Perscription Food- With Gluten- Please Advise!!

[heathernichelle]

I am so seriously torn about this-- I just need some solid advice, so thanks in advance!!

My Adrianne is 11 yrs old- rescued by me 2 yrs ago from a shelter she had been living at her whole life. There she ate whatever donations were given- all dumped into a container (so she could have been eating any number of different kibbles in one meal).

She is super long haired, so as you can imagine her skin / coat was a mess when I got her - I mean soooo much dandruff!! To combat all that- no more itchies!- I switched her to a low ingredient, gluten free diet. We've tried many different types, but the brand Precise Holistic (specifically Chicken or Salmon) has been their favorites & so that is what I buy. I also supplement with wet food- but always buy what's on sale at the local Natural Pet food market.

Anyway, Adrianne has been dry heaving the last few days & when she is 'vomiting' it is straight bile- no food. She is an older cat & so I do take her to the vet regularly- she just had a full scale blood panel tested in March. All her enzymes were NORMAL but for one kidney that was only very slightly elevated. The vet told me that it was 'in the highest part of what is considered normal but nothing to be concerned of just yet'. She gave me signs to watch for renal failure and told me that if I see any of those to bring her in. I HAVE SEEN NONE OF THOSE SIGNS.

However, the dry heaving / vomiting of bile is concerning to me and so I called my vet's office today. She told me to switch Adrianne to Royal Canin's Renal Support Prescrption diet & so I went and picked this up today. Please let me list the first 3 lines of ingredients:

Brewer's Rice, Corn, Chicken fat, Wheat Gluten, Corn Gluten meal, Chicken by-product mean, Soy protein isolate, powdered Cellulose, Natural flavors, Wheat, Chicory, fish oil...etc.

So, I have ALWAYS been one to listen to the vet and DO EVERYTHING that they say, but I am so concerned that adding gluten back into her diet after 2 yrs without is going to create so many more health issues for her. Obviously her health is my #1 concern & I want to do everything I can to make sure she is around for so many more years....which is why I am so torn.

Please give me all the advice that you'd like to give. I'd be happy to read through your experiences!

Thanks- Heather

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I've had three kidney cats, not borderline, full fledged chronic renal failure. NONE of them ever ate the kidney food, and the last two lived for three years after diagnosis (not early diagnosis).

when you say she is vomiting bile, is it early in the morning? And is it really more like a frothy clear foam? If so, that's so common in many cats, and is a sign of over acidity in their tummies and often comes from going too long without food. Many kidney cats get that resolved by going on Pepcid A/C (1/4 tablet) once or twice a day. Also helping the issue is to make sure they eat more often. I would make sure she eats a meal right before bedtime, then immediately when you get up, give her something, even just a little treat to get something in her stomach. I used to actually feed my last old girl two meals n the middle of the night. I froze them and took them out of the freezer at bedtime and kept them on my nightstand. she would come and wake me up when she got hungry, and by that time they were starting to thaw.

Anyway, here is a wonderful website for all things kidney cat related. It's not interactive, but does have a wealth of information that you should familiarize yourself with for the future. It also has a section on food, and lists foods in order of the amount of phosphorus in it. This is what you want...low phosphorus: Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease- Canned Food Data USA

 

[paiger8]

If it's bile in the morning, or maybe after going all day without food while you're at work, it's probably just acid. Mine get like this, so I give them a late night snack before I go to bed, and that solves the problem.

Prescription food is crap. I would 100% avoid it. Most vet's only know what they're taught in vet school about food, and the classes are generally taught by pet food reps. Huge conflict of interest. Plus, most vets get a commission off of the food they push.

 

[lisahe]

We also have a cat who used to vomit bile in the morning: that's only happened once or twice in the three years we've been feeding bedtime meals. A scheduled small meal of caloric wet food has been a good choice for us.

I agree with mrsgreenjeens about feeding a cat with mild kidney disease, too. We had an elderly cat who had mild kidney disease (and a lot of other ailments, including probable IBD and lymphoma) and feeding a diet of commercial foods with relatively low phosphorus levels improved her blood test results. A lot of Weruva's foods are fairly low in phosphorus. I went against the vet's recommendation of prescription food, which I was pretty sure Brooksie wouldn't eat. She wasn't very hungry in those days but she liked Weruva surprisingly well and ate it consistently. I used the same lists that mrsgreenjeens linked to to select foods for Brooksie.

Good luck, heathernichelle, it's hard to go against vet recommendations but that worked out for the best in our case: the vet was very surprised (and even a bit embarrassed) that the diet I selected worked out well, both improving her kidney numbers and lessening her IBD symptoms in her last months. I would be very, very hesitant to feed the Royal Canin food you listed the ingredients for, particularly for a cat with known allergies!

 

[heathernichelle]

Thank you guys sooooooooo much! If you couldn't tell, everything in my gut was telling me NOT to feed her that prescription food. However, my head kept saying 'Listen to the vet!! They went to school for this!'

I think you hit the nail on the head with the bile issue- I am pretty sure that she is eating a little less than before. I totally forgot that they had a new protein option of food last time I was there & so I did get it to try out. This one is duck, and it does not seem that it is being eaten quite as fast as the chicken or salmon diets. IF that seems like a strange statement, that would be because I use an automated feeder for my cats, I don't actually physically feed them the dry food each day. The feeder 'whooshes' at 730 am & pm. I do the feeder because of my super crazy busy schedule- it's not uncommon for me to leave the house at 7 am and return home at 9-10 pm that evening. The last thing I want is for my kitties to be hungry and waiting on me to feed them, so I got the automated one to do it in my absence.

I can return to the store tomorrow and pick up the other diet to mix into this one. Also-- super funny story, but I actually have the # 1 wet food Tanya lists in my kitchen right now- Dave's Chicken! How funny is that? They had a buy 6, get 6 free deal last week and I took it. Awesome how that worked out! Typically I give them the wet food in the evening while I am making supper. This depends on the night, but can be anywhere from 0530-0830 that evening. I could start giving it to her right before bedtime no issue- that would be an easy change.

Another question-- would this food that is low in phosphorus hurt my other kitty if I were to continue to feed them both the same things? She is only 2, and I hate to start her on something that is completely unnecessary and potentially hurt her. But, if it wouldn't really harm her and I can still use the automated feeder that would be amazing!

Thanks again for all the help! (and for not thinking I am a complete dunce that I missed 'Prescription' being spelled wrong in the title of my posting-- I think I was typing too fast).

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I'm not sure I would feed low phos exclusively to a cat who doesn't need it. They need phosphorus for a reason, I'm thinking. Lowering it could cause some issues down the road, possibly. Although if you are not feeding prescription food to either cat, you'd probably be ok to use that automatic feeder. What are you going to put in it, as far as kibble? Wet food is better for kidney cats, IMHO, simply because they need as much hydration as possible. Some day she will probably need you to be give sub-q fluids . That's later down the road though. Around stage 3 of the disease.

 

[heathernichelle]

Thank you. I have seriously thought of little else all day. I think I will continue with the Precise Holistic Chicken or Salmon meals in the feeder. And Sis won't get anything that she doesn't necessarily need.

With wet food, I do supplement, but Adrianne is not a big eater of it. Even if she is starving she eats less than a teaspoon of wet food at a time. (Her sister though- that cat would eat 5 cans in one sitting if I allowed it )

So, I want to feed more wet food to her but cannot make her eat it. I've tried every kind you can imagine. The gravies are the thing she likes best, but she only eats the gravy- no chunks. I know that is good for moisture...but it still doesn't put anything substantial in her stomach to help with the bike issue.

Complicated kitty-- I know. Thank you all for listening to the saga and advising me on what you've been through. Old kitties are my absolute favorite things ever, and I love that I was able to give a 9 yr (now 11 yrs) old cat a home. I knew she'd have health complications at some point & I just want to ensure that I do my best by her.