What To Feed A New Kitten? Lost My Cat To Ckd 5 Weeks Ago ; Getting A Kitten

[burrgandy]

Hello Everyone ,
I lost my 13 year old cat to Chronic Kidney disease , 5 weeks ago. Getting a kitten in a week or two, after she gets her second set of shots. She was dropped off by a busy freeway, about 7 hours away from where I live. A friend is meeting me half way, to bring her to me. After kidney disease, what do I need to know with a new kitten? Do I need expensive food? Do I stop burning candles , painting my nails? How do I prevent "Bella" from getting kidney disease ? She is a calico. I'm going to get her spayed as when I can also. She will be an indoor kitty. February 27th, is my late son's birthday too. I've been so lost since losing my cat. She was with me during the loss of my son. Hoping this kitten can give me new hope and happiness in my life. Thank you all in advance for your knowledge !

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Bless your heart for opening your home to Bella!
I'm assuming your new baby is maybe 2 months? Less?
No scented candles, be careful with spray cleaners, no scented litter, no air freshener diffusers or sprays, wash blankets for her with soap that has as few additives and fragrances as possible and use wool balls instead of dryer sheets. Try and avoid touching her with just-applied lotion on your hands.
The food doesn't have to be expensive, feed 3 to 5 meals of wet and some kibble for overnight. She needs to eat as much as she'll consume to fuel all that growth, for at least a year.

Filtered water either from a pitcher or faucet end style. The filters in pet fountains are expensive and don't do much.
How To Choose The Best Water Fountain For Your Cat

Identifying Common Ailments In Cats Adopted From Animal Shelters And Rescue Groups

You'll want to keep your hands away from sharp little teeth and claws. Try kickaroo toys, and wand style toys.

These may help in regards to food, whether kitten-best at first, All Life Stages and eventually adult:

Pet Food Guide

CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat

I'm sending you all my best for a wonderful companionship that fills your heart

 

[kittyluv387]

All you need to know is here:
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.
Click on kidney disease. Basically kick the dry food to the curb! Stick to lower phosphorus canned food when he gets into middle age.

 

[burrgandy]

These articles are full of great information, yet I'm not sure of good, not too pricey kitten food , that will be good for her, that won't break my budget. I'm on a fixed income. Yet I don't want to feed her junk, if it's going to make her sick, or hurt her growth.

 

[danteshuman]

I have wrestled with that myself. I settled on it is better to feed fancy feast wet food /junk food over a healthy/expensive dry food. So I'm feeding my growing kitten 4 times a day plus kitten dry food while I sleep. Eventually I will phase him out of the dry food at night when he stops growing. I will look into low phosphorus wet food. I'm trying out a sample of Dr. Elyse' s but I really want him to eat wet food, not dry.

A water fountain never hurts.

Lastly I'm sorry to say it but some things are just genetic or old age. When a cat turns 18 or so years old they are bound to have something give out.

I'm so sorry for your loss and hope your new kitten brings tons of joy into your life.

 

[LTS3]

Try these:

Good Quality & Affordable Kitten Food?
Feeding Adult Food To A Kitten? / Friskies
best (hopefully affordable) canned food kitten???
Affordable dry food for 5 month old kitten
Best kitten dry food?
Suggestions for quality dry & wet food that is still affordable

A variety of foods is best for a growing kitten. They're little eating machines and most aren't too fussy about food. There's nothing wrong with Fancy Feast Kitten or similar brands but you'll need a lot of those 3 oz cans which can add up in cost. Some kittens can pack away several 3 oz cans a day.

It's ok to feed some dry food to a growing kitten and take the dry food away or limited to snacks when the kitten becomes an adult.

Some cats are genetically predisposed to kidney disease later in life. Old age, concurrent illness, stress, etc may cause kidney issues in some cats.

How Do We Prevent Chronic Kidney Failure?
How Do We Prevent Kidney Disease In Cats?

 

[kittyluv387]

Fancy feast classics are fine for her age right now. As she gets older it'll be more important to feed her higher quality foods because although brands like fancy feast and friskies are budget friendly they do have higher levels of phosphorus.

 

[burrgandy]

So, my question. I’m still having anxiety about CKD. It seems most cat, maybe even kitten food have a lot of phosphorus. My vet said, when I was/am still blaming myself, you don’t put them on a low phosphorus diet all of their lives, because it won’t make a difference. Yet, how can it not make a difference? I’m going to figure out a pitcher water filter, and put my scented candles up, not no longer use air freshener if this will PREVENT CKD, and find an unscented laundry detergent for her bedding, before I set it up for her. I always use unscented litter. I want to give “Bella “ every chance I can to not get sick. I blame myself for the loss of my cat. I’m trying to figure out a basic good all around kitten food, wet and dry. My income is small, and I have debt from trying to save Sash. Who is pictured on my profile. Thank you All for your Amazing help!

 

[Furballsmom]

In case you haven't had a chance to see this, --it's a big database and has a lot of info but once you scroll past all of the prefacing verbiage it does indicate phosphorus levels;

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

[kittyluv387]

So, my question. I’m still having anxiety about CKD. It seems most cat, maybe even kitten food have a lot of phosphorus. My vet said, when I was/am still blaming myself, you don’t put them on a low phosphorus diet all of their lives, because it won’t make a difference. Yet, how can it not make a difference? I’m going to figure out a pitcher water filter, and put my scented candles up, not no longer use air freshener if this will PREVENT CKD, and find an unscented laundry detergent for her bedding, before I set it up for her. I always use unscented litter. I want to give “Bella “ every chance I can to not get sick. I blame myself for the loss of my cat. I’m trying to figure out a basic good all around kitten food, wet and dry. My income is small, and I have debt from trying to save Sash. Who is pictured on my profile. Thank you All for your Amazing help!

I understand your worry and one would think that would be a good preventative. But it hasn't been proven that phosphorus actually causes bad kidneys. Just that bad kidneys decline more rapidly on high phosphorus! So your vet is right. For the moment it's perfectly fine to feed your kitten higher phosphorus canned. In the mean time you can prepare yourself and get your finances in order so that you can be prepared to buy higher quality canned foods once your kitty turns 8 or even younger if you're worried. In the meantime since you are under budgetary constraints I would buy the canned foods you can afford and add some extra water to it and some Omega 3s.

 

[Furballsmom]

I totally agree with kittyluv387 . Phosphorus is a mineral that is required as part of the nutritional needs for a normal healthy cat. Cats are typically able to regulate phosphorus levels by removing excess phosphorus via the kidneys.

CKD cats' kidneys can't excrete excess phosphorus as well as when they were healthy, and many CKD cats develop phosphorus levels in their blood which are too high. This is when low phosphorus foods are helpful by decreasing the workload on the damaged kidneys.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

My Dexter did extremely well on Fancy Feast's Kitten line. Very reasonably priced. He also loves Tiny Tiger, which is a brand found on chewy(dot)com, around the same price or slightly cheaper than the FF Kitten.

As far as dried food, I like Nature's Variety Instinct kitten food, but that may be pricey as you are on a fixed income. Hopefully someone can offer some good kitten kibble for you!

Welcome home Bella!!

 

[burrgandy]

Bella will be 9 or 10 weeks old when I get her. Thank you Everyone for your insight. I’m hoping I can get this food stuff in order before I get her. I live in a small town. I have to order most stuff online.

 

[Furballsmom]