Food for cats with kidney issues

[Mark]

A couple of weeks to stabilise. It actuallt tells you in the leaflet - but it temporarily increses the creatinine levels so they can feel worse for a few days until it normalises. One thing I would say is try to avoid missing days as it can make them ill.

As for diets, I'm not convinced with renal food. Even If I could get Clapton to eat it, I would mix it with senior food to increase protein -that's me though, I can't advise what others should do.

[JackSpratt]

So, the actualy renal diets aren't too good?

LJ took his first fortekor tablet this morning.....how long was it before you noticed any difference in Clapton, Mark?

[Mark]

I read something like that recently, it said cats fed on low protein diets could have muscle wastage 

Therefore, I am not too concerned that Clapton won't eat any renal food.

Any senior food has around 30% less phosophorus than regular adult food so this is a cheaper way of reducing, although nowhere near as low as renal food.

To give you an idea - these are very rough figures for Phosphorus content in wet food.

Adult 1.3%
Senior 1%
Renal 0.3%

Clapton is doing well on a mix of Fortekor and senior food - although he also has adult food as a treat (felix in gravy) 

He also has high quality protein - ie roast chicken - a little bit every day.

[Gillian Harvey]

High quality protein is needed - but not necessarily low protein. Low phosphorus is recommended (that doesnt mean low protein though) The studies that recommended low protein were done on rats and humans therefore not applicable to cats! This is an excerpt from felinecrf.org:

Cats need a relatively high amount of protein in their diets, compared to say, dogs or humans; and if protein is reduced too early, it can cause weight loss, raised liver enzymes, and may in some cases contribute to the development of anaemia. This is particularly true of those CRF cats who leak protein in their urine (proteinuria), leading to low protein levels in the blood. Having said that, the low protein prescription diets claim to have sufficient protein for cats at all stages of CRF.

Low protein diets are also of concern for cats with metabolic acidosis, because studies of rats and humans with renal failure show that "acidosis may limit the ability of patients to adapt to dietary protein restrictions"

This section has lots of info about nutritional needs and data on tinned/dry foods. http://www.felinecrf.org/nutritional_requirements.htm

[Angiew]

low protein - good quality protein.
A vet told me that if you couldn't get them to eat any of the branded stuff, you can try bulking up normal catfood with mashed potato (work up to 50%). Don't know how palatable this would seem to the cat as I've not tried it there's the powder that can be added to normal food as well.
sorry, rambling......

[Leanne]

Jess is on urinary s/o, mainly because he doesn't drink (which doesn't help the cystitis problems) and this is full of fluid and should encourage him to drink a bit more. Jess seems to love it and thats the main thing. Its expensive to buy though the vets so I get it though work which is considerably cheaper.

[JackSpratt]

I know there's a few people on here who have cats with kidney problems, so am basically starting this thread to get as much input as possible with regards to the best food for them. Also, would like to know which ones are extortionate and which are reasonable!