Help me with food for my CKD cat

[botolo]

Hello all,
First post on this forum!
My 10 years old cat has been recently diagnosed with CKD stage 3. Lab works from a month ago showed creatinine at 3 and BUN at 40. More recent lab works (a few days ago) show creatinine at 3 and BUN at 90. Phosphorus levels are fine. The vet says the kidney issue looks stable but suggests to start feeding renal food. The cat is also doing 100ml of subcutaneous fluids every day.

My cat is currently eating a mix of dry food (Natural Balance L.I.D. Chicken and Pea), wet food (Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers) and treats (Greenies Chicken).

Since he has been diagnosed, I fell a little bit into fear that he stops eating because of his kidney issues. He has been under appetite stimulant as well for a couple of weeks now and he used to eat a lot in the past few days (I wonder whether this is the reason of the increased BUN). He was eating roughly 2/3 cup of dry food, at least 1 can of Fancy Feast and 20/30 treats per day. I was happy to see him eating well mostly because he was skinnier than usual after his hospitalization a few weeks ago (when we found out about his condition).

Since last week his eating pace has started to go down. I have also tried to introduce renal food. I am trying to measure how much he is eating, but I think he has been eating in the last couple of days roughly 1/3 cup of dry food, 20/30 treats and 1/2 can of K/D from Hills per day.

I am trying to understand how much he should eat per day (he was 13lb in mid November and he is now 13.5lb), what's the best combination of food for him and how to introduce renal food (he does not seem to like it).

Thank you!

 

[maggie101]

Moisture is very important so try
Adding churu or tiki tubes

 

[Babypaws]

If it was my cat I would cut down on the amount of dry food. Glad to hear the dry food was cut down. Shouldn't be giving him so many treats…20-30 are way too much. Could be causing weight gain. I had got several of my cats use to getting treats at bedtime but eliminated it last year..they would rather eat the treats (temptations) than their wet food.
I also have a cat (16 years old) who was diagnosed with the beginning of kidney problems a few years ago and was told to start feeding her on a special diet food. I tried several different flavors etc and couldn’t get her to eat them. The vet told me the important thing was that she was eating.

 

[maggie101]

Hello all,
First post on this forum!
My 10 years old cat has been recently diagnosed with CKD stage 3. Lab works from a month ago showed creatinine at 3 and BUN at 40. More recent lab works (a few days ago) show creatinine at 3 and BUN at 90. Phosphorus levels are fine. The vet says the kidney issue looks stable but suggests to start feeding renal food. The cat is also doing 100ml of subcutaneous fluids every day.

My cat is currently eating a mix of dry food (Natural Balance L.I.D. Chicken and Pea), wet food (Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers) and treats (Greenies Chicken).

Since he has been diagnosed, I fell a little bit into fear that he stops eating because of his kidney issues. He has been under appetite stimulant as well for a couple of weeks now and he used to eat a lot in the past few days (I wonder whether this is the reason of the increased BUN). He was eating roughly 2/3 cup of dry food, at least 1 can of Fancy Feast and 20/30 treats per day. I was happy to see him eating well mostly because he was skinnier than usual after his hospitalization a few weeks ago (when we found out about his condition).

Since last week his eating pace has started to go down. I have also tried to introduce renal food. I am trying to measure how much he is eating, but I think he has been eating in the last couple of days roughly 1/3 cup of dry food, 20/30 treats and 1/2 can of K/D from Hills per day.

I am trying to understand how much he should eat per day (he was 13lb in mid November and he is now 13.5lb), what's the best combination of food for him and how to introduce renal food (he does not seem to like it).

Thank you!

My cat is at the beginning stages of ckd. Mostly does not have any appetite to eat. Renal food is made to be more palatable(more willing to eat) so I mix that with weruva trulex steak frites which so far seems to be commercial food lowest in phosphorous though your vet said that is not a problem. My vet agreed to it but since your cat is at stage 3 I assume it would make her wanting to eat harder. Talk to your vet more about it.Hasn't happened yet so not sure. No dry. Only canned. Numerous water bowls scattered around. Cats with ckd can become dehydrated. She also gets nauseous. Now I'm confused. I always thought low phosphorus happens when a cat has ckd. But his phosphorus is OK?
INABA Churu Grain-Free Chicken with Cheese Puree Lickable Cat Treat, 0.5-oz tube, pack of 4 - Chewy.com
This has almost 90% water.

 

[Raul-7]

Stop using the 'prescribed' diet. It's loaded with corn, soy and other fillers. They pay the vets to promote that terrible food.

Feed a wet diet with clean ingredients and low carbs; add water to the food.

Goals with CKD-
1. Phosphate binder
2. Lower phosphate
3. Increase potassium
4. Increase hydration

 

[LTS3]

Have you seen this web site? Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease - Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Cat There's a section there on non-prescription foods that you can feed. There's also a CRF support group there that you can join for additional info and tips.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

None of my three kidney cats ever ate the prescription kidney foods. They would rather have starved than eat it. I DID offer it to each of them to see if they would try it, but got a big "no" with each of them.

Wet food is definitely best for kidney cats if they will eat it. Our Vet said not to stress about feeding low phosphorus foods if they won't eat it (even the over the counter foods) It's much more important that they eat. IF necessary, you can use phosphorus binders, but we never needed them. We also never needed to add in any potassium. Each cat is different, but you can learn the signs of low minerals, etc from that website. You can also learn the signs of nausea, over acidity, etc. to try to figure out what's happening then discuss with your Vet. We did use appetite stimulants and antacids with our furbabies. Plus sub-q fluids.