number 1 there is nothing wrong having some dry crunchy food around.  better
for the teeth and the cat.  Also have some children's unflavored pedialight
on hand.  Walmart has this at a very low price.  If you see that your kitty
is not drinking enough feed her this.  get a plastic syring and just squirt
it down their throats.  Most Kittys will eat if they get hungry enough.  I
have found that certain flavors of 9 lives areliked and none of them were on
the danger list.

["Followup-To:" header set to alt.med.veterinary.]

Try this: scoop out a serving of k/d and add some water or broth, as
your vet might ok.  Either mash the k/d with the water using a fork,
or use a blender or hand blender if your cat prefers a very wet consistency.

Also, if you google "rec.pets.cats and faqs" there is in one of them
a series of recipes for various homemade diets... you can talk to your
vet about the recipes.

All of the studies I know of says that cats with kidney disease do better
on specific kidney disease diets.

.......how ironic that the highly touted perfectly balanced Science Diet
food led to kidney disease.  Personally I'd try some other brand of kidney
diet.  I've never run across a cat who actually wants to eat SD k/d.  As you
said it's dry.  I don't think these formulations have enough protein anyway.
It's not the protein you want to limit, but the phosphorus.  If your vet
doesn't carry any other brands, call other local vets and see if you can get
some.  Or get in touch with them through the web and tell them you want to
try them on your cat for palatability and maybe they'll send you a couple of
cans.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

Wise up!  Hills Bros. crap is the worst poison you can feed
any animal.   Then there's the corrupt realationship that Hills
has with veterinarians, for the purpose of marketing their crap
foods.   Question your vet about his/her relationship with Hills,
specifically pointing out the Hills food display they have in their
waiting rooms and why they will *only*  recommend on Hills foods.

HILLS  =    sh.t

If  you are in Canada and can go to a Global Pet Food store, then get the
dried MAXIM (it comes in regular, maintenance and light), it has the lowest
ASH rate around, it is much lower than SD ever is. SD is quite high on the
ASH scale. Wet food generally has more Ash in it vs dried.  You can always
add some hot water to the dried food to make it moister.  I have all three
of my cats on Maxim as my 2 yr old male ended up with a UTI. Maxim is made
with Cranberries in it to help make it a more compatible product for cats
urinary systems. Im not sure if it is available in the states as it is a
Canadian product. Which was not recalled and was still in good supply!

Another trick to make your cat ingest more water is to add a LITTLE  bit of
salt to the food. It will make them thirsty and drink more. But be sure to
use only a little bit and not all the time.

Another thing is to use a filter on the water you give your cats, such as
Brita to reduce the amounts of calcium and lime in the water they drink as
this helps reduce the occurance of stones in the bladder.

Good Luck