Help with food for elderly cat with kidney failure

[BIWI]

He is 15. He has a tumour behind one eye, but his kidneys are also failing, so no operation/treatment for the tumour. Basically we're just monitoring him and ensuring he has a good quality of life, before we accept the inevitable and have to go down the 'PTS' route

Since around March he has been on a prescription-only diet from the vet. First brand of food (can't remember which it was) he really didn't like, despite us introducing it very gradually. Currently feeding him Royal Canin; chicken and tuna varieties.

He doesn't really like the food though. He eats it, but he doesn't eat very much at any one time. Rather than feeding him just twice a day, as we used to, now we feed him a little bit several times a day, to try and encourage him to eat more. But he leaves a lot, and often just licks the gravy off the chunks. (He always has plenty of fresh water alongside his food)

I'm a bit worried about how little he is eating, and he is definitely thinner.

I know that with failing kidneys that he needs a low protein diet. The Royal Canin is 6.5% protein. I had a look at the various different foods in the supermarket today, and a lot of them are around 11-12%, so obviously not great. But I bought a couple of sachets of Sheba Fine Flakes today, which are 8%. I fed him one of those this evening and he wolfed almost the whole 85g pouch down.

So - am I doing the wrong thing by feeding him this? I can't help feel that if we're going for quality of life, that he ought to be enjoying his food. But obviously I don't want to be feeding him something that might be making him worse/feel worse

BIWI I would agree with all of the others who have said at this age and with these health problems, just give your cat whatever he wants to eat

Sadly my 2 old cats have now died but after trying to give my old girl cat the special renal diet (she hated it and wouldn't touch it) I took the opposite view with boycat and gave him tins of specially-purchased Feline Fayre tuna/salmon which are definitely not low-protein! But he loved them and it was more important to me that he ate something & enjoyed his food & had a dignified old age!

Thanks! I bought a box of Sheba sachets yesterday. They are 8g protein per 100g, and the Royal Canin food is 6.5g per 100g, so it can't be that much more protein for him.

Each time I've fed him over this weekend his bowl has been completely emptied - and we haven't seen that for months, so I'm feeling much happier about it (and of course, given the reassurance that you've all been giving me). I would hate to think that he is hungry and not enjoying his food, as well as being ill.

Thank you all for your advice.

Have a great sunset time all of you.

He must feel better for having a full stomach.

Mines on whiskas this week after turning his nose up at waitrose 10% protein patè.

Annoyingly, he's wolfing the whiskas down .

Seniorboy has developed a fondness for AGAIL double meats - and that's the least of my sins. I comfort myself that at least he's getting his meds down.

Although he has also become quite attached to the Vet's Kitchen treats - and they have no additives or enhancements of any kind. That makes me feel marginally better.

My 15 year old boy prefers Hills k/d sachets to Royal Canin. I do give him tuna and chicken from time to time too; just over a year ago his problems became chronic and we tried and failed to keep him medicated.

He's now on semitra after going on hunger strike while we were on holiday this summer. He spent 4 days on a drip which really gave him a boost thankfully. My vets said it always helps apparently - he had normal creatine results at the end of it.

We stopped giving him pills because he really wasn't having it and I wanted him to enjoy his old age and not be stressed. The semitra is fab - I can just squirt it into his food. My vet said he was in a reasonable state despite us having given up on the pills because we'd kept him on the food. It is so hard to know what to do.

I'd always go on the side of a happy cat though i felt bad to see the state of him after our hols. Not a happy cat - my FIL who was looking after him didn't tell me and doesn't believe in vet bills(!). I was delighted he could be treated and ashamed i hadn't kept in touch with the vet when she suggested semitra which didn't exist last year here.

semintra not semitra!

Sorry.

dont apologise - i'm using it too and I only noticed when I went to squirt some in his dinner...

Spanky and Isadorable can you tell me more about semintra? My vet hasn't mentioned it - only thing we've been offered is the special diet, which got the sniff/paw flick/stalk away treatment. He's not even convinced she's in serious renal failure as apparently her blood levels were quite low, but she does lakes of wee on the floor every day, has back leg weakness and stands on her heels and I'm sure she's ahead of her bloods. Would love to have something to help her.

Food-wise, my local pet shop (Pet Centre) are brilliant about foods and steered me away from many of the mainstream brands which tend to have very low amounts of actual meat for our obligate carnivore pals. Last year I switched to the top-end Applaws, Natures Menu, ZiwiPeak, Canagan etc, which mimic their natural diet and don't go down the rice/derivatives/cereals route, and while I spend much more per shop, its better value as the majority of it stays down rather than being thrown up or left, and my girls (18 and 19) are in visibly better condition on them.

Oops, my local great shop is Pet Corner

The kidney problems cause the chemistry of the wee to be different, and it causes the puddles of wee, drinking more, weeing more and blood in urine. We gave our boy a suppliment called nutra cyst. It is powder in a capsule which you sprinkle and mix in their food. It coats the bladder and makes them feel more comfortable. Our boy weed less. At some points it looked like cystitis. It isn't on prescription but our vets sold it.
Semintra is on prescription and was fantastic. I looked it up online and it is new. It stops protein loss in the urine, which is a result of the kidney failure. Our boy really perked up and I feel lasted longer on it. It is a liquid which we just squirted in his mouth, but he was really good about taking tablets.
We also gave him the painkiller tramodol. He had arthritis, but I thought the kidney failure made him feel a bit crappy and his mouth immflamation too. It is processed through the liver so is quite safe.
Our vet said the ID diet is best, but obviously they do need to eat.
I think the quantity of medication he was on really helped him last longer, except the steroids for his immflamatory mouth obviously. Hope that helps. Don't be shy about asking for medicine as that is how we got the tramodol.

Stupid auto correct, kd not id.

Spanky thanks very much - will be on the phone to the vets tomorrow!

I went to the vet just over a year ago because Old boy started throwing up and drinking a lot. They did tests that showed his kidney function was poor and they could hear a heart murmur. He also had high blood pressure(all these are linked as cats get older). They did a scan of his heart and told me it was treatable but it was two pills a day which worked OK for a while and the kidney parameters went back to normal. Then he wouldn't let us give him the tablets or crush them in his food so we just stuck to the diet. Semintra tackles heart and kidney problems. I have a check up to see how it is going in a couple of weeks. I'll report back if you're interested but he's put on weight, is happier in himself. I feel very positive about it.

Good luck to you and your old boy at the check up isa

Thanks Mo - good luck with your girls too.

It has helped me through some of the grief to help other cats through our experience. I have to say my boy completely understood English and was wonderful. One of our other cats, who grew up with him has hardly eaten today and is not himself. I think he is missing my boy too.