Resources for CKD Cats - Protein & Phosphorous Information on Non-Prescription Commercial Cat Food

[Mac and Cats]

Hi,

I know we talk a lot about chronic kidney disease along with protein and phosphorus amounts here for cats who won't eat the prescription renal food. As we all know, it can be extremely overwhelming when your cat is diagnosed with chronic kidney disease and even more so when your precious cat won't eat the prescription food. I haven't seen a post like this before, so I hope this isn't a duplicate. I wasn't sure if I should put this in the Health or Nutrition forum, but decided maybe Health was the better option? My apologies if my thought was off base. Anyway, I thought having all of this information in one place might be helpful. Here are some resources to help you find the protein and phosphorous amounts for some commercial cat foods. This post is not intended as advice on what or what not to feed your cat. I am not an expert and I often feel like I barely understand the needs of CKD cats. So again, I will be clear, I am not offering advice on what you should or shouldn't do with your cat. This post is intended purely for informational purposes. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.

• Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease is a great resource and she has a good section on her website with some foods listed. This website can be overwhelming to some people (like me). If you're like me and find it overwhelming, I would recommend just reading a little bit at a time and give yourself lots of breaks. You don't have to know all of this information right now. It's ok to learn this information over time and I give you permission to take as much time as you need to learn about CKD in cats.

• Here is a Google Sheets that is maintained pretty regularly by the person who created it. I think it might be from the Facebook group, but I do not have Facebook, so I can't tell you where it actually came from. If someone knows, please feel free to let me know. There is quite a bit of information in here and this spreadsheet was where I started when I couldn't get my cat to eat the prescription foods.

There are also some commercial cat food websites that offer this information on their own already.

• Hills has this information listed on their website. To find these amounts, you have to go to the food you want to look at and then scroll down to the "Average Nutrient and Caloric Content" tab. The protein and phosphorous and other items are listed on a dry matter basis.
• Weurva has all of this information on their website on an as fed and dry matter basis. To find these amounts, you'll want to go to any food in the food line you want to look at and scroll down to "view product nutrition info," then scroll down and click on "Detailed nutrition information." You'll find what you're looking for in a list of all of the foods in whatever specific line of foods you're looking at. They also have a low phosphorus line. As a side note, it is listed as "not a complete food" due to the requirements on phosphorous. However, the food is complete in every other way except for the phosphorus amounts.
• There are several companies that are pretty responsive to emails about these requirements. I've found that Tiki Cat, Wellness and Merrick are fairly fast at responding via email.
• You can sometimes find your answers on the "questions and answers" section on a specific product the Chewy website. HOWEVER, I have found that Chewy's answers can often be incorrect or sometimes they have multiple answers with different amounts, so I would recommend contacting the pet food company directly if you are in doubt or if you want to be certian you have the correct numbers.

For myself, I got tired of flipping back and forth between all the websites to remind myself what food has what percentages. So, one thing that helped me was I created a spreadsheet for myself to keep track of what foods I have tried, their protein and phosphorous amounts and then my cat's opinion on the food. It was much easier for me to keep track that way and to go back and look at what options I still had (or didn't have) depending on my cat's opinion. If anyone wants my spreadsheet, feel free to let me know. I don't want to post it here because it's sort of embarrassing and disorganized! But, it was still helpful to me to create it just for myself. I'm happy to send it to anyone individually.

I have also attached four PDFs:

• One that I created with information that I just received today (March 10, 2023) from Purina. It has some various Fancy Feast flavors listed. I attempted to get them to just send me a list of all of their foods, but they asked me to specify. So, I chose some that I have fed my cats (mostly the gravy lovers and grilled varieties), but I did add some pates on there because I was hoping to find one to try with my cat. As a side note, Purina takes their sweet time answering these email requests. I think it took them about 2+ weeks to get back to me.
• The second PDF is one that Tiki Cat sent me in 2022 with the foods I requested (all of their mousse varieties).
• The third are the amounts directly from Royal Canin on their prescription renal food. I requested this so that I could have a guide on what prescription foods had as their protein and phosphorous amounts.
• The fourth are amounts directly from Purina in March 2023, this is for their wet EN Gastroenteric food.

Please feel free to chime in with any further information (or corrections) that you may have or anything you found helpful during your quest for a non-prescription food that your CKD cat would eat.

 

[Furballsmom]

You put a lot of work into this. Thank you!

 

[Mac and Cats]

• There are several companies that are pretty responsive to emails about these requirements. I've found that Tiki Cat, Wellness and Merrick are fairly fast at responding via email.

EDIT: So sorry! I forgot that Wellness also has this information on their website. You just need to go to their website and select the food you want to look at. Then scroll down to "Nutrient Profiles" and click on "Get the PDF"

 

[Mac and Cats]

Hi everyone,

In my search for foods that don't have any gums and also are low-ish in phosphorus, I just learned about Caru today. I tried to find it locally, but no where close to me carries it. I emailed to ask about the phosphorus amounts in their foods received an email back within minutes! They are also sending me a sample of each of their flavors. Attached is their sheet they sent me with the phosphorous/protein amounts.

I also forgot that The Honest Kitchen gave me their amounts a few months back. I couldn't find the original email, but I put it in my spreadsheet, so here is a screenshot of the amounts. I am looking to try their dehydrated foods next, but am waiting for a reply on their amounts before I purchase it.

I guess my new hobby is driving myself nuts looking for commercial food that works for either CKD or IBD and that my cats will actually eat.

 

[Twylasmom]

Hi everyone,

In my search for foods that don't have any gums and also are low-ish in phosphorus, I just learned about Caru today. I tried to find it locally, but no where close to me carries it. I emailed to ask about the phosphorus amounts in their foods received an email back within minutes! They are also sending me a sample of each of their flavors. Attached is their sheet they sent me with the phosphorous/protein amounts.

I also forgot that The Honest Kitchen gave me their amounts a few months back. I couldn't find the original email, but I put it in my spreadsheet, so here is a screenshot of the amounts. I am looking to try their dehydrated foods next, but am waiting for a reply on their amounts before I purchase it.

View attachment 445623

I guess my new hobby is driving myself nuts looking for commercial food that works for either CKD or IBD and that my cats will actually eat.

‘Thanks for tracking all of this down. I saw the Honest Kitchen foods in Petco today and will have to pick up a couple of minced varieties to try! I am constantly looking for foods my CKD cat will eat, what she loves one day she hates the next.

 

[Mac and Cats]

‘Thanks for tracking all of this down. I saw the Honest Kitchen foods in Petco today and will have to pick up a couple of minced varieties to try! I am constantly looking for foods my CKD cat will eat, what she loves one day she hates the next.

Absolutely, you're welcome! I'm happy to share what I've learned and I hope it helps someone. I learned this morning that Honest Kitchen also has all of this information on their website under the "nutrition profile." I tried the Honest Kitchen awhile back and none of the cats were a huge fan, unfortunately. I think I may try their lowest phosphorus one again one more time just to double check.

I know just what you mean! I have a picky 15 year old who is hyperthyroid, beginning CKD and (possible) IBD. Now that he's on pred he is much less picky, thank goodness.

Just FYI, Hill's Science Diet has a lot of lower phosphorus/protein options that are non-prescription. They have some of the lowest phosphorus non-prescription options if you don't count the Weurva Phos Focus line. I'm not in love with Hill's recipes (especially when they add rice and carrots to stuff), but I will give my cats what they want to eat if it means they won't eat otherwise. Our 13 year old tuxedo lady also has CKD (also hyperthyroid) and is not a huge fan of the prescription renal food or the Weurva line. Although, she will eat it if nothing else is around. So, I ordered her this one, which she seems to like. According to the Hills website, it is 36.5% protein and .59% phosphorus on a dry matter basis. I try to mix it up for her a little bit so she doesn't get tired of the prescription. I plan to order her this one (37.5% protein, .57% phosphorus on a DMB) to try on my next order.

Do you feed yours prescription or do you rotate through different foods? Sometimes I find rotating through a few different options keeps them interested "enough".

 

[Twylasmom]

Absolutely, you're welcome! I'm happy to share what I've learned and I hope it helps someone. I learned this morning that Honest Kitchen also has all of this information on their website under the "nutrition profile." I tried the Honest Kitchen awhile back and none of the cats were a huge fan, unfortunately. I think I may try their lowest phosphorus one again one more time just to double check.

I know just what you mean! I have a picky 15 year old who is hyperthyroid, beginning CKD and (possible) IBD. Now that he's on pred he is much less picky, thank goodness.

Just FYI, Hill's Science Diet has a lot of lower phosphorus/protein options that are non-prescription. They have some of the lowest phosphorus non-prescription options if you don't count the Weurva Phos Focus line. I'm not in love with Hill's recipes (especially when they add rice and carrots to stuff), but I will give my cats what they want to eat if it means they won't eat otherwise. Our 13 year old tuxedo lady also has CKD (also hyperthyroid) and is not a huge fan of the prescription renal food or the Weurva line. Although, she will eat it if nothing else is around. So, I ordered her this one, which she seems to like. According to the Hills website, it is 36.5% protein and .59% phosphorus on a dry matter basis. I try to mix it up for her a little bit so she doesn't get tired of the prescription. I plan to order her this one (37.5% protein, .57% phosphorus on a DMB) to try on my next order.

Do you feed yours prescription or do you rotate through different foods? Sometimes I find rotating through a few different options keeps them interested "enough".

My girl is 15 as well -hyperthyroid, stage 3 CKD (with only one functioning kidney) and also has asthma and arthritis. She won’t eat any prescription renal wet, and recently started turning away renal dry. She is not a huge fan of Weruva in general though will sometimes eat the BFF Devour Me Tuna and Duck. I have better luck with Hill’s. I have had decent success with the Hill’s savory chicken, though she is going through an aversion to it. I need to try the tuna one you linked. She does like the Hill’s Tender Tuna if I mash it up first. I am constantly looking for things she will eat and sometimes I have to give her higher phosphorus options with binder added. Right now she is eating Hill’s 11+ dry food which is .69% phos on DMB and Sheba pate with binder added, though hopefully she will go back to better options soon.

 

[Mac and Cats]

My girl is 15 as well -hyperthyroid, stage 3 CKD (with only one functioning kidney) and also has asthma and arthritis. She won’t eat any prescription renal wet, and recently started turning away renal dry. She is not a huge fan of Weruva in general though will sometimes eat the BFF Devour Me Tuna and Duck. I have better luck with Hill’s. I have had decent success with the Hill’s savory chicken, though she is going through an aversion to it. I need to try the tuna one you linked. She does like the Hill’s Tender Tuna if I mash it up first. I am constantly looking for things she will eat and sometimes I have to give her higher phosphorus options with binder added. Right now she is eating Hill’s 11+ dry food which is .69% phos on DMB and Sheba pate with binder added, though hopefully she will go back to better options soon.

None of our cats are huge fans of Weurva either (not even our 11 month old!). They liked it for a couple weeks and now they won't eat it at all, which is unfortunate since I still have a bunch of it. I couldn't get mine to eat the Tender Tuna (even mashed) or the Savory Chicken. Right now I'm just trying to focus keeping my lady girl eating her own food instead of stealing my older cat's ibd food! I am trying to get the oldest one to eat from a microchip feeder, but I don't think he is a fan of it. The other two cats will eat out of them, but not the oldest.

Is your girl on any arthritis treatment? If not, pain might be contributing to her eating? We have our girl on a third treatment of Solensia and it has totally transformed her life! She is now rolling around in cat nip and getting up in higher areas that she had abandoned last year.

 

[Twylasmom]

None of our cats are huge fans of Weurva either (not even our 11 month old!). They liked it for a couple weeks and now they won't eat it at all, which is unfortunate since I still have a bunch of it. I couldn't get mine to eat the Tender Tuna (even mashed) or the Savory Chicken. Right now I'm just trying to focus keeping my lady girl eating her own food instead of stealing my older cat's ibd food! I am trying to get the oldest one to eat from a microchip feeder, but I don't think he is a fan of it. The other two cats will eat out of them, but not the oldest.

Is your girl on any arthritis treatment? If not, pain might be contributing to her eating? We have our girl on a third treatment of Solensia and it has totally transformed her life! She is now rolling around in cat nip and getting up in higher areas that she had abandoned last year.

Yes! She had her third shot of Solensia a couple of weeks ago. It is definitely helping as she goes up and down the stairs easily, is able to jump on the counter again (a mixed blessing) and chases her much younger “brother” around the house. For all her ailments she is doing surprisingly well, the big issue is getting her to eat consistently and occasional puking. She gets methimazole, Cerenia, a low dose of gabapentin, Mirataz a couple of times a week, subqs twice a week and her inhaler as needed. Fortunately she is the most mild-mannered cat I have ever had and takes all her meds easily.

 

[Mac and Cats]

Yes! She had her third shot of Solensia a couple of weeks ago. It is definitely helping as she goes up and down the stairs easily, is able to jump on the counter again (a mixed blessing) and chases her much younger “brother” around the house. For all her ailments she is doing surprisingly well, the big issue is getting her to eat consistently and occasional puking. She gets methimazole, Cerenia, a low dose of gabapentin, Mirataz a couple of times a week, subqs twice a week and her inhaler as needed. Fortunately she is the most mild-mannered cat I have ever had and takes all her meds easily.

I'm glad she is doing well on the Solensia! It's great to hear how other people's cats are doing on it too!

 

[stephanietx]

Something I found out with my last CKD kitty was to have the vet check your kitty's potassium levels. You want them on the high side of normal. If it's not, then you can supplement with potassium gluconate from the health food store (or Amazon) mixed into tuna juice or water and syringed. We just mixed in a little bit of tuna juice and my kitty lapped it up. We also supplemented with Standard Process' Feline Renal Support (I ordered through my chiropractor). I did not feed a low phosphorus food. We continued feeding her what she'd eaten most of her life. She eventually died from intestinal lymphoma, but when they were doing her workup to figure out what was going on, the vet was surprised her kidney values were so good considering her age and that she was a CKD kitty.

 

[Mac and Cats]

Stella & Chewy's wet food protein & phosphorous percentages attached.

 

[sidneykitty]

Wait a minute, you got phosphorous info on Fancy Feast?! I tried to get that ages ago and never heard anything back. Please have ALL the stars and cookies for a) doing all this and b) sharing it with us!!!

 

[Mac and Cats]

Wait a minute, you got phosphorous info on Fancy Feast?! I tried to get that ages ago and never heard anything back. Please have ALL the stars and cookies for a) doing all this and b) sharing it with us!!!

I mean I had to wait a month or a month and a half for the information, but yes, I did! I am considering emailing about other flavor/texture options, but sometimes I'm just SO OVER compiling the lists. If anyone wants to compile the list for me, I am happy to request the information My hope is that companies are bombarded with these questions so much that they just start to make the information public and post it on their websites like some other companies have started doing! It would save them and us a lot of time!

 

[sidneykitty]

Yeah I totally get that!! I have a list posted here: Low Phosphorous Wet Cat Food List which may or may not be useful.

 

[sidneykitty]

I wish they would put the info on the darn cans and save us all this hassle. honestly, so many cats get CKD it should just be a thing they do.

 

[Mac and Cats]

I wish they would put the info on the darn cans and save us all this hassle. honestly, so many cats get CKD it should just be a thing they do.

It's a miracle! I emailed Purina today to ask about some amounts in their Fancy Feast petite varieties and they actually responded in a couple of hours! I am still in shock. I plan to feed these to our one year old because I am trying to get him to eat more wet food. I've already addicted him to dry food, unfortunately. I was really just trying to supplement his calories with a small amount of dry food and he latched on. So, now I'm only giving him a small amount of dry food on top of wet food. Anyway, I checked the amounts because I just wanted to know if it would be ok if our older cats had it now and then. Conclusion: Probably won't give it to them unless they're having health issues and I'm having trouble getting them to eat. Here are the amounts:

Fancy Feast - Wet Cat Food - Petites - Tender Turkey Feast Paté

• Protein DM – 52.0%
• Phosphorus DM – 2.02%

Fancy Feast - Wet Cat Food - Petites – Braised Chicken Entrée Paté

• Protein DM – 47.7%
• Phosphorus DM – 1.81%

Fancy Feast - Wet Cat Food - Petites – Wild Alaskin Salmon Entrée Paté

• Protein DM – 52.3%
• Phosphorus DM – 1.85%

Updated Purina PDF attached.

 

[Mac and Cats]

PDF from Liberty (BIXBI pet food). I only inquired about the Liberty pate. I emailed them around 3 or 4pm PST yesterday and they got back to me early this morning. So, a quick response.

 

[FeebysOwner]

This is all good information, but I will tell you that I have read that some cats with CKD tend to prefer high phosphorus foods - not really sure why. I do know that has turned out to be true of my cat. I have tried many of the cat foods, including some of the ones in this thread, that are lower in phosphorus only to have Feeby reject them. I won't stop trying, but in the meantime, she gets a phosphorus binder added to the foods she will eat.

I don't mind testing - and throwing out - foods that are lower in phosphorus, but I still need her to eat.

I hope you are all faring out better than I have so far.

 

[Mac and Cats]

This is all good information, but I will tell you that I have read that some cats with CKD tend to prefer high phosphorus foods - not really sure why. I do know that has turned out to be true of my cat. I have tried many of the cat foods, including some of the ones in this thread, that are lower in phosphorus only to have Feeby reject them. I won't stop trying, but in the meantime, she gets a phosphorus binder added to the foods she will eat.

I don't mind testing - and throwing out - foods that are lower in phosphorus, but I still need her to eat.

I hope you are all faring out better than I have so far.

Oh, I am well versed in what foods they will and won't eat! I got extremely lucky with my first cat that had CKD and he just ate what I gave him. He was an angel and a true prince. Little did I know what my future had in store! LOL. We have two cats with CKD now (13 and 15). The 13 year old has never been picky all her life. She will eat the prescription food, but I don't think she likes it. So, I don't give it to her daily. Right now she's eating this (.57% phosphrous DMB) and this (.59% DMB) willingly and seems to like it. That's good enough for me! She has constipation issues, so I worry about giving her a binder. Our 15 year old is another story. He's been picky since the day I got him a little over 2 years ago. I've tried every food under the sun with him. Honestly, I don't know how we have survived at this point. Now he is on Pred (2.5mg daily) for possible IBD/SCL after he had an ultrasound back in March. We did not do a biopsy because he has a heart murmer and did not do well under anestesia during his last dental. He's been on Pred since March right after his ultrasound. He's gained 2 pounds. When we first "diagnosed" him, he was really into the Purina EN prescription, but now he is less interested in that and will only sometimes eat it. Now he mostly eats Fancy Feast, one flavor of Weurva, Tiny Tasters and recently he has started eating the RC prescription food sometimes. I'm just glad he is eating at this point! Hope your kitty is doing well!