Does anyone have experience of kidney disease in cats

[tryingtobethebestican]

I've just found out my cat has kidney disease and the vet told me loads of stuff on the phone just now but I can't remember it all. I know I have to get special food and some binding powder and get his blood pressure checked and a urine sample. Has anybody else had experience of this before and have you found a big improvement when changing the food. I'll try anything to try and make him better.

My cat was diagnosed with early kidney disease last year. He refused to eat the food so we now put Ipakitine in his normal wet food. We tried a couple of other binders but he wouldn't take them. Thankfully the Ipakitine doesn't seem to bother him. He had a blood test just after Christmas and his kidney readings had returned to normal so it's obviously doing some good.

Phew that's good to hear. I'm really glad your cat seems better with the binding powder. I hope mine will improve, but he's not early stage unfortunately, I think the vet said his function is down to 25% 😞

Unfortunately it now looks as though he’s got heart disease - he’s determined to worry me into an early grave!

Hopefully with the powder and the food he’ll get some improvement. Have they given you the Katkor Litter to collect the urine sample? I never thought Harry would use it!

If you’re unsure of anything ring the vet back and ask them to clarify. It’s not easy to take everything in when you’re getting bad news. I missed a lot of what the vet about Harry’s heart but she was happy for us to go in and talk to her a couple of weeks later and we found out a lot more.

BTW what phosphate binder is he on? We be Harry’s Ipakitine online as it’s cheaper than getting it from the vet, £30 versus £74. Although he’s insured it’s not worth claiming as we have to pay a high excess and 20% of the treatment.

Hello. Two weeks ago Sparklingcat was diagnosed with overactive thyroid (kind of expected) but also chronic kidney disease (unexpected).

They are going to tackle the thyroid issue first as they think that might be 'masking' the kidney disease.

No idea of function yet, but swing between feeling down about it all and just glad we know so we can try and sort her out.

Special food is not going to be easy.

Both of my previous pair (Birmins) developed kidney disease late in life. From memory I switched them to part Royal Canin renal food and they had to have prescription tablets (ground up and taken with food) . They also had blood tests every 6 months to check kidney function. Each of them kept going for several years on this regime and both died at a ripe old age (18 and 21!) So it needs managing but quality of life can be maintained for a long time

Dcat at 12, collapsed with kidney failure nearly 5 years ago, was on a drip for 48 hours but pulled through. She's an Asian cross so an exotic who seem a bit prone to problems (had cystitis previously).

She refused to eat the kidney meat sachets so she has normal food as she was on hunger strike before, though the vet was telling they have improved lately. She does like the Royal canin renal biscuits however and will eat them. She also has half a tablet of fortekor daily (with a
Dreamie).

She's still going strong and vet said her test results show she seems to be in stage 1 kidney failure rather than the 2 she was previously. Cats normally I think get diagnosed with kidney failure at stage 2 when function really reduces as before then it's masked.

Fortekor was the one mine were on - had forgotten the name. Also mine were diagnosed early which meant that their treatment meant that the kidney function declined very slowly for a long time.

One of Ms Viques cats had kidney cysts. Horrible things that oriental cats are apparently prone to( he was a rescue mog but we suspect there was a bit of something exotic in his lineage) . If your cat is ever diagnosed with them then do the kind thing ASAP, we believed the vet and consequently his last month of life was miserable. Apparently they are born with the cysts but they don't start to grow and impact their lives until they are about 6 or 7, so still relatively young, which is why she felt she should give him a chance. But there was no chance.

I was reading up a bit around it and apparently most cats even from when they are young have some tiny degree of kidney disease. I think cat's kidneys aren't very good in general.

Thank you for all your replies and sharing. @PinkSparklyPussyCat he also has Ipakitine. Thanks for the advice about prices. I tried putting it on the Royal canin renal food but the consistency was gross and he didn't like it - bit like eating sherbet! I gave him a small pouch of Sheba soup which he likes and mixed the powder in and he ate that. He also seems to like the renal food and has eaten twice this morning (only small amount) but am relieved he has eaten something. Sorry about the ailments your cats all have too. There're so lovely aren't they.

You don't need Ipakitine if he eats the renal food. Ipakitine is for normal food.

We tried him on the renal food (Hills and Royal Canin) and he wouldn't touch either. He actually jumped backwards when we put one of them down! After looking at the ingredients I can't say I blame him to be honest. We decided that we'd rather he ate what he enjoyed.

Did the vet tell you to use Ipakitine and the renal food?

As said you won't need Ipakitine (or similar) if he eats the renal food. My boy scoffed it like there was no tomorrow for two weeks then flatly refused it - as soon as I'd been brave enough to do a bulk online order - by the way it's cheaper to buy it online.

As it progresses the kidneys process liquid a lot quicker so it's easier for them to become dehydrated. For that reason a wet diet is much better, to which you can also add a little water in later stages. Goes without saying, always have water available inside and out even if they don't usually drink it - that's how we picked up our cat had it.

How old is your cat by the way?

You might find it helpful to get a print out of any blood test results each time - you've paid for them so are entitled to them. Certain readings will be higher if he has kidney disease and you can see whether these are stable each time or are increasing.

Thanks, the vet said put the IPakitine on his food twice a day, a spoonful in the morning and in the evening, I've been putting it on wet food to entice him to eat as he doesn't seem keen on the dry renal food.
We found out last Thursday that he also has high blood pressure so has to have half an Amodip tablet once a day for that. He has been eating small amounts of food and drinking lots of water and yesterday I actually thought there was an improvement in him and he felt like he had put a tiny bit of weight on.
Today though I don't think he has eaten at all and seems really weak. We've tried to entice him with different food and even the treats he likes but he doesn't want anything 😥 he's just lying on the settee next to me.

He'll be 17 in a few weeks time,