01/05 J.D. PMPS 429

Yesterday's Condo

Last Night:
389 PMPS
146 +6.5
250 +9

Last night I decided to try to go find some cat food with less phosphorus for J.D. I noticed on the list that his favorite Fancy Feast Chunky Turkey is 624 and the other foods he eats are all around 500 to 600.

I bought one can of each of the lower phosphorus Wellness, Weruva, Instinct, Evo, and Merick's.
J.D. ate most of the small can of Wellness Beef & Salmon last night.
This morning, we tried Wellness Kitten. He's only eaten a little bit of that so far.
I'm sure it will be a process to get him to liking these new flavors. He's pretty much a Fancy Feast type of guy.
On mornings, when I have to work, and I need him to eat, I may be mixing some Fancy Feast with some of these other expensive foods, to try to get him to eat. He will eat the Friskies Special Diet Turkey & Giblets, so hopefully, that will be a back up too.

So, wish us good luck. I have a stack of cat food, here. I am going to attempt to keep records of which flavors he'll eat, etc.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

J.D. only ate a couple bites of the Wellness Kitten this morning and refused it at +3.75.
So, I went to the kitchen and watered what was left of the 1/4 can down and mixed in some of his FF Chunky Turkey and he ate some of that. I'm going to need to get him to eat, so this better start working better than it has so far.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

Morning Dyana! Good luck on the fuds testing, these finicky kitties :roll: J.D., don't you know that variety is the spice of life? My mom used to always say that to me :lol: I have a stack of cat food in the cupboard too ;-) Looks like he's on the slide down today, hope you guys have a nice Sunday and the fuds spark some interest soon, even if they have to be mixed

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

I have the same problem Dyana. I have to mix some of the FF T&G in the Wellness also, and I add some binder to it. Beware of the Merrick. Since they changed the formula, they are much higher in phosphorus and carbs. Grammy's Pot Pie is one of their lowest, Phos is 252 and carbs is 7%, but no one here likes it.

Good luck - Have a wonderful Sunday!

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

Thanks I can take the Merrick back. The last time I tried it, J.D. ate one can and then would never touch it again. That was at least a year ago.
How did you find out about binders? From your vet?

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

Yes, from my vet originally. It was recommended to lower her phos level. But, Marje gave me the name of the place she orders it from. Much cheaper than the vet. It is Thrivingpets.com. Aluminum Hydroxide Powder. Cleo gets up to 1/4 tsp per day added to her foods. I only add it to her foods that are higher in phos. It dissolves completely in her food w/water added. There are side effects, like constipation, but we have never had that problem.
Tanya's site re: binders

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

How did you learn to use it and how much to give? What is Cleo's phos. level?
These are J.D.'s:
11/25/11 4.3 (range 3.0 - 7.0)
02/11/12 3.7
03/20/12 4.3
06/01/12 4.7
10/15/12 4.3
01/21/13 3.8 (range at dental vet was 3.1 - 7.5 for some reason)
03/22/13 4.3
07/08/13 3.6
09/19/13 4.5
11/01/13 5.1
I notice that the level goes up and down. I guess his next bloodwork will be around the first of February.
We do have constipation issues here, and J.D. is weak in the hind end. I think Miralax might work if given regularly, and I know lactulose does a good job if needed once in a while.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

He just licked the "juice" from Wevura Paw Licken Chicken and left the shreds. He never has liked shreds. I may try to mix them up with some Fancy Feast Chicken Feast and cross my fingers he'll eat it.

I can see how this experiment won't work so good during the week, when I have to leave all day and need to know he's eating.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

It took Trix a while to "learn" how to eat the shreds of Paw Lickin', but once she figured it out, she loved it. Unfortunately, though her BGs didn't...it sent her all over the map, despite it's LC value.

Right now, she eats Wellness Chicken, but she's not a huge fan, so I mix in a teeny bit of BFF Tuna and Chicken Chuckles, mix it up with a slew of warm water, then sprinkle FortiFlora on top. I usually have to reapply the FortiFlora, but with this combination, we get a CPC every time. She got sick of the Wellness turkey and was refusing to touch it, so I had to take it out of the rotation. It is a pain trying to find LC low phos fuds that they like!

I hope you guys are able to stay snuggled inside in all this yucky weather - it is a sheet of ice out there!

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282

Cleo's phos levels were: 4/5/13- 4.6; 7/5/13 - 6.1, this was when dx'd. with early CKD; 8/7/13 - 4.8, this was after using low phos foods and sometimes using binder. J.D.'s numbers do not seem as bad

Cleo doesn't like shreds either. I take the Paw Lickin' shreds and put them on my cutting board, then roll over them many times with my pizza cutter to break them up. Still not one of our favorites, but more gets eaten that way.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282, +6.25 185

That's a good idea. Those shreds in cat food just seem harder and to me almost plastic like as opposed to the tender shreds I can pull off of the boiled chicken breast I have in my refrigerator.

I took the shreds from the 1/4 can of Paw Lickin Chicken and mixed it with 1/4 can of FF Chicken Feast and warmed it and topped it with freeze dried chicken breast, and he still only ate some it.

He has not eaten enough, for my liking, this morning. He normally eats three to four 1/4 can servings of FF in the morning, and the same at night. Today, he has licked (and moved around in his bowl) a bit of Wellness Kitten, ate some Wellness mixed with FF Chunky Turkey and a bunch of freeze dried chicken on top, licked up the juice from 1/4 small can of Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken, and ate maybe 1/8 can of the new concoction of Weruva shreds mixed with the FF Chicken :YMSIGH: .
I think he gets his normal food for night time.
This is a slow process right? I try introducing the food to him slowly, and trying different ones, and mixing it in with his old food? I don't just refuse him his regular food, and hope that he will starve enough to eat the food that's good for him?

I'm always so happy when he eats, so ... ugg! I'm not looking forward to this process.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282, +6.25 185

It definitely is a process, and I am not as vigilant as I used to be. Before Merrick changed, I could always count on all of my kitties eating the Cowboy Cookout, just plain, they all loved it. It was low carb and low phos. Now, I have no "go to" food. So, I have begun mixing the FF T&G with the Wellness foods, but add a little bit of binder. J.D. would probably do just fine with low phos food since his numbers didn't look too high. I would ask your vet before you added any binder. They will give you the amount (it goes by weight) and also since J.D. sometimes gets constipated.
Another thing you can try is Chicken Liver Powder (Thanks Liz/Anne and whoever told you ). It is sold by Felineinstincts.com. It is a fine powder that my guys go crazy for! I sprinkle it lightly on top of the foods they don't really like, but should. It is expensive with the shipping, but it saves me a lot of waste and it lasts a long time.

 

Re: 01/05 J.D. AMPS 361, +3.75 282, +6.25 185

Nice slide for J.D. today. Good luck getting him to eat the new food.

 

I took a nap from about +9.5 to +10.75 and when I woke up almost all the YAZC was eaten. I always leave about two handfuls in the unused automatic feeder and it pretty much just sits there. I guess J.D. ate that.
At PMPS I mixed some of the Weruva Paw Licken Chicken with FF Chicken Feast and added some Miralax and he ate some of that. Actually, when I add in the Miralax it makes a "gravy/juice" when I swirl it around with the food, and let's just say - he drank that.

 

We learned about the liver powder from Ann and Tess. Zener likes it a lot. We switch between that and fortiflora. J.D., come down from there.
Liz

 

Hi Dyana,
Good luck with the new food introduction.
Me too, it makes me SO HAPPY when Lucy eats, so I do understand your frustration.
I hope you will find food that both you and J.D. approve!