My cat won't eat kidney food. Can I use freeze-dried raw as a topper?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Shorthair | Male | neutered | 18 years and 11 months old | 9.5 lbs
Hi can I use a freeze dried raw dinner morsel as a topper on Tony’s kidney food? It seemed to really help him enjoy his kidney food today , like never before. He is in early stages, and kidney food has been a struggle even on an appetite stimulant. The crude protein on the bag says 45.0%. Is that too high for a cat with early kidney,? thx!!
3 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on December 21st, 2018
Hello, thank you for your question about Tony. I am sorry to hear that Tony does not seem to love the kidney diet; these are known to have a bland taste so many animals do not like them. The freeze dried morsels have a high protein content; most veterinarians recommend minimizing protein ingestion in patients with kidney disease. However with that being said, the main goal in any patient with kidney disease is to ensure that they eat. If this helps Tony eat his food regularly I think it is ok to add this as a meal topper. One other thing you could try (if you are using dry kibble) is to add a small amount of low sodium chicken broth to moisten the food and help improve the taste. Hope this helps, good luck!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
-
Published on April 28th, 2019
The most important thing with cats is that they continue to eat, so indulging him occasionally with baby food is okay. You may also try warming his food a little before feeding, adding some low-sodium chicken broth, also increasing his liquid intake, adding just water and making more of a gruel, or some combination.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
-
Published on December 2nd, 2018
Maybe try a different brand. There are several brands that carry kidney diets, and many have different flavors within the brand. You could try wet vs dry. Some of the brands have a palatability guarantee, meaning you can return it if Tony doesn't like it, but make sure to ask the vet about it. He may also benefit from Cerenia for nausea, which is common in cats with kidney disease.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Hi just curious if you know of any treats or food toppers that would be ok for a cat with kidney disease (early kidney but already on a kidney diet). I happened upon a raw freeze dried treat that I used as a topper on the kidney diet and tony loved
Hi Tony has been transitioned to kidney food for about a month now but honestly feeding time is a constant struggle.. he walks away to try to steal my other cats food and I follow him around with the bowl, or I have to sprinkle a bit of hers on top t
Hi! Tony is on a kidney diet for early stages of kidney disease. He also takes amlodipine, methimazole and a tumil K supplement. It’s hard to pill him so I hide his pill in another yummy cat food that I form into a tiny meatball. In looking for foods
Hi tony is on Rx hills KD kidney care chicken canned diet. I often have to give him a bit of a topper to add some flavor I guess and get him going... do you know if hills science diet healthy cuisine adult 11+ may be a food lower in phosphorus and pr
Hi yesterday tony had a recheck of his renal values & SDMA decreased from 18 to 17, creatinine increased from 1.9 to 2.0, BUN increased from 37 to 41. Phosphorus protein potassium are all normal levels. these changes occurred between 12/12/2018 & yes
Hi!any tricks to get my senior cat to eat a kidney diet food? Vet says he doesn’t have kidney disease but his #s have trended upwards in last year(sdma 13 creatinine 1.6 &BUN 39) so she thinks it’s a good idea to start kidney food. Also there is no p
My vet is having tony try to transition to a kidney diet but whether it’s his kidney food or his senior diet he tends to lick the pate rather than pick it up in chunks and once he’s licked too much of it he no longer wants it and I have to start a f
Hi tony has not been liking his kidney food lately and I’ve tried all the Rx kidney foods from royal Canin, hills, purina. He’s been to vet for labwork and only abnormality is low potassium so we’ve increased his dosage of tumil k. Until the potassiu
My cat was diagnosed with kidney failure and has gastrointestinal problems. We are trying to change the diet to one that would be fitting, such as Renal both wet and dry from Royal Canine and Gastrointestinal from Royal Canine, these are the only foo
Hi would mirtazapine and entyce work in the same way? I ask because tony is on 1/8 mirtazapine everyday and it doesn’t really seem to help as far as getting him To eat kidney food any easier. Would you recommend trying entyce or are they basically t
Book an appointment with the pros – our expert vets are here to help.
