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My cat with pancreatitis & allergies won't eat her prescription food.

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | British Shorthair | Female | spayed | 3 years and 4 months old | 9 lbs

My cat has been recently diagnosed with pancreatitis and also has food allergies (that make her skin itch). The food her vet choose for her is hills prescription diet z/d. She doesn't like that food at all, and she doesn't eat regularly. Some days she eats, and others she meows for food and just sniffs the bowl and walks away. I'm forced to syringe feed her when she refuses to eat. Is there any trick I can use to make her eat? Can I prepare some homemade food for her? She is allergic to chicken.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Britni Miller, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on June 12th, 2017

Sorry to hear about Daenerys. I would recommend trying a different food manufacturer such as Royal Canin or Purina. Both have hypoallergenic and hydrolyzed diets (that aren't made with chicken) that she may prefer. In my experience I have found z/d to not be very palatable to cats but have better success with one of the other brands. There are homemade diets, however these can be difficult to formulate due to all the vitamins and minerals that are required by your cat's diet. Talk to your veterinarian about switching to RC or Purina and that should hopefully help the issue.

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    Answered By Dr. Leigh, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    You could use a website called balanceit to formulate a balanced homemade diet. You could also try Hills d/d and see if she likes that better. Take the z/d back to your vet as you may be able to get a full refund. The food companies usually guarantee the food and refund money if the pet will not eat. https://secure.balanceit.com/

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