Anyone got a CKD cat?

[ifonly4]

My cat hasn't been himself (very fussy with food and drinking a lot more) to vet carried out blood test this afternoon. It turns out he has CKD. Can anyone give me any advice? Also, what food do you feed yours? I've read something about phosphorus binders that may help if they won't eat a CKD diet - does anyone know anything about these. Anything you can answer would be appreciated.

[EnlightenedOwl]

Yes mine is stage 2 ckd 14yrs nearly 15 also got thyroid disease! He is on Semintra which is not going down awfully well and he is turning his nose up at the food so might have to try the phosphate binder. Little horror!! He is thin but that is partly due to thyroid disease as well as ckd

[ifonly4]

Thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear about your cat. How long has it had it? Vet suggested trying mine on a prescription renal diet initially. My boy is thin as well - I'm not sure that's totally down to kidney disease as he's slowly been losing weight over two years, has had two lots of bloods taken in the last seven months and it's only this third lot that have picked up kidney disease.

[ittybittyluna]

Humphrey has late stage CKD. He also has FIV and vet trips stress him out enormously so intervention is kept to a minimum. He still has an appetite so we manage on Royal Canin K/D and low phosphorus raw food (with added water) and ground eggshell (which acts as a phosphorous binder).

[ifonly4]

Sorry to hear about Humphrey. How is he in himself? How long has he had CKD. It must have been a worry with him having FIV and CKD.

Can I ask low phosphorus raw food you've found for him?

[eleventybillion]

Eleventycat is 17.5 yrs and diagnosed stage 2 CKD a year ago. She's on Royal Canin Renal wet food plus Pronefra (phosphate binder). She's doing really well. Bloods are mostly the same as last year with a couple of readings actually improving.

Her appetite isn't great (always been a problem to be fair) but she's maintaining her weight (with some encouragement!).

She's happy as ever except for no more dreamies

[ittybittyluna]

ifonly Humphrey was diagnosed recently with advanced Stage 4 CKD, as was his FIV (it all came at once )

I make my own raw food for him, so I did some swapping around to low phosphorus meats - 90% chicken thighs and hearts, 5% lamb kidney, 5% chicken liver, and a teaspoon of ground eggshell per kilo of meat and some fish oil. Then, before feeding, I replace 10% or so of the mix with cooked egg white (all protein, no phosphorus), and add some water and kefir as a probiotic. I'm going to start adding some B vitamins too.

I could go on and on about him, but we need to keep his stress levels low because of the FIV, and because he hates the vet, sometimes when we bring him home it takes him two days to settle down again. He was eating, but that started to decline, and it has become apparent that he has excess stomach acid (he was clearly hungry, and would come running to his bowl, but then give it two licks and walk away) so we've started giving him slippery elm bark (miracle supplement by the way!) and within hours his appetite returned! Sometimes he needs a little encouragement such as warming his food, taking it to his basket and stroking him, and he gets watered down cat milk multiple times a day to maintain his fluids.

I have found this website a fantastic resource
www.felinecrf.org/

[ifonly4]

eleven - the vet gave me some Royal Canin renal pouches to try, he's eaten them so I've put in a bulk online order - in the hope he doesn't go off them!

itty, thanks for replying. I guess chicken is fairly low in phosphorus. I was thinking about letting him have some as a treat, but I wasn't sure. You've given me some potential helpful tips with the ground egg shell and slippery elm bark as you never know what's around the corner. Both of mine seem to accept going to the vet, it's 48 hours after they come back I have the problem - they won't let me get near them since I'm the one who took them.