CRF experience please!!!

[MrsR]

My Sylvester wa on a strict RC Urinary food diet - anything other than this and it was cause a blockage.

[clarenmax]

Max was diagnosed with early CRF last January, and we've been having regular blood tests every 2-3 months to see how the levels are changing.

His creatinine has been increasing, but not enough to warrant medication, so we're managing at the moment on a renal diet, but I do still give him some ordinary senior food as well, often mixed in with the renal wet to keep his diet a bit more interesting.  He loves the RC dry food, he has that down all the time so he can graze.

He has been losing a bit of weight, but he is Hyper-T as well, so its difficult to tell which condition is affecting this more at this stage!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I have no personal experience, but this site is a goldmine of information (if you've not already discovered it). 

http://www.felinecrf.org/

Jaffa has not been diagnosed as having CRF in any way, but when he had a dental a couple of years ago his values were considered high enough to warrant re-testing.  They were fine then (original values put down to dehydration) but were towards the high end of normal, so I try to keep him on foods that are low(ish) in phosphorus.  I also make sure he gets plenty of water (in Jaffa's case this meant switching him from a part wet and part dry diet to all wet).

The site above lists lots of foods with their phosphorus values which is helpful.

http://www.felinecrf.org/tinned_food.htm

http://www.felinecrf.org/dry_food.htm

[Desley (booktigger)]

Zooplus do two kinds of renal food, I tried one for Rosie and she preferred it to the RC,so might be worth trying, you only have to buy 6 foil trays.

[Mark]

My Clapton was diagnosed CRF 2 1/2 years ago but made it clear from the start he wouldn't be eating renal food. I tried every one I could find but he wouldn't touch it. In the end, I settled for senior wet food as phosophorus-wise, it is somewhere between regular and renal but palatable (and a lot cheaper!) Yesterday was the first time he actually ate a renal food which was Hill's K/D - they also have a new one out for early renal disease which I also ordered for them to try (Willow was diagnosed CRF a few weeks ago) the only difference I can see is k/d is 0.45% phos and g/d is 0.45%. g/d is lower in fat - 17% compared to 21% for k/d

Anyway, Clapton had mainly whiskas or felix senior - I stock up on whichever is on offer at Sainsbury's at the time as they always include senior & kitten in their offers and they seem to alternate between whiskas & felix on offer most of the time - 2 boxes for £5. I also give him Tesco own fish in Jelly as he loves it - In fact, he ate nothing but for months before I found out about senior food being low phos.

Other than that, no special care except to make sure he has plenty of water around - no problems there as he drinks loads. (He is also on Fortekor)

Helen (tiggysmum) gave me loads of advice at the start. I don't think it's anything to get too worked up about and they can lead a normal life 

Not sure why but apparently, wet food in gravy is to be avoided. I used to mix water into Clapton's food but he doesn't like it.

[Debsymiller (Rufus' mum)]

As you all know, we've just adopted our 16 year old ginger boy Monty. His bloods show he has borderline kidney function so has been diagnosed as being at the start of CRF. He's very healthy though and has been prescribed a renal diet but no need for medication as yet. He is very fussy with the diet so am having to give him low phospherous food in between as the vet advised it would be very bad for him to lose weight as he was barely managing a pouch a day. (We want him to put on the weight he lost with his hypothyroidism now he's had his op!)
He has a water fountain to encourage his fluid intake but I wondered if there was anything else I could do to help keep him healthy?