Hypoallergenic cat needs to switch to renal diet

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

I've not heard of the kidney gold drops, but in my view, anything with which you have a good experience is worth filing away for future reference.   

I know what you mean about the greeting when you get home.     Cats know what it is to show love.  Cat appreciators know this.  Cat haters deny its very existence.   

We have three cats of which one, Moray, (a Norwegian Forest Cat lookee-likee) is not in the last food motivated, and it can be very difficult at times to tempt his appetite.   Whatever I find that he loves, gets duly noted in my little notebook, and repeated as often as possible.   

[Bellechat]

Dear Desley and Sue

Thank you both so much for taking the trouble to reply to me, very appreciated.  I'm not actually in the US Desley, I just mentioned that the Royal Canin HA multifunction renal food was only available there (and he's never ever touched RC, wet or dry).  I do wonder about how renal he actually is as his excessive drinking could account for the dilute urine but I do trust my dear Caitriona and despite his lifelong water addiction he's always just eaten dry so a good candidate I suppose.  I did panic at first because of his huge but gradual weightloss but he's a picky little sod and he's also very bored with his food.  Unfortunately I've never been able to feed him what he really wants because of his allergy.  Anyway, he managed to put back on nearly half a kilo in under a month with the appetite stimulant and now he's not taking it he's still eating a fair amount (for him) as seems to like the Advance. Like the other vet said, there can't be a lot wrong with his kidneys at the moment.  I have started him back on the Petwellbeing Kidney Gold drops again as I think they stimulate his appetite and the homeopathic vet said to keep on with them.  I stopped for a while as I'm cautious about herbal medicine building up but they seem to agree with him.  Seem to get good reviews and I'm sure other people on this forum must have come across them.  Unfortunately I've got to dash now as it's time to go home from work and see my little man.  Always lovely to have him running to greet me chirruping when I get home.  Hope to speak to you later.  Tina X

[Desley (booktigger)]

You could ask for an SDMA test, which picks up loss of kidney function earlier than the traditional test, but if his bloods and urine are normal, I wouldn't be that worried. Because of his allergies, I'd leave him on what works for him. I have a cat with renal and calcium issues, she isn't supposed to have any renal food although we've found a balance of adult, senior and renal, but we know when hers stop being early stage and increase, we can't put her on a complete renal diet, it affects her calcium levels too much. It would be hard to advise as you are in the US, we don't necessarily have the same brands as you, I've never heard of the ones you mention apart from Virbac which I used with my last cat.

[Sue P (Paddysmum)]

Hello Bellechat

I'm so sorry no-one posted any response to your enquiry.

My experience with renal diets has been extremely limited and a long while since, I'm fortunate to say, but I can so understand the frustration in trying to get a diet that works for  Beau.  Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences.  This could be very helpful to other forum members in the future.

It's worrying to see some of the stuff that goes into cat food, and confusing for first-time cat slaves who take an interest in nutrition, let alone where nutrition is a vital part of our cats' well-being for specific health reasons. 

Oddly I was out with a mate of mine last night whose friend has recently acquired a shelter cat, and he will only eat burgers or fried fish.     Happily, she doesn't mind catering to his unusual requirements, and the vet has pronounced him to be a healthy boy aged around 7 years, so I guess we just need to pay attention to what works for each individual cat. 

I have everything crossed that this switch will work for Beau.

Tell us what Beau is like - I suspect he's a very handsome boy (and big-ish?) 

[Bellechat]

Hallo again, I'm replying to myself but just thought I'd pass this on in case anyone else has this problem in future.  I put Beau back on the Purina HA dry and his awful scratching has died down at last.  I've started mixing a bit of Advance Renal dry food with it, it's not sold as an HA food but the proteins are all hydrolysed so I'm hopeful.  So far so good this week but time will tell.  I'm pretty sure that the pea protein in the other food especially set him off and they put it in so many foods now. The only other renal food I can get that is meant to be HA is Trovet venison but not hydrolysed and he's not keen on it anyway.

[Bellechat]

Hallo, I'm new to the forum.  My Mainecoon, Beau, who's 12 and a half has been on Purina Proplan HA dry food as years ago he developed itching and scratching around his chin and neck (quite often a maneless Mainecoon because of it) and eventually my vet hit on the hydrolysed protein solution and this was the one that stopped it all.  Due to many health issues with his gut when he was young he's very picky and has never become fat like a lot of his breed and really lives on the dry food but has always drunk far more than the average cat being obsessed with water.  My vet thinks he's now in the early stages of kidney disease as he's lost 2 kilos since last year and his urine is a bit dilute although his bloods are still within the healthy but top range and no protein in the urine and blood pressure perfect.  I tried to swap him over to Virbac renal, which my vet uses for her own cat, but within a couple of days he started the terrible scratching and is again maneless.  I've given up on that and he's back on the HA.  I consulted a homeopathic vet who's said that he doesn't think there's a lot wrong with his kidneys and it takes 6 weeks for the allergens to leave his system so no rush to try another renal food and has given me remedies to help.  I'm pretty sure he's allergic to that bleddy pea protein that is in a lot of foods now as he had the same extreme reaction to one previously that had it,

Sorry to go on but I just wanted to give a background. My question is, has anyone else had a cat who could only eat hydrolysed protein because of allergies who became renal and what did they do?  There aren't really any renal foods that are HA apart from Hills multifuction in the US and that is too high in phosphorus anyway.  I want to try him with Trovet renal dry next, which is at least HA supposedly but isn't hydrolysed but can't find anything else.  As it must be quite a common allergy for the manufacturers to produce the foods what do these poor cats do when they get older and develop kidney problems.  If anyone could advise I'd be so grateful and might stop tearing out my own mane.  Thanks very much, Tina X