Kidney disease…anyone been through this?

[Tarrarra]

My Poppet has been diagnosed with kidney disease. We rescued her when she was 5 and she’s now 10.

The vet has recommended medication and a special renal diet and I was really hoping that someone else who has been through this has some positive stories and recommendations. I’ve ordered some of the food but she’s a really fussy eater. I did manage to get her to take the meds yesterday.

My boy was diagnosed with kidney disease - he was a fair bit older than Poppet, at 16. He was put on meds and we had another three happy years together, before he deteriorated and it was time to let him go; at 19, this was a good age for him. If Poppet is medicated she should be able to live a normal, happy life; the main thing is to monitor eating and weeing and go back to the vet in case meds need adjusting.

My cat decided she would choose death rather than eat any renal food.
So we spent a few happy years letting her eat whatever she liked, mainly Sheba Cat Soup, until she passed away.

Friend of mine, her cat was diagnosed with kidney disease, put on a renal diet and is healthy several years down the line. If yours won't eat the food you can modify their diet as far as you can and accept that it might not be ideal, but your cat is happy.

One of my girls had kidney disease, she flatly refused all renal diet food . We found a powder additive you can sprinkle on top of normal food , which balanced extending her life but also with her being happy . This is the one we used. . It binds the phosphates which then pass through the system. Wishing you luck with finding a happy balance .

Hello! This is my specialist subject thanks to my boy Elton. As others have already said, CKD in it's earlier stages can be very well managed by diet - and even if they won't eat the specialist food then phosphate binders like Ipakatin ( mentioned above) will reduce the problems caused by eating normal food. There are also supplements you can try such as Porus One which help relieve the pressure on the kidneys. Making sure they have plenty of fluids to drink is also helpful - a water fountain encourages more drinking but there are also specialist fluids you can buy. CKD can progress slowly and with luck you will have much more time with Poppet

Been through this with my previous cat. He wouldn’t eat the renal food so on vet advice we just gave him normal food sprinkled with Ipakatin. We were advised to keep him in but as an outdoor cat this wasn’t an option as the stress would be too much for him. Once we explained this to the vet he agreed that we go for quality over quantity and do what makes the cat happy. He lived for about 18 months.

I’ve had 2 cats in the family with kidney issues.
My girl was diagnosed when she was 11 and lived to a grand old age of 17 on that disgustingly stinky renal food. She LOVED it (it made me feel ill!) and she was still chasing her tail and running round like a loon until the last couple of months. She was the best cat.

My parents’ cat lived til he was 18 and refused to eat anything recommended so my parents made scrambled egg, poached chicken a poached fish for him every day. And he still ate his brother’s tinned food whenever he could get his paws on it!

The vet said to me when she was diagnosed (my cat that is, not the vet) that she could live a long and happy life and she most certainly did.

Sending you positive thoughts as it’s horrible when a little furry member of the family isn’t ok.

We fed her Royal Canin. The beef flavour was the most popular. My old girl was a fussy bugger.

Thank you all so much. She’s taking the medication mixed with food, but turned her nose up at the renal food, I will try her on few different ones based on your recommendations!

Good luck with finding the right food @Tarrarra Poppet is a very gorgeous girl

Thanks @Happyhettie

Harry was diagnosed with kidney disease when he was 11 and, like a previous poster's cat, would rather starve than eat renal food. We decided to let him eat what he liked and added ipakitine to his food which seemed to keep it under control.

Oh I had no idea about the additive, my old boy has kidney issues, the renal wet food is such god awful stuff can’t blame them for refusing it!

Harry’s kidney readings were pretty stable until he had heart failure when he was 17. We knew there was a high chance he would get kidney failure but as the vet said if we didn’t treat the heart failure it didn’t matter about his kidneys. I had to argue with a previous vet about the ipakitine as she insisted there were much better meds but as I pointed out they were only better if he’d take them!

My cat was overdosed by a vet at a well known vet chain inside a shop.. my mistake trusting them. She was 18 months old and they nearly killed her. Spent a week in hospital, tubes everywhere during lockdown and has been left with kidney damage. She's lost something like 70-80% kidney function.

Not a single renal food will get eaten, she refuses. If try play bad cop, she then starts to feel sick (another side effect of kidney disease) because she's not eaten making the problem a whole lot worse. Then the joy of having to try get her antacids down her, she tends to win every time and it gets spat out.

Like others here, researching I found ipakitine powder. You put it in their normal food and it binds the phosphates and it passes through, taking the pressure off the kidneys - basically doing a similar job as the renal food. It's been an absolute godsend, it's flavourless, no smell and very fine powder. Your vet will sell it to you but much cheaper to buy online. Good luck, they can live for a long while even with kidney failure.

We’re having a battle of wills on the renal foods so will definitely try the ipakitine powder! Thank you all so much for your advice 💕