Ever tried to feed your cat and become frustrated that they only licked the gravy off their plate and failed to eat any of their actual dinner? Same! When dealing with Kidney Disease in cats you encounter a new found level of picky eaters. Even my cat who was one of best eaters in the house went straight to picky, princess after being diagnosed.
Don’t let the gravy obsession drive you nuts. Once we embraced the gravy we had better success in getting our cat to eat consistently again. We switched him over all gravy based food, the favorite being WERUVA BFF OMG lineup! But for those extra fussy days we would use gravy toppers as an incentive or sometimes just a snack all on their own. Here is what we found for the best gravy for cats with kidney disease.
Why Gravy for Cats?
Cats seem to go wild over the gravy in their food and it’s because that’s typically where a lot of the additives end up. Commercial cat food often has things added to enhance the flavor and entice your cat to eat it and it ends up concentrated main in the juice of the canned food.
Gravy is also good for you cat if you are trying to get your cat to hydrate more. This is absolutely a concern for our cats with chronic kidney disease. We love to offer him hydrating gravy treats to keep him as hydrated as possible.
Gravy Options for Cats for Kidney Disease
Tiki Cat Stixs
I sort of stumbled on these late last year and my gravy lover totally gobbled these up! If your cats are anything like mine then this creamy mousse will make your cat come running. You can feed it to them “Gogurt” style or you can simply squeeze out onto a plate for them. If you are looking for a food temptation this could be added as a meal topper for extra incentive to eat.
| Flavor | Phosphorus on DMB% |
| Chicken Mousse | 0.86% |
| Tuna Mousse | 1.08% |
Tiki Cat Broth Pouches
If you have a cat that loves gravy/soupy like things this is going to be a mach made in heaven. This low-calorie is meant as a complement to your cat’s already complete and balanced diet. You can use upgrade any meal, plus it’s the purr-fect way to help rehydrate your cat.
Plus note that that it’s completely free of grains, sugar, salt, starch, by-products, fillers, artificial flavors and colors! Serve it as a topper or alone as a purr-worthy treat.
You will want to watch out there are some flavors that are WAY too high in phosphorous levels making it a bad match for cat’s with CKD.
| Flavor | Phosphorus on DMB% |
| Tiki Cat Broths Tuna in Broth with Meaty Bits | 0.65% |
| Tiki Cat Broths Chicken in Broth with Meaty Bits | 0.47% |
Friskies Lil’ Soups
My guy LOVES these! He can’t say no to gravy and these soup bowls are much thicker than a broth like the above option from Tiki Cat.
Note not all flavors are a great match for a CKD diet. Here are the flavors that we found to be better suited for our cats with kidney disease.
| Flavor | Phosphorus on DMB% |
| Flaked Chicken in a Velvety Tuna Broth | 0.62% |
| Friskies Lil’ Soups with Shrimp | 0.48% |
| Friskies Lil’ Soups with Chicken and Butternut Squash | 0.60% |
| Friskies Lil’ Soups with Sockeye Salmon in a Velvety Chicken Broth | 0.60% |
| Friskies Lil’ Soups Skipjack Tuna in a Velvety Tuna Broth Senior Formula | 0.60% |
| Friskies Lil’ Soups Tuna in a Velvety Chicken Broth | 0.62% |
Baby Food for Cats
There are a few options for baby food that you can give to your cat, for more you can read our whole article on it here. I am just going to share my preferred brand below.
Beech-Nut Stage 1
To be honest I like this option the best. It only contains two ingredients just the broth and the meat. It simplifies things and takes out the starch that is added into the Gerber brand.
Beech-Nut has Chicken, Turkey and Beef. Again as a reminder, when buying baby food for your cat you always want to confirm the ingredients. There should be nothing more than the meat and gravy. Never give your cat any food that contains seasonings, especially onions.
Make Your Own Gravy for Cats
Maybe store bought food just isn’t the best for your cat. No worries cat gravy is actually a really easy thing to make right from home. I have found that I am making more things at home for myself and my cats with shortages at the grocery store and sometimes dealing with cat food being sold out.
Here is a simple cat gravy recipe you can make:
1. Combine any excess pieces you have of chicken, pork, beef etc. into a large pot. If you are unsure, this includes skin, fat, organs, and even bones! Don’t have leftover parts from say a whole chicken or turkey you recently made? I would buy a pack of bone and skin on chicken thighs and boil that up. Even getting a pack of fresh chicken livers would be another great add, the organ meat is packed with vitamins and minerals for your cat.
2. Fill the pot with water to the top. Do NOT add any seasoning. Most kitchen seasonings are not safe for your cat. I would even skip the step of adding salt as many cats with Kidney Disease deal with high blood pressure and salt isn’t good for that. Keep in mind you meat probably has added sodium already.
3. Bring to a boil and turn down until it drops to a simmer. Place the lid of the pot on and let simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Let cool. Strain so there is nothing left but the liquid. Portion out and freeze in ice cube trays. Thaw a cube for a simple gravy to place on top of your cats next meal.
Conclusion on Gravy for Cats with Kidney Disease
Don’t pass up the opportunity for a new hydrating treat for your cat. When a cat has kidney disease hydration is the key thing we are trying to manage. The more you can keep your cat well hydrated the more you are helping them flush out their toxin their kidneys can’t filter out its own.
Brena
Friday 12th of January 2024
The tiki silver have a much lower % of phosphorus and is better designed for cats with kidney disease. these %'s are too high. ive got a phosphorus blocking powder that helps with other foods and thankfully any taste it may have doesnt turn her off. But if your cats kidneys are failing try Tiki Silver not these others. my cat isnt a fan of chucks but a quick run through the magic bullet and shes happy. shes get those on bad days she doesnt want to eat. but I think you arent giving people good advice. what you are recommending is still too high in phosphorus.
Robin Griffin
Friday 12th of January 2024
Great recommendation! Tiki cat silver is newer and wasn't out when this was written. I will get it added to the list. As for the others listed it's important to remember people need options, every cat is so different. My CKD girl loves her chunks and won't touch the tiki cat food my CKD boy however was such a ham for puree food (we got a blender to smooth chunky food). At the end of the day our cats need to eat, and I agree a higher quality food will help them survive longer, I swear up and down over raw homemade food but having been on such a journey I know time and cost isn't feasible for everyone (we still aren't able to feed all our cats raw at all their meals). I have had to babies with this terrible disease and they weren't the same, don't eat the same food, etc. Sorry you having to deal with this horrid disease. I am just sharing our journey hoping it may help some others nothing on this site should override medical advice!
Charles
Friday 23rd of September 2022
Hi, thank you for your blog. It has brought me so much relief and sanity trying to feed my 15-year old cat who has k/d and is a picky eater. Do you know what the phosphorus level is for the salmon and duck & chicken flavors of the TikiCat Broth? I don't see any info on phosphorus on Tiki's website. Thank you.
Robin Griffin
Wednesday 7th of December 2022
I reached out to Tiki Cat they said Duck and Chicken has 1.63% phosphorous on a dry matter basis. This in my opinion is too high for a cat with CKD. Their Chicken broth is the lowest at 0.47% but the Salmon and Tuna is pretty good at 0.60% and 0.65% respectively