more important and she needs to eat! When it comes to kidney disease a food that is as low in phosphorus as possible is recommended. Unfortunately, no over the counter foods are low enough in phosphorus to be beneficial. Hence, the prescription diets. Now, there are many different companies that make prescription diets - I would suggest you try another brand before just giving in to her. The new Hill's kidney diets have E.A.T. (Enhanced Appetite Trigger)™ Technology for cats that has been shown to enhance appetite & increase food intake. Royal Canin and Purina also make kidney diets. Please try these first and if all else fails, just give her what she will eat. Cats are sometimes their own worst enemy! Hope this helps. Best wishes.

In mild cases, any wet food may be sufficient to keep the urine suitably dilute to prevent recurrence but i would recommend 6weeks of the specialist urinary wet food to stabilise and maximise recovery. If symptoms recur then i would recommend urinary food only thereafter

I would opt for a prescription kidney diet (Hill's K/D or Royal Canin renal) instead of any over the counter option if he has kidney disease especially, because the mainstay of treatment for this is the diet alone. This is also ok for his pancreatitis for now and hopefully he will get over this pancreatitis episode soon with the treatment recommendations through your vet. Pancreatitis in cats is often associated with a triaditis (3 disease) condition affecting both their intestines (IBD), pancrease (pancreatitis) and liver (cholangitis), so its imperative to follow your vets instructions on follow-up care as well. Here is more information on this condition in cats --> https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952234 I do hope that your pet Cat is going to be ok moving forward. Best of luck and take care.