Hello,
I need some advice about feeding my cat. He is 13.5, healthy and active cat but lost a lot of weight over one year. It started after his last dental work when one of the canine teeth was extracted.
All his lab work is normal, no sign of any problem and seems like the only reason for not eating is a very picky taste.
He had urinary issues when he was younger so he eats urinary food for a long time, Royal canin wet food loaf. He only agrees eating loaf/mousse wet foods, but he also likes dry food. He eats a mix of dry food made of Royal canin ageing cat, gastrointestinal, urinary and early renal.
By the way I am a veterinarian nurse, I made this feeding mix plan according to the needs of my cat and his age, a vet approved it as well.
The cat has a very healthy appetite, he eats all the offered food with joy but he only likes very specific foods.
I tried a few kinds of food just to see if he eats at all, for now he agree only to Purina CN and Royal canin renal loaf.
My question is, how long is it safe to feed CN? It has very high protein and I worry for what it can do to the kidney and urine system.
After reading every small letter of the food lables I think my cat wants only high fat foods, the urinary food is much lower on fat than the others so maybe this is why he doesn't want it?
What can I do with such a picky cat that also needs specific diet? I tried every trick I know and happy to see my cat actually is eating at least something...
Thank you!
Hi Eve,
Just to chime in, it's not clear to me what urinary issues your cat had or continues to have. Was this more along the lines of feline lower urinary tract disease or was it an actual kidney issue? And is there any signs of any early kidney concerns currently? Cats are more accustomed to eating high protein diets and there are, as the above commenter also mentioned, higher protein diets than the CN, at least based on percentage. This percentage may not be a significant concern if there is no active kidney concern. From a preventative standpoint, we know that high phosphorus levels in cat foods are far more a risk for otherwise healthy cats compared to protein levels. Significant protein restriction is not recommended even in early stage renal disease and not considered until later in the disease process.
I'm not surprised your kitty likes CN. As a critical care diet and being higher in fat, this diet and ones like it are a common go-to for inappetent cats or cats needing extra nutritional support. While CN isn't really designed to be a maintenance diet, I don't know that there's any harm in feeding it given what I know so far about your situation. Especially if you are feeding other diets with it as well.
Thank you for answering!
My cat had infections and blockages of the lower urinary tract a few times when he was younger, our vet at that time recommended to just keep him on the urinary food and in fact the symtomes started to act every time I tried to take him off this food. He did not have any urinary symptoms for many years now, and the kidneys never had any problems. On a routine blood test about a year ago the SDMA was mildly elevated but still in a normal range, I added some early renal food to the diet to give here and there with the idea to keep the kidney values in a normal range and they did not change during last year. His other blood and urine values are normal, diabetes was ruled out just to be safe.
I have concerns about CN probably because I too don't know it as a maintenance diet, I work at an animal hospital where it is fed almost only to critical care patients.
It had occurred to me that I may be a bit too paranoid about my own kitty, for an almost 14 years old cat he is healthy, very active and vital. Even though he doen't show any sign of any problem at the moment, except for the weight loss (which is most likely because he became very picky with food), he is still a senior cat and I have seen too many times how such small details can cause problems at this age...
Thank you!
I'm not really sure of course because remote information like this will always have its limitations, but if he is dropping food and acting like he's hungry but not willing to eat, I wonder if it's possible there is a new or recurrent oral or dental issue since the issue he was treated for a year ago? It is a little hard to follow his eating patterns from the descriptions and I can't tell if he still just is picky about certain foods or has a generalized aversion.
Thank you!
His appetite was never a problem, he is following me around and asking for food, and trying to steal our own food like always, but whenever I offer any kind of food he doesn't eat. At the last 2 days not even CN. I tried a few kinds of bowls and placed the food at a few different places, but he doesn't eat even though he keeps begging for food. Iam following him closely and seems like food is falling out of his mouth, however he does eat dry food and seems to not have problems chewing what stays in his mouth. We tried some soft foods but he only eats the gravy or jelly ,not the pieces.
Any idea what can cause this in the first place? The cat is healthy and shows normal interest with food, my plan for the next few days is to have him eat anything he is willing to... How about some recovry drink, like Kattovit recovery? Is this a good idea?
One thing I have not mentioned is that he has osteoarthritis, effectively treated and under control with Solensia. His food bowls are elevated, we placed them on an empty box of wet food pouches but now we got him a table a bit higher. He seems to cooperate more when the food is as it was on the empty box, or on the floor not elevated at all...
Thanks for the additional information Eve. Just like the other critical care diets, CN is not intended as a maintenance diet because of its high fat content perhaps but I have not encountered real contraindications for it either. If possible, you could use it to mix with another maintenance diet to lessen the amount you're feeding but still keep his appetite up, if you think that could strike a good balance.
Hi,
Thank you all for the help and advice.
Last week on Wednesday I took my cat to the emergency animal hospital becsuse he was breathing labored and heavily, during the tests made it was discovered that he apperentaly had cancer so probably this is why he lost so much weight. Unfortunately he has to be euthanized 😔
A few days before he was finally eating, it seemed like he is getting better. I did know that something must be wrong if a cat is eating and still losing weight, but I didn't think it will be something like that because I have never seen a cat with this good of appetite when he is this ill, but at least he was not feeling bad for long...
I'm so sorry to hear about this, Eve. My condolences on your kitty's passing. While it seems counterintuitive, we can see some very ill animals make a kind of rally shortly before they pass. No one really understands why, it's just a phenomenon we sometimes see. This may have been the case for your kitty.
@evestar It seems like you're doing a great job. It looks like the CN wet food has about 9.5% protein. A quick look at other wet foods shows about 8-8.5%. I understand your concern about excessive protein -- my vet told me a coupe of years ago to stay away from Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein dry food because its 65% protein was far too high, much higher than a cat would get in the wild, and would strain the kidneys. CN is formulated to AAFCO standards so it should be fine to use long-term. Why do you think that the CN is "very high" in protein?