Just Got My Buddy Back - Kidney Questions

[James Henry]

Hello, my buddy was lost for 2 days. He got out the other night when we came home. He was gone for 2 days and I must have walked 14 hours non stop. I'm a wreck.

Anyhow, he's 15 years old, male and drinks water non stop. He's on thyroid and high blood pressure meds and slated to have his levels checked this week.

The kidney disease scares me. Doc said he's got it. They didn't really mention much about what to do, what not to do and for other reasons I'm no longer going to Abott and have switched to a different vet.

Anyhow, I've read for 2 hours. I've read fish oil is good, fish oil is bad. It's good but omega 3 only with Vitamin E. I have this phosphorous blocker stuff, but I don't know if it's helping much. I use Froms cat food, which is not cheap, but I know you need to give them more moist food.

So my questions. Being that these "experts" don't seem to know their arse from their elbows regarding kidney disease, I've seen a couple things with good reviews.

This stuff.

Pet Alive Kidney Support
And as well a raw diet.

Here's my buddy after a guy called the animal rescue and my wife went and got him this morning. He was 4 streets away. He's nearly blind and can hardly walk, I'm surprised he got so far.

 

[abyeb]

I'm so sorry you and your kitty are going through this. It's clear you really care about your friend and are being a wonderful human to him.

Since you've switched vets, did you get more info from them? I don't feed raw, so I won't be of much help regarding your question, but we do have many members here who feed raw, and many who are very knowledgeable in kidney disease management, so I'm sure you'll get good advice.

Thank you for taking such good care of your beautiful cat.

 

[James Henry]

Thanks, have to go to the new vet Friday

 

[pushylady]

I'm so glad you found your cat after his escapade and he's OK! I can well imagine how upsetting that was.

I'm not familiar with the Pet Alive brand, but you could try asking in the Nutrition forum. Someone else may have used it.
If you want to ask specific questions about a raw diet for CKD cats, you'll find lots of info here in our Raw subforum:
Raw & Home-Cooked Cat Food

 

[zygote]

I haven't used the Kidney Support or given raw food, so I can't speak to that. But my cat has kidney disease and we have been managing it for several months now.

The way you treat kidney disease depends a lot on your cat's specific blood levels. In early stages, you just want to make sure he's hydrated. As you mentioned, feeding primarily wet food is best for a kidney cat. You want a low phosphorus food, since phosphorus can be hard on the kidneys. There is a good list here: Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease- Canned Food Data USA. The foods closer to the top have lower phosphorus. Maybe you can find a wet food on that list that's less expensive.

Were his phosphorus levels really high/did your old vet tell you to use a binder? You don't want to add a phosphorus binder until the level needs to come down. It's not good as a preventative measure, because then the levels can drop too low. They do still need some phosphorus to live.

If/when he's in the later stages you will likely need to give daily fluids under his skin. But again, that depends a lot on his current levels.

I hope the new vet can give you more specific guidance based on the visit and bloodwork Friday.

I think a lot of vets just give up because this disease manifests in older cats, and also because a lot of owners may not be willing to put in the time, money, and effort to stick to a treatment regimen. But you can do a lot to keep your cat comfortable for a long time if you work with a good vet.

 

[James Henry]

The vet said, if I recall that nothing can be done about Kidney disease, but she did mention moist food. IMO, cats are poisoned like us with garbage food. Few years back, I switched to Fromm cat food. Stuff is not cheap. Other cats seem to thrive on it, one 2 (male) and one 15 (male) But my buddy, another 15 (male) (Prince) just has bad genes I think. He's not doing too well. So I switched vets and just found out that he's been off his thyroid meds for 2 weeks (ran out) and my wife did not call for a prescription, which is beyond me, why she did not call or tell me. So now I'm going back to have his levels checked and it's gonna be useless because he's been off his meds for 2 weeks. But is still on the HBP medication. So I'm starting a new vet on Friday as the other one sucks (Abott animal hospital). I waited 2.5 hours last time to be seen so I am done with them. They don't have enough people, are burned out and have poor attitudes.

I'm paying good money for my cat to get treated, so they can GPFS. Anyhow, I'm just trying to educate myself on the kidney disease thing. He drinks a ton of water and he eats like crazy, but is more interested in gravy than the meat. I've been starting to give him an egg yolk here and there. I think eggs are a good food, despite what nutritionists think. They will tell you eggs are bad and to go eat yogurt, full of processed crap. I'm talking humans here, obviously, but I think the same applies to cats. What do cats eat? They eat meat and protein. I understand the binder thing and the ketones or phosphorous and what a binder does. I've read some reviews on some powder that you mix in, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. He has gained a little weight, but I think lost a pound or 2 in the last 2 days when he got lost on his journey through wherever to 3-4 streets away. I'm just glad to have him back and want to give him the best stuff possible to have him gain some weight and get his energy back. He's lacking something I think and I want to at least get to the point where I know what to do to make him thrive as much as possible in his old age. But the more I read, the more I realize nobody knows jack squat really about cat nutrition it seems.

So, I guess I will have to rely in the guesser (doctor) to tell me what the best course of action is. He's eating, he's drinking, he's purring. He's just slow and has minimal energy and can't walk too well. My other Siamese is 15, 22 lbs and has no issues and is a fat SOB. LOL.

 

[foxxycat]

you can try to feed him unflavored pedilyte to perk him up. probably tired from being out for 48 hours without sleep and not enough medication. let him eat some high protein stuff. even plain yogurt and eggs. I hope you have better luck with the new vet. I too notice so many issues with the vets in my area. one is really good but the people she works under charges an arm and leg and I want to try a new vet that's closer and half the price. Just scary because I don't want to waste time and money on a new vet if they won't treat my cat for it's issues and instead push prescription foods and good ol pills if you know what I mean.