Cat with Kidney Disease Hates k/d Food

This is the follow-up post to Rushed my FIV Cat to Veterinarian as it explains how one day my FIV cat was fine and the next day he refused to eat.  

The attending veterinarian told me that my FIV cat named Sam has kidney disease and that this condition commonly occurs with late-stage cats with FIV.  Know that I am devastated because I had no idea that my cat was ill.  He had his lab work done in March 2015 and six months later he is diagnosed with kidney disease.  A real shock because he got sick out of nowhere.

Anyway, Sam is supposed to eat a special diet food for kidney disease in cats.  But Sam does not like the food and will not eat it.   Over the weekend Sam would meow for food and I would open a can of the k/d put some on the plate and mix a little water into the plate to make gravy.  Sam would be at my heels all the way into the room where I feed him, then he would sniff and walk away.  For four days he went without food. He would lick the gravy but not eat the food.

Monday we rushed him back to the veterinarian and they examined him and told me that they were going to give him a pill to stimulate his appetite and recommended that I start feeding him Royal Canin feline Renal LP.  Know that the veterinarian called me at home to tell me that many cats will not eat the k/d but that Royal Canin had a formula of food that cats preferred. 

So when I picked up my cat today I was pleasantly surprised because they gave me a 2.5-pound bag of the renal LP cat kibble to try.  Know that the appetite stimulant did work and Sam ate this food like he loved it.  

Sam is 8 years old.  

If you have a cat that has kidney failure and your cat does not like the special diet, you may want to try the prescription food by Royal Canin.  My cat Sam is so picky, and he really likes it.

Rushed FIV Cat to Veterinarians

Two days ago my FIV cat named Sam was playing with his toys and talking to the birds from the window.  he was fine happy and loving life then the following day he did not eat his food.  All that he did was drink water and this was a red flag that something was wrong.

My Siamese Cat named Sam, Playing one day, next day sick.

Because Sam has feline immunodeficiency virus we react differently to any changes in diet or mood because stress or illness could be a fatality for an FIV cat.

After 10 hours Sam did not attempt to eat his food, all he did was drink water so we took him to the veterinarian.  They gave him a physical exam, took blood for tests, and urine and said his urine was cloudy and not concentrated the way it should be.

The veterinarian told us to feed Sam k/d kidney care diet.  this canned food made by Hill's Prescription was formulated to support my cats kidney health.  We have no idea how Sam's kidneys were damaged, not sure if it is part of the FIV condition.  But we were told that this cat diet food will help in maintaining the balance of fluid and minerals and support my cat's kidney health. 

We bring Sam home tomorrow morning and I am to watch him over the weekend, if he does not eat his food I am to call the veterinarian office on Monday.
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Two FIV Cats Are Better Than One

My cat Sam has FIV, feline immunodeficiency virus and has lived a life without other cats since 2008.  Our veterinarian recommended this because socializing Sam would cause him to have stress and our veterinarian thought the stress might make him sick.  But that changed when I took a friends FIV cat as a last resort.

Know that prior to rescuing Sam he was accustomed to being with other cats, he was outdoors and did hang out with my neighbors cats,  So  there was no problem with him getting along with cats.  We just did not want  him to have any stress.

So Sam has lived on one side of the house away from my other cats.  There is a door that separates them and an inch opening at the bottom of the door and this door allows the cats to touch each other with their paws.  None of them have played roughly and I  wondered if socializing would be that big of a deal.

Sam is a good cat, an affectionate cat but I suspect that he longs for another cats company.  My thought is that two FIV cats would be better than one because they could sleep together, play and groom each other.  Recently my friend surrendered her FIV cat to me and I decided to try and socialize Sam with this new little FIV young adult cat.

The socializing consisting of the cats getting used to each other scent but they were separated by a closed door.  The NEW cat played paws with Sam from under the door and all was well.  Sam was meowing and seemed very happy.  I allowed the two cats a few more days of getting to know each other from a distance before I opened the door to Sams side of the house.

The introduction was supervised and Sam was calm with the new cat.  There was no hissing, however at one point Sam did go into the closet and leaped to a lower shelf.  The young FIV cat meowed for him to come down and play with her, but Sam ignored her.  

It did not take long for the cats to get accustomed to each other.  In an hours time they were eating out of the same bowl.  Both my husband and I agree that two FIV cats are better than one, because now Sam has more energy, he is very happy.  

The young adult female cat climbs all over him and he does not mind.  I suspect they will be best friends for the rest of their lives.