17 year old cat with kidney disease - diet?

Leosrexsmom

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I have a senior cat, 17.5 yrs old. with kidney disease. He gets subcutaneous fluids 3 times a week as vet says this is the usual way to manage the disease along with a prescription diet. After trying several brands and flavors he will only eat one flavor and brand of dry food. Vet said he could have no more than 7g of protein a day (1 jar of baby food/ Beechnut brand (has no cornstarch)). He really likes it but is constantly begging for food. The dry food is left out around the clock for him to eat whenever he wants. It is nearly impossible to get a cat to eat strictly prescription food. I can't let him starve. I get the usual course is to stick to prescription, but he's acting hungry all the time. Is it really that detrimental to give them higher quality non-prescription wet food so they have enough to eat?
 

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mrsgreenjeens

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I have a senior cat, 17.5 yrs old. with kidney disease. He gets subcutaneous fluids 3 times a week as vet says this is the usual way to manage the disease along with a prescription diet. After trying several brands and flavors he will only eat one flavor and brand of dry food. Vet said he could have no more than 7g of protein a day (1 jar of baby food/ Beechnut brand (has no cornstarch)). He really likes it but is constantly begging for food. The dry food is left out around the clock for him to eat whenever he wants. It is nearly impossible to get a cat to eat strictly prescription food. I can't let him starve. I get the usual course is to stick to prescription, but he's acting hungry all the time. Is it really that detrimental to give them higher quality non-prescription wet food so they have enough to eat?
I've had three kidney cats, and none of them ever ate the prescription foods. They just didn't like them. Plus our Vet said it's better that they eat ANYTHING than not eat. So to your question I would say no it isn't. In the late stages of kidney disease it IS better that they have lower protein, but if they don't eat, they will die, plain and simple. So I would feed him what he likes and let him be happy with the time he has left. Of course, you know that the baby food is not 200% nutritionally complete, so if you can get some actual cat food in him, that would be best, but if you can use the baby food as a topper, by all means, do it. (I actually added protein in the form of egg whites to my old girls diet to try to get her to gain back some of the weight she lost - with our Vet's blessing)

Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat
was my go to for anything kidney related while my kidney cats were still alive
 
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mani

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I'm with mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens
My boy has pretty well maintained kidney failure. He's on Semintra. But he just won't eat the prescription diet and so I give him good quality wet food for older cats and he's doing really well. My vet's fine with that.
I think it's a case of quality of life :)
 

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I agree with the above that eating is more important than sticking to a renal diet. I would also question the 7g protein daily limit. That seems quite low. The minimum protein recommended by the NRC for cats is 6.25g/kg so even if considering a low/restricted protein diet, 7g per day is VERY restricted. For reference, most cat food has 9-11g/100cal and protein restricted diets are around 5-6g/100cal. Thus for a “typical” 9.5lb/4.3kg cat that needs approximately 200 calories, the regular cat food provides 20g of daily protein and the restricted food only 12g.

I would clarify with your vet about the protein requirement and also let them know that the renal diet is not satisfying your kitty’s hunger.
 
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Leosrexsmom

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I'm with mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens
My boy has pretty well maintained kidney failure. He's on Semintra. But he just won't eat the prescription diet and so I give him good quality wet food for older cats and he's doing really well. My vet's fine with that.
I think it's a case of quality of life :)
I believe you are right. Not eating enough is much worse. I think the regimens some vets insist on are too strict. It can't be a one size fits all.
 
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Leosrexsmom

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I agree with the above that eating is more important than sticking to a renal diet. I would also question the 7g protein daily limit. That seems quite low. The minimum protein recommended by the NRC for cats is 6.25g/kg so even if considering a low/restricted protein diet, 7g per day is VERY restricted. For reference, most cat food has 9-11g/100cal and protein restricted diets are around 5-6g/100cal. Thus for a “typical” 9.5lb/4.3kg cat that needs approximately 200 calories, the regular cat food provides 20g of daily protein and the restricted food only 12g.

I would clarify with your vet about the protein requirement and also let them know that the renal diet is not satisfying your kitty’s hunger.
The vet is aware that the cat will not eat prescription food. For the first time today I have a recipe for kidney cats that I just tried with chicken and rice and some other ingredients. He loved it, but half hour later he threw it up. I am going broke with this stuff between vet bills and everyrthing else I have tried. My heart is breaking for him and I am so frustrated.
 
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Leosrexsmom

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I'm waitng on blood work from a senior panel that was drawn yesterday. 😪
 

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When our previous cat was in her last months, with kidney disease, among other problems, we fed her a lot of Weruva food, which is relatively low in phosphorus. She loved it, despite having much preferred dry food her whole life, and her kidney numbers did improve. The vet had recommended prescription food, which Brooksie would not eat and which I would not have made her sole diet anyway. The vet did admit that nonprescription food worked.

I highly recommend checking the food charts on catinfo.org and Tanya's site to find low-phosphorus foods. Dr. Pierson, who writes catinfo.org, is very much an advocate for maintaining protein in a kidney cat's diet. There are multiple schools of thought on that and I went with her approach. It's hard to say what would have happened more long term for our cat -- her other problems were more serious and it was ultimately most likely lymphoma that got her.
 
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