Kidney disease & special food

[KatyMac]

WHat does the special food actually do for cats?

Does it make them feel better or just live longer

Out cat doesn't really like it & is (somewhat) stubborn about what he eats - how much should I stress?

[eleventybillion]

Sorry to hear your cat has kidney disease katy. Eleventycat was diagnosed with CKD at around 14 and lived very well with it to nearly 20. She died of something completely unrelated.

There's really good evidence that a renal diet helps CKD cats live longer and better. There are lots of different varieties out there - Eleventycat liked Hills and Royal Canin (expensive tastes!).

That said, it's better that your cat eats and there are other medicines available. I'd talk to your vet.

[eleventybillion]

This is a great resource to learn more about CKD


icatcare.org/advice/chronic-kidney-disease/

[Thecatisboss]

Dcat collapsed with kidney failure at 12. She is now 18 and likes the ckd biscuits but will not eat the wet food at all. The vet we saw said it was important she ate so we just give her what she likes (and a pill daily with a dreamie!)

Good luck with your cat.

[KatyMac]

Thanks - he has always been fussy and would honestly starve rather than eat what he doesn't fancy (been there done that!)

He will begrudgingly eat the dry food but looks at us as if we are poisening him!

Good to know it is a long term thing tho'

He really wont eat royal canin - he just licks the juice/gravy and ignores the meat

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Harry has diagnosed with early CKD a couple of years ago. He won't touch the renal food so he has his normal food with Ipakitine powder added. The vet didn't want him to have it but as he wouldn't take anything else (they tried other medication) I said I wanted him to have it as it was better than nothing.

When he last had blood tests in December 2017 his kidney readings were back to normal.

[scaryteacher]

Normal wet food with Ipakitine here as well. My boy is also on Fortekor (half a tablet a day) crushed in likelix, and a squirt of Pronefra.

He has Kattovit dry food, which he seems to enjoy, judging by the speed it disappears.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Renal diets have low levels of high quality protein reducing urea levels whilst providing adequate nutrition and reduced level of phosphorus which is essential for slowing progression of CKD.
Staging of CKD combined with urine protein:creatinine ratios and blood pressure monitoring determines what combination of diet, phosphate binders, ACE inhibitors and anti-hypertensives are required.

[KatyMac]

But are anyone them sort of flakey or mushy as he doesn't eat lumps

He only has one tooth and it's generally a struggle to get him to eat anything new

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Hold K/d comes as a stew which is very tiny pieces of meat, rice and veg in a thick gravy. Very palatable. You need to be very specific hills k/d stew 1x24 tins.

[KatyMac]

Ooo thanks I'll have a go at finding a tin or 2 to see if he likes it

[ifonly4]

Many cats don't like renal food. My boy also seemed to notice if I added Impakitine. In the end I decided I wanted him to enjoy what life he had and kept him on his usual wet food (and stopping dry). Towards the end I added a little water to his food and gave him watered down cat milk to keep him hydrated, as water passes through the kidneys much quicker in later stages.

[KatyMac]

How sad, ifonly4 - hugs xx

I am struggling to get 2/3 tins of it I don't want to buy 24!

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

We've decided to do the same with Harry ifonly4. At the moment he's fine and takes the Ipakitine without any problems but if that changes then he can have what he wants. Quality over quantity.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

@KatyMac if you buy from your vet hills do a palatability guarantee on the first 24 so if he won't eat it you will get your money back. The offer is only available through vets.

[KatyMac]

Thanks - I'll talk to the vets

I'm going to have to anyway as he won't even eat his old food now

[Elieza]

There was a thing i read somewhere that said there was a link from kidney disease to cats who ate too much fish or fish flavoured cat food. Don’t know if any truth in thst, just mentioning. I took mine off fish flavour daily and now I get a mixed flavours box of pouches.

[Mrbay]

Sorry to hear about your cat.
Zooplus has a great range of renal cat food and you can buy it in small batches.

[ifonly4]

PinkSparklyPussCat - they often get nausea in the latter stages so if Harry goes off his food then, try something like chicken. The vet can also help with anti-nausea treatment. Hopefully you won't have to worry about that for a long time though.

KatyMac thanks. He had a great life though and was spoilt up until the end.

[KatyMac]

Sorry @mybay they only seem to have the one mentioned in 24s

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

Thanks ifonly4. At the moment he eats me out of house and home, but I'll definitely remember that. Fingers crossed he carries on doing so! I'm keeping a close eye on him and he's not drinking or using his tray more. We weigh him regularly and he's lost some weight but I'm OK about that as I've reduced his biscuits as he was getting a little shall we say 'fluffy'!

Katymac I hope you find something your cat will eat.

[KatyMac]

He is eating!!

[AnnaMagnani]

I found this website an invaluable resource:

www.felinecrf.org/which_foods.htm

I tried every single wet renal food on the market with Old Lady Cat and she made it quite clear she would rather die than eat them.

She loves a kibble though and so is settled on her renal kibble.

She also gets one Sheba Cat Soup a day to up her fluid intake as the website said it was relatively low in phosphorus + some cat milk (when she deigns to drink it). She loves the Cat Soup and would like to live on that alone, thank-you very much. She also doesn't eat lumps - we give her a tiny amount of Animonda Carny and think, what the hell, she likes it. When her bloods are worse she can have Ipakitine on it.

We also feed Thrive treats as she needs to put weight on.

The idea of the renal diet is it is low in phophorus and high in accessible protein - unfortunately it is also disgusting to most cats.

Starting out with an underweight cat, we have gone for a compromise position - she eats mainly renal food plus other stuff that is as good as possible from the non-renal menu as the most important thing is that she eats. Doing this she has managed to put some weight on and is a much happier cat.

When she really didn't eat as she was v poorly I did most of the tips from the website and it really got her eating - sitting beside her made a lot of difference, hand feeding, raising the bowl all actually worked.

[KatyMac]

Thanks so much @AnnaMagnani I will have a good read

But I am most received he is eating anti sickness tablets and appetite enhancers!

I guess I need to sell several bags of sensitivity control now!!