VetriScience Kidney Health Chews, Renal Essentials Supplement for Cats, Kidney Care and Support with Mushroom, Astragalus Root, Nettle Seed and Herbs, Chicken, 120 Count

My cat is fine with these, I put it into her food and she's good eating them. I crumble them up its really not that difficult. They pretty much smell like vitamins. Im really sensitive to smell its not that bad.

My albeit, rather robust 18.5 yr old cat was diagnosed with CKD (chronic kidney disease) in Sept 2016. Against my better judgement I went with the food the vet that I had then, had prescribed. My cat lost 2.5 lbs and 1/3rd of his fur in 2weeks. I returned the junk and did some research. I changed his diet to a low phosphorus food (Purina NF dry (which is also lower in protein) & Weruva and/or BFF canned). In early January 2017 I added the VetriScience Renal Essentials. At the end of January 2017, his BUN had come down but still in the OMG range, phosphorus was within normal limits, creatinine was at the high end of normal and he had gained his weight back. I have continued this regimen. I have not restricted his protein any further than what this diet regimen contains. He gets 4 Renal Essential "treats" per day as directed on the label. His July blood-work was amazing! His BUN & creatinine were both at the high end of normal, but not elevated. His phosphorus was once again, mid range. He is 4 times more active than he was a year ago and the vets (our new ones) are amazed at how "robust" he is for a cat that will be 19 this fall!!! I gave this product a 4 out of 5. The reason being, that Renal Essentials is a part of his healthy diet; I believe it has played a large part in in getting him on the right track but it is not the one thing that made a difference. The right food choices have also played an important part. Suggestion: If your cat gets tired of the 'treats' I suggest soaking 2 in a tablespoon of water. Pour the 'treat water' on his wet food both AM & PM feedings. Kitty will get the extra fluids it needs AND the Renal Essentials. Remember, with CKD, wet food is more important than the dry!

UPDATE: The company finally offered me a refund check, which they said in an email would arrive "soon." it has been a week and a half and no refund check is in sight. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I wish I'd seen the reviews of these "chews" being hard as a rock before purchasing them, and before contacting the company in a good-faith question of whether they had possibly expired because my cats are TOTALLY uninterested in them, no matter what I do. (There is no exp date on the package.) Below is the unbelievable response I got from them, copy/pasted. I would not touch any product from this company ever again. "Thank you for reaching out to us with your question. We often get owners of dogs and cats saying their pet will not eat the product so that does not surprise me in the least. The worry is the product is bad or something changed with the formulation. Dogs and cats lives are ruled by their noses. Because we are a company that focuses on the ingredients everything affects the product.. like weather, drought, humidity, soil conditions etc. Due to these constantly changing seasonal conditions we expect at some point customers may have issues with their pets not loving some or all of the product due to its difference in smell, texture, density or even color. We, as a society, have become used to mass production and lots of additives and preservatives to make the unlikeable.. likeable… We do our best to keep that to a minimum and focus on the ingredients and adding only the most natural preservatives that enhance our product. We learned from a cat owner that if you put our treats in a baggie with something your pet loves the smell and taste of and leave them there for some time.. and let the smells cross onto each other... 95% of the time it works like a charm. For cats a brand-new smelly catnip toy and for dogs a smelly treat even the end of a parmesan rind. You may have to let it sit together for a longer period of time if it doesn't work the first time. If you are part of the 5% this is what we will need to process a replacement or refund for you. A picture of your receipt: Where you purchased the product from: Picture of the front and back of the bag to include the lot # ( 8- or 9-digit number followed by a space and four digits) Picture of the remaining product: Full name and address: We recommend that you try the trick, if you submit for a replacement/refund check, we ask that you donate to a shelter or rescue that can use the product." All this for a crappy $15 product that clearly had gone bad. No other vendor in the world makes you give this much documentation for a bad or expired product. These treats went into my trash. Avoid this company. ADDENDUM: After much emailing back and forth, they are sending me a refund. They still refuse to admit there's anything wrong with this product, or with mislabelling them as "chews" when they are not chewable by cats. They still claim they hardened because of "the weather" or other defensive reasons. Clearly just trying to avoid a bad rep, they don't really care. Sorry, but that doesn't work. They have a problem with this product.

We started using this when we had basically given up all hope for our 14 year old cat. The vet was recommending dialysis and thousands of dollars of intervention. We said no, thankfully. He is not perfect and we can hear him yowling in pain sometimes but this product and some other changes we made to his diet made a huge difference. At least try this before you spend serious money.

It was encouraging to see a kidney/renal friendly treat for cats with chronic kidney disease but customer service and product guarantee fall short of other reputable brands offering free returns if the pet does not like/eat the product. This is very short sighted from Vetriscience and cannot recommend for this significant reason particularly with the very high cost.

Giving these to me geriatric cat with stage 2 kidney disease. I just toss it in his dry food bowl and eats it no problem.

This is something that is incredibly hard to rate it's overall effectiveness on as I am not a vet. What I can say is that this product, in conjunction with bi-weekly subcutaneous fluids, plus a healthy diet focused on non-grain low-protein food has seemed to help the longevity of 2 of our feline friends with chronic kidney disease. It's sad that such a common disease in felines has not come up with a cure yet, but hopes are that it will soon. While my cat grew tired of the taste of these within a few months, slight flavour tweaking with other powders seems to keep her eating them. Not all kitties are the same, some will take to these others not so much, but things can be done to encourage kitties to eat them. Ultimately, I believe they help, I hope you get some extended life out of your family friend with these. It sucks to lose our companions, I do think that these help but there is more to extending a comfortable life for our friends than treats. So much for my usual humorous Amazon reviews...

My cat thinks these are actual treats - she loves them. I haven't had her retested so I don't know if they are making a difference with her kidneys. She doesn't seem to be drinking or urinating quite as much which is a good thing. UPDATE: I've been ordering these chews since May. I just opened the 5th package from this company. All the others were excellent. This package is obviously old or past their prime (I can't find an expiry date). I use them to encase my cat's pills. This package of chews are not very chewy. I really depend on this product since it's the only method I have found to use for pilling as well as to help with her kidney issues. I hope the company stands behind their product.