This is a specific conversation about Wet vs dry cat food — the honest answer — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
A 17-year-old cat who's gone off their food is genuinely worrying — at that age, even a few days of poor eating can matter. The honest answer on wet versus dry is clear: wet food wins for cats generally because it provides hydration, is more satiating, and closer to what cats are built to eat. For a senior cat with a fading appetite, it's not even a close call. Before I point you toward something specific, can you tell me: does your cat have any diagnosed conditions like kidney disease or hyperthyroidism, and what have you already tried feeding them?
She's got mild kidney disease, diagnosed about a year ago. We've been giving her a renal dry food but she's basically stopped eating it. She'll sometimes lick gravy off a pouch but leaves the meat. No other conditions that we know of.
inparticular.ai
That makes complete sense — renal dry food is notoriously unpalatable, and at 17 with kidney disease, getting calories and fluid into her is more urgent than hitting a perfect phosphorus target on paper. A cat who eats something imperfect is in far better shape than one who eats nothing. The fact she's going for gravy and broth is a really useful signal. What's her weight like at the moment, and is she drinking at all?
She's dropped from about 4.5kg to just under 3.5kg over the past few months. She does drink a little from a running water fountain, which is good I think. Vet knows about the weight loss and has said to just try and get food into her.
inparticular.ai
That weight loss is significant but the vet's advice is sound — palatability has to come first right now. The broth interest is your way in. I'd recommend Applaws Taste Toppers broth pouches, specifically the tuna or chicken varieties. They're essentially a thin, intensely flavoured broth with soft shredded meat, very low in phosphorus compared to most wet foods, and the liquid content means she's getting hydration with every mouthful. Because the texture is so different from pâté or chunks in jelly, cats who've gone off everything else often respond to them. Warm the pouch contents to just below body temperature before serving — about 35–37°C — which dramatically increases the aroma and tends to trigger eating in reluctant seniors. You can spoon the broth over a small amount of a higher-calorie wet food too, to sneak in more nutrition once she's interested.
That sounds really promising actually. Should I still be trying to keep her on the renal diet at all, or just focus on getting food into her?
inparticular.ai
At this stage, with that level of weight loss and a cat who's essentially refusing food, your vet is right — getting calories in takes priority. A severely underweight cat with kidney disease is at greater risk from not eating than from slightly higher dietary phosphorus. That said, Applaws Taste Toppers are naturally low in phosphorus because they're primarily muscle meat and broth with no added phosphate preservatives, so they're a reasonable choice even with her kidney condition. I'd use them as the main vehicle to get her eating again, report back to your vet after a week or two, and reassess from there. You're not abandoning her kidney care — you're keeping her alive and stable enough to continue it.
That's really reassuring. I'll order some today. Thank you.
inparticular.ai
I hope she takes to them — the warming trick genuinely makes a difference, so don't skip that step. If she's still not eating after a few days even with the broth pouches, go back to your vet promptly as there may be something else going on, like nausea or mouth pain, that needs addressing. Fingers crossed for her.
