Renal diet and healthy cat

[DahjeelingOnTuesdays]

Can anyone comment on whether it would do an elderly (16yo) healthy cat any harm to live of his twin brothers renal diet (Hills KD)?

Neither cat eats particularly quickly, and the only way I can think to ensure that DCat1 only eats the renal diet is to feed it to DCat2 too (who prefers the renal diet so will eat it in preference to his own food).

Anyone??
(hopeful bump)

Has DCat2's renal function been tested at all, Dahjeeling?

Thanks for replying, cozie, DCat2 had a general blood test last year and they did mention that his renal function readings were approaching the high end of normal (or the wrong end of normal - not sure if that was high or low) - but not since. DCat1 was being tested because he seemed vaguely unwell and his thyroid gland was unlarged (but blood test came back normal for thyroid function). DCat2 is generally more robust than DCat1

The only cat I've had with serious renal issues was Darling Twoago and he was effectively a singleton where my biggest concern was simply getting him to eat - so I did some research on this last night and I have to say that it's pretty brain-busting stuff so I'd be inclined to check with your vet.

My instinct is that it wouldn't matter that much in the short to medium term if DCat2 noshed on the special food but from what I've read, it would depend on the nature of the special diet (broadly, restricted phospate or protein) and the stage (if any) of kidney malfunction that the different cats are at, a continuing low protein diet possibly leading to loss in muscle mass etc in an otherwise healthy cat. (The 'otherwise healthy' bit being why I asked about DCat2's current status.)

You can buy special feeders - from Sureflap - that only open for the right microchip but they're pretty darned expensive so in the meantime (subject to what your vet says - or one of the vets who post here if they see this thread) I think I'd relax and go ahead as you need to. I think that any issues for DCat2 are likely to be long term indeed and you have a pair of older cats on your hands.

Has the vet given you any prognosis for DCat1?

When our old boy had to go on the renal diet our vet said it's ok if the other two eat it too - they were 8 and 9 at the time and healthy. However I have since also done some reading and it seems that the low protein diet is not ideal unless the cat has kidney problems. Having said that, the logistics of three cats who ate together and had free access to food 24/7 meant that they would all have ended up on the same food anyway. We did try for a while to feed them different food but it was just a shambles.

Yes - I suspect you have to take a pragmatic approach to it.