Should one feed special formula kidney food right from the get-go?

zerosoma33

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After dealing with my massive loss, I wonder if it's ever too soon to begin a kidney-friendly diet. We feed BLUE standard food (not Wilderness or Basics) and have done so for the past 4 years (before that was Taste Of The Wild until our William got kidney stones). Their coats are lustrous and shiny.

We have two 4-year olds (a Bengal and a Maine Coon) and William is DSH and 13 years old. Sadie of course is no longer with us.

I want something better than the Royal Canin bull-honkey that does Kidney support AND high quality ingredients.

Anything like that out there? Thanks.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi! I was just thinking (oh, hello south dakota!!) do you have a water fountain or two for them?
 

stephanietx

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No. Most prescription food is not really very healthy, though I do have one kitty on rx food. Wet food and raw are actually much better than dry food and make sure they have access to lots of water.
 

klunick

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I was wondering too about starting mine out on urinary health food once I can transition them to adult food. At least the wet kind.
 

moxiewild

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After dealing with my massive loss, I wonder if it's ever too soon to begin a kidney-friendly diet. We feed BLUE standard food (not Wilderness or Basics) and have done so for the past 4 years (before that was Taste Of The Wild until our William got kidney stones). Their coats are lustrous and shiny.

We have two 4-year olds (a Bengal and a Maine Coon) and William is DSH and 13 years old. Sadie of course is no longer with us.

I want something better than the Royal Canin bull-honkey that does Kidney support AND high quality ingredients.

Anything like that out there? Thanks.
I’m so sorry about your loss.

We rescue/foster/hospice/adopt seniors and geriatrics, and kidney disease is easily the #1 thing we see. It’s heartbreaking.

There’s still a lot we don’t know about CKD and its causes, though.

Kidney diets are formulated to have restricted phosphorus. Even a cat that is diagnosed with kidney disease, but whose phosphorus levels are still within normal range without the aid of a binder, are not recommended to eat a restricted phosphorus diet. So I do not think it is a good idea whatsoever to feed such foods to a cat without actual kidney issues yet.

However, this is what we do for as much “preventative” as we can with little to no information on actual causes.

- We take it easy with certain vaccinations if at all possible. You can find more information on this on catinfo.org under the vaccines section. The website was created by a well regarded vet. (Not all vaccinations are problematic when it comes to CKD!)

- We feed wet or raw food only. Dry food is only given to kittens within the first year of age as a supplement to wet, and otherwise used for adults as treats or in crisis situations where the cat is going through a period of inappetence due to illness.

- We provide water fountains everywhere.

- We are especially vigilant and careful about things that are toxic to cats. Plants, cleaners, pesticides, fragrance (“natural” or synthetic, including things like essential oils) of any kind, etc.

- Once a cat reaches 8-10 years old, we are vigilant about biannual bloodwork (including SDMA) and urinalysis. That way, if CKD (or anything else) does develop, we can start treatment quickly and greatly improve our chances to increase longevity and quality of life.

- After 10 years old, we do become more mindful of phosphorus levels in food. We don’t aim for actual therapeutic or low levels of
phosphorus, but we do ensure we feed cats 10 and older food that primarily has less than 1.50% phosphorus content on a dry matter basis, or under 250-300mg/100kcal.

Basically, we cut out high phosphorus foods other than occasional meals/treats, but feed mostly moderate phosphorus foods, with a little bit of low phosphorus (but not therapeutic levels) in the rotation.

If you’d like more resources, Tanya’s CKD site is the “CKD bible” if you don’t know of it already, catinfo.org is a great place to learn about feline nutrition and how to calculate and obtain relevant figures (including for phosphorus) for the nutritional profiles for foods, and the Facebook support group - https://m.facebook.com/groups/felinecrf/ - is another great resource for information (oddly enough, the primary Facebook support group for Hyperthyroid cats, and the Raw Feeding for IBD Cats, are also good sources of information. You do not have to have a hyperT kitty or feed raw to ask questions on these pages, members are helpful regardless).

Although, I will say, that if you’ve recently lost a kidney kitty, Tanya’s site and the CKD support group may be too upsetting for you, as they can sometimes be quite sad. So please proceed with caution until you’re ready.

And hang in there 🖤
 
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