Umm, apparently my cat has early kidney disease? Any suggestions?My mother took my cat to a vet I had never heard of, behind my back, and apparently they diagnosed her with early kidney disease after a blood and urine test.
What am I supposed to do?? I don't feel like I believe them. I want to take her somewhere else and get her checked out again. All the vet said to do was to feed her this crappy Hill's K/D food but my cat doesn't like it. Isn't this disease fatal?? I am in a little bit of shock since I just found out! Does anyone out there have any experience with feline kidney disease and possible options and treatments?? Thanks......
Thank you to all who answered. I appreciate the different opinions. I'm still upset about hearing the news, but I feel a little better now. Thanks. =)
Posted by Ken
Things have changed over the years and although the creatinine and bun may be a bit high, that can be reversed.
You cerftainly do not want to feed that stuff but nutrtion is the key.
If your cat is not in final stages, this is not want you want to do. You do not want to put your cat on the
Vets low protein diet. There are simply so many better options out there than to hand the poor cat a low amount of poor quality protein - which often results in a poor appetite and muscle wasting since the body is now robbing its own muscle mass to feed itself a decent quality and amount of protein.
. There are new thoughts on this and the thinking is it is not the amount of protein but the quality of protein that matters.
The Merck veterinary manual [www.merckvetmanual.com] says that cats need "4 g of protein of high biologic value per kg body wt/day". That's about 7 calories from protein per pound body weight per day. If a cat isn't a good eater and consumes, say, 20 calories per pound per day, then 7/20 = 35% of calories can safely be from protein. It must be high quality protein, which means meat, fish, milk, and eggs, and not grain or soy.
I am under the assumption that you have been feeding mostly dry foods. Many use a vegetable based protein instead of animal and that is part of the problem.. Your cat needs protein as it is a carnivore and cutting down on it will lead to other health issues and may cause faster degeneration.
You want to cut down on phosphorous (no fish allowed now)
The best way to do this is with a raw diet which you can make yourself or buy. (Making yourself is better) link provided at the bottom
If you are unwilling to do that then something like the non fish flavors of Wellness or Merrick with NO grains are good alternatives. Wysong is also a good canned choice. This list gives a breakdown. Remember you want low phosphorous
http://webpages.charter.net/katkarma/can...
You also will want to look into phosphorous binders. Something like aluminum hydroxide
Ask your vet or look into calcitrol
You may want to talk to the vet about having injectable Pepcid AC on hand or you can buy it in pill form (ac not plain pepcid) and give 1/4 tab for stomach upset which happens a lot in crf cats due to acid in the stomach.
I hope this stuff helps, here are many links for you
Making cat food
http://www.catinfo.org/makingcatfood.htm
other links. Read, read, read!!!!
http://www.felineoutreach.org/EducationD...
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_chr...
http://www.felinecrf.org/
http://www.felinecrf.com/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Felin...
About that vets diet. This report is for dogs but applies to cats
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Opera/21...
Posted by zorroaddict
Kidney disease is indeed a real disease and unfortunately a common one diagnosed in older cats. It is eventually fatal, but with good management your cat can live for years without many signs of being sick.
The vet told you to feed k/d food because it is a specially formulated food to slow down the progression of kidney disease. If your cat will not eat the k/d there are other kidney diets you can feed to help your cat.
If you don't feel the diagnosis is correct then by all means take it to a veterinarian yourself. It is most important that you believe the diagnosis and get as much information as you need.
I suggest http://www.felinecrf.com/ to help you out. It is written by other people in your situation.
Addition: prescription diets are NOT evil or bad. Not only do you need low phosphorus, but lower protein helps too. There is a few diets you can make, but get them from your vet not the internet unless you can really trust the source. Also Calcitrol is an older drug and you can talk to your vet if a phosphorus binder is necessary at this time. This info is from "Feline Internal Medicine" by John August, DVM, ABVIIM (feline). He is a world leader on feline medicine. I have met him personally and trust his judgement.
Posted by RuneAmokRedTooth&Claw
You're right to question this. At the very least you should get a second opinion from another vet before doing anything drastic.
As for the Hills, toss it. Even if your cat did have kidney disease, it would not be appropriate food for her to eat. No worries there.
If your cat does have this condition, there are lots of support groups out here on the internet that you can join. You'll learn more about the condition and how it can be treated. I suspect a lot of the treatment just has to do with feeding the right foods.
In early stages at least, low protein is NOT the way to go. Protein source is what matters at this point.
I don't know a whole lot about this condition, but I've learned this much anyway. I know there are others out here who will have more info for you.
Posted by old cat lady
Another vet will just get the same results from a blood test so I wouldn't go to that expense.
Kidney "disease" is a progressive condition and cats live happily and well for many years as the progression is slow. My cat lived to be 22+ from age seventeen when the diagnosis was made.
And your cat does NOT need the crappy Hill's low protein diet. She needs to have a good, high quality protein food such as Wellness, Instinct. A meat diet is the best thing for her kidneys as the extra moisture in the food makes it easier on her kidneys than any dry food.
My old cat had a home-prepared raw meat diet (almost 95% pure protein of the highest quality) for all the time she was with me (seven years). She did beautifully all this time much to the vet's amazement as he too had insisted the low-protein diet was the only way to go. She was bright, feisty and active throughout the time - beautiful coat, no loss of muscle tone, etc.
You can get Don Hamilton, DVM's book "Homopathic Care for Cats and Dogs" from your library system and read his chapter on the urinary system, especially the section "General Care for Kidney Failure". I followed his advice as he feels the QUALITY of the protein is the most significant factor in treating the disease - not the quantity.
Posted by Chalice
Then get a second opinion. Kidney disease is not hard to diagnose, even I could do it - if the urine is not very concentrated, the kidneys are not functioning properly. If blood urea and creatinine are raised, this actually means that 75% of kidney function is lost, as kidney problems don't show up as excess urea and creatinine until this is the case.
Kidney disease is often reversable with iv fluids and drugs. Diet is also pretty much essential in helping the kidneys to heal and preventing them failing again. Hills k/d is good for kidneys actually, it's low in phosphorus which is the most important point. It's true it's not very yummy though - ask your vet if they can give you Royal Canin Kidney diet, which comes in sachets and is much yummier.
Get a second opinion by all means, but a vet would have to be pretty incompetant to misdiagnose kidney problems. I wouldn't be cross with your mother for taking your cat to a vet - if he seemed ill or was overdue for a check it was the right thing to do. Cats are extremely prone to kidney disease when older i.e. over 8 years of age. Do work with a vet with this - if you want to go back to your usual one that's fine of course, they'll obtain the blood and urine results from the other vet.
Chalice
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