well wishes please

[quidam]

Glad to hear that everything looks fine! No worries about not being "sensible". With the stress you've been through it can be easy to go to worse case scenario first.

When I had an old fellow who quit eating due to age, I found that mixing tuna or sardines in with his food would help. Warming it up in the microwave a bit would also help. Heat helps release the scent, which makes it more attractive.

Do they make a wet renal food? Some canned medicated food stinks to high heaven, which most cats seem to love. Even if it's too expensive to feed plain, you could mix it in. Or, really, any food he loves you could mix in. If you wet down the dry first and smoosh it with favorites of his you can probably get both into him.

And going with what victoriavictrix said: many vets say that high protein is bad for kidneys and will advocate keeping felines on dry food that is grain based, but keep in mind that a cat's natural diet is almost solely meat. Many people have had lots of luck changing a cats to their true diets. For one cat it should be less money than the specialty cat food.

[Alopecia No Hime]

I wish you and Cyano well. I know how bad kidney diseases can be. (My vet had neglected to tell us any real options to treat the family dog with it. I still resent her for it even though I love my baby Yugi so much.) I hope I'm recalling this right but high wheat diets I believe can help with kidney problems in pets...
I hope it's been a few years since I heard it but took it to heart when I saw it on Animal Planet working for a dog with kidney failure.
I'm very sorry for your loss and I really do hope he gets better.

EDIT: Reading what the others said about going "Wild" I believe that's what I heard and got mixed up...

[KatyaR]

You know we're here for you. Prayers and warm thoughts going out for you and your dear kitty.

[landwhale]

My cat who passed away was born with renal issues and was on and off special diets during his life. After he passed away, my sister did some research and actually found that the k/d feline cat food that the doctors prescribed didn't actually help with his kidnys at all.

As VV has pointed out, it is better to feed your pet foods without strange additives and fillers.

I agree with the decision to just have your lil guy be happy. In the end it's not how long they live but how well....as long as they aren't obese and overweight lol.

[kittyasauras]

Grey, my thoughts are with you and your kitty baby. I know what you are going through, and it's terrible to go through alone. All of us here at DS are with you, and if you need anything someone here will be able to help, even if it is something as simple as writing you a message. *hugs*

I also agree with the others. Just make sure that everything is balanced because you wouldn't want a bad situation going worse. You don't want to accidentally deprive them of taurine or something that is beneficial. My mom used to be a vet and she would tell me stories of clients who would unintentionally make their pets sick by feeding them people food. They end up getting fatty liver or similar.

Oh, and if you need some meat parts I suggest looking around at a foreign market. We have one around here and they sell all the 'weird' parts for very cheap in large frozen packs.

[Greyhaunt]

Thanks everyone Ah, yea VV, there are not too many hunters in the middle of the AZ desert unfortunately so I wouldn't have too much luck with that sort of thing. If I were still in TX it would have been easy as I had friends who regularly killed and ate critters off their property. My vet told me that if I give him commercial canned to just be careful about how much protien content it had and avoid high protein ones. Well as it turns out his favorite and long-time canned food says 10% min. which is only 4% higher than the renal stuff. I will try mixing the renal with the regular (god yes that renal food stinks!) He refuses to eat k/d, so instead I have stuff made by Royal Canin for cats. He does like that better, but unfortuntely it's like a frigging gnat magnet. Once I've resolved my new gnat attack I'll be mixing his foods up. right now he's sitting next to me sleeping after having had some Turkey and Giblets I think he wants me to kill the lights and go to bed LOL.

Do you think organic or free-range chicken would be ok if I can find that?

[quidam]

Unfortunately the term free-range has minimal meaning. Unless you can go down and actually see the chickens out living in a pasture it's not really worth the cost.

Organic will be at least not eating stuff with pesticides, which is a small step in the right direction.

In my honest opinion the only chicken worth paying more for would be a truly pasture raised chicken that is eating it's natural diet. That is not a vegetarian chicken being stuffed full of soy and corn, but a bird that's out there eating bugs, grass, and seeds. Ultimately it's the chicken's diet that affects it's nutritional value. It's nutrients are going to be best when it eats what chickens have evolved to eat.

[victoriavictrix]

Well, there are some options...

One is a little less ewww than the other.

My first choice would be to talk to a local falconer and buy some falcon quail from them. Or, if you have a big freezer you can have some drop-shipped to you (I can get you the information). They are not cheap by any means and they come whole, yes, with EVERYTHING, the birds are just frozen as is, feathers and all. Strip the feathers, and chop up EVERYTHING, bones and all, cook lightly, and feed. That would be my first choice, but it's kind of ewwwww for most people.

Second choice: snake mice. As in, mice meant for feeding to snakes. Also ewww for most people.

Third choice and the least ewwww: it is true that "free range" is meaningless when it comes to chicken. "Free range" means they get 1 1/2 feet per bird in a big pen, as opposed to 15 inches in a singleton cage stacked on top of other cages. They are still fed the heavily antibiotic-laced feed that caged chickens get. Falconry quail are not fed this stuff. Organic means at least you're not getting a bird fed all that crap. Make sure to get the whole bird, and add the giblets.

[arrowchild]

big hugs*
I'm so sorry to hear about your friend and I hope your kitty will be ok. Sending positive thoughts your way Grey

[Greyhaunt]

Um, yea VV, I'm afraid I'd be on the EEEWWWW side of things with those options. I used to have pet mice so there's no way I could feed them to my cat. However I don't know that I'll need to

I wanted to again, thank everyone for the well wishes, prayers and advice. After basically being hand fed by me all week - meaning I'm cracking the can right in front of him so it's always fresh - he's been eating much better! Everyday he's been eating more and more and a lot of his normal behaviors are returning! This morning he even harassed me when he knew I was just faking being asleep. He was licking my forehead and nibbling on my nose - something he hasn't done in a while. It's good to see his brattiness coming back! He's still scrawny, and I know his kidneys aren't going to come back, but hopefully this means they aren't getting worse and he's getting better!