Recommendations for a renal diet (kidney disease)

[BrainInAJar]

Hello

Cat has stage 1 kidney disease. Vet says we might try moving her to a renal diet at some point.

Can you recommend any particular renal foods that your cat enjoys?

Thanks

Our cat has just started Purina renal dry food and he loves it! Prefers it to his old food. The vet recommended Hills, Royal canine or Purina as all doing good quality renal diet food.

Thanks @southchinasea that's helpful.

I'm surprised a dry food is recommended for a cat with kidney disease though? I thought wet food was better for a cat's kidneys?

Dry food - Virbac, wet food - Purina (pouches and mousse), Hills and Royal Canin (all kidney/renal support)

Ours has both, unlimited supply of dry food + wet food (half a pouch) morning and evening

One of our cats has been diagnosed with kidney failure this week. We’ve been advised to give him royal canin wet food with a small amount of the dry food mixed in.

Boycat was on the Hills dry food & the Royal Canin "loaf" or Hills wet renal food. Beware for your pocket, renal foods are a LOT more expensive than normal cat food even the same brand!

Also be careful if you have any other cats in your house. Mine always shared their food, and Girlcat went from a slim slinky girl into a circular blob in 4 months! She lost all the weight after Boycat was PTS and she had been back on "normal" food for a few months.

Thanks all.

No, my cat is the only cat in the house.

She's pretty skinny atm as she had hyperthyroidism albeit that is now under control, according to the latest blood test. The vet says he's more bothered about her eating enough and less bothered about what exactly it is that she's eating.

She was on Hills etc until this year, just the normal food but she was leaving a lot of it. I switched her to Katkin/Untamed/Blink on rotation and she usually eats most of that. So no point switching her to a renal food if she doesn't eat it if you see what I mean!

Might have to rethink though when the kidney disease inevitably progresses so I'm just thinking ahead.

There's meds you can get that increase the appetite, I think they normally come in pill form but you can also get a sort of gel that you rub into the ear so they absorb it through the skin. Certainly perked up Boycat's appetite for a couple of weeks.