Advise on diet for kitty with kidney disease?

[stopwastingmymoney]

We just found out that our 10yo mini panther has early stage chronic kidney disease.

I'm looking at natural diets for her and possibly making her food myself. The good news is I found a local pet store with several options, the bad news is they're expensive. Today I bought a frozen bag, about 10 days worth, for 28 dollars!

Does anyone one have experience/advise to share? I'll be ever so grateful!

[flyingfysh]

1. Ask your vet what to do

There are special canned foods for this situation that can prolong life. Don't guess what is good, ask your vet. "Natural" is nothing to go on.
This happens to old cats unfortunately. I've been there. There are no miracles here.

[marybourg]

2. What does the vet say?

I have that diagnosis myself, and my nephrologist doesn't recommend anything except a normal healthy diet at this stage.

[bettyellen]

3. My cat survived another nine years after failure using the KD prescription diet ....

A friend who totally favors wholistic and alternative meds said it was the only prescription cat food that really worked. After about six months, she didn't even need any subcutaneous fluids and had bounced back completely!

It was so bland I had to introduce it very slowly, and used Forti Flora to abut until she got used to it. I know it's not what you asked- but it worked for my Little Girl.

Also would recommended the Yahoo forum for cats with KD- lots of great advice there. You just need a yahoo email account to search their forums.

[CountAllVotes]

7. There is also thecatsite.com

Lots of good advice on this site!

Check-it out everyone w/a cat!

[Warpy]

4. Kitty kidney disease is sort of the opposite of human kidney disease

In cats, as it progresses, the kidneys are wide open and the cat loses electrolytes, most notably potassium, plus a lot of fluid. Since your cat is in the early stage, prescription food is probably not necessary. You just have to make sure her water is clean and scoop her litter frequently because when she pees, she's going to pee a lot. A kitty water fountain is a good gadget to invest in, cats are usually a lot more willing to drink it instead of water that's been sitting in a dish all day.

Most cats will accept the prescription food when it's time, although they'll paw the floor thefew times you feed it to them. It's not hugely expensive. It's high in potassium and low in phosphorus. Most renal cats need supplementary fluids at some point, and that's a process of holding the cat and administering fluids under their skin. They usually tolerate it pretty well.

The main thing to do now is to keep an eye on her hydration and to do things like convert her to wet food if she's been on kibble and do the 6 month or so vet visits for lab work to see when it's time for more drastic measures.

We can usually buy our furry kids some time. Unfortunately, we don't have a cure.

[bettyellen]

11. True about the fluids- and you can get a script, buy online and DIY because it's crazy

Expensive and stressful to get it done at the vets. A friend taught me to warm the fluids first and how to handle the process, to get the titanium needles.

[pansypoo53219]

5. my 1st male would only eat wet food, but SMART as back in the old days dry could kill black males.

he hated KD, we had to put a little meat baby food in it. gave him iv fluids after a few years. but he was around 16-17 but he was ok, til 21 and milwaukee was hit by cryptosporidium. and he died a while after in my arms the day i decided to let him go. his sister died of kidney issues at 17ish. i tried making the food, but liver is just plain nasty.

[CountAllVotes]

6. My Flame Point Siamese cat died of kidney disease

I found a food called "Fussie Cat". Cost is $28/case for small cans. I've been buying it from chewy.com and petflow.com . If you'd like an invite PM me and I can get you a $10 off coupon good on your first order if you are interested at either place.

All three of my cats love this food, esp. the tuna/clams one. It is recommend by vets as well. You might ask about it and get back to me for an invite for the $10 off!

Hope your kitty gets well and stays well soon! I know exactly what you are going through and don't get hooked into buying that Science Diet K/D junk. They do not eat it and it is a waste of $ IMO thus ineffective IMO.

[Sanity Claws]

9. Can I jump in?

I have a cat diagnosed with kidney disease about 4 months ago. He is a foster cat, now about 15 years old. During the two years he has been with me, he has refused almost all wet food and insists on dry food. I know that is not good for him but at this point it is important that he eats. I'm willing to get him that food you recommend. Could I also have a coupon for it? If he doesn't like it, maybe some of the other foster cats will eat it.

[bettyellen]

10. That KD science diet cured my kitty whose collapsed from kidney failure at seven -

Poor think needed daily subcutaneous fluids for a couple of months. She lived another 9 1/2 years and yeah, she hated it at first so it took a month to switch her over totally by mixing in a spoon at a time. But it worked, so not always junk. I mey at least two other cats it worked miracles for.

[CountAllVotes]

12. You are fortunate

The late Mr. Ripples would not eat that food for anything. My other cats wouldn't touch it either. At abt. $40 a bag w/1st ingredients being brewer's yeast/corn ... ummm, can't say I blamed them but yes I tried it on him and it was a no go.

Miss my old Mr. Ripples. He was a beautiful cat and died at the age of 12 years.

[bettyellen]

13. I bought the cans and yes they hated it! I could only get her to eat a spoonful mixed in with a can

Of her favorite, then a few days later two spoonfuls. Two weeks later it was half and half, by the end of the month she was on it, and stayed on it for another 9 1/2 years. In the process of did theoiw out lots of food, but it worked . Forti Flora sprinkles help them eat anything they dislike.

The only reason I tried was one friend said it was the only script food that really really worked. She had a cancer cat she was treating w Oriental medicine at the time, grinding mushrooms and god knows what herself for her!


My cats collapse was so bad that the first month she needed fluids every day. The doc had told me treatment was going to run me about 300$ a month and she might never get better. Then I ran into a friend who had a KD cat and she taught me to do the fluids by myself- so it only cost about 30/35$ a month with me doing it!

[Mz Pip]

8. My cat has it.

My kitty was diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease over 2 years ago. The prognosis was 6-12 months. The vet said it was very important to keep her weight up. This was a problem because she wouldn't eat the KD cat food.

So I decided that rather than fight the inevitable I would make her last months as pleasant for her as possible and feed her whatever she wanted to eat. I steamed chicken tenders and diced it up for her and fed her small amounts several times a day. I diced up our leftover fish dinners for her. I also discovered she loved the chicken skin from Costco's rotisserie chicken. This was a good choice because it's high in fat and low in protein.

The next time I took her to the vet she'd gained a half a pound.

Over two years later she's still with us and seems to be doing okay. I have to feed her small amounts several times a day so she won't throw up. She still has an appetite and eats some regular cat food, too.

I also give her a vitamin B-12 shot once a month.

She 17 years old and still hanging in there.

[japple]

14. This website might help. I had two male cats that died of kidney disease and

my sister's cat did, too. Please read this article. It has lots of good information. http://consciouscat.net/2011/07/25/how-to-your-cat-off-dry-food/#comments

[hamsterjill]

15. Please ask your vet about the use of the medication "lotensin".

I think it's also known as benzapril. It's an ace inhibitor and it did wonders for one of my daughter's cats, who was diagnosed with kidney disease at age 10, but lived to be 20.

I have never had any luck with the prescription diets. None of mine that had been used to "regular" food ever seem to convert to the prescriptions. All cats are different, and yours may very well adjust just fine.

Best of luck to you!!!