Kidney Disease: What do you feed a cat with kidney disease?

What do you feed a cat with kidney disease?I've been looking for information about what to feed my cat, who has been diagnosed with kidney disease.

This is all new to me and I'm hearing all this stuff about how you need a low-protein diet. But then there is people saying that's wrong, you need a raw diet. I just don't know what to do.

Here is some info about my cat:

-He is currently on Hill's k/d diet. I'm concerned that it may not be best for him, but his kidney values are supposed to be good now (I don't have the exact figures, the vet has them). He's been on that food for about a year now.
-He's about 17, and has primarily lived off of dry food all his life.
-He's overweight. I'm trying to get him at a healthier weight.
-He's currently eating both dry and wet food. I am cutting the dry out of his diet.
-He has a water fountain and seems to drink enough.
-He's on Cosequin for his joints, seems to be working quite well!
-I'm moving with him soon. I'm concerned about stressing him out.

Sorry if this is too much info. I'm just not sure what's helpful.

Thanks in advance for your help:)

Posted by drip
You should ask your Vet.
You shouldn't cut out the dry completely

Posted by Kia the Koala Lady
Dry is what got you here in the first place. Kidney failure is VERY common in cats that feed on dry exclusively, so don't listen to the poster that said to feed dry. Other than that, I am not sure which brands are the best, but I will star you and hopefully one of my contacts or another knowledgeable contributor will have an answer for you. Best of luck!!

Posted by Ken S
The thing is, cats are obligate carnivores and need protein to survive
The theory behind the low protein is that it helps the kidneys work less. What they don''t tell you is that it causes faster degeneration of the body. I work with diabetic cats and through that have seen a lot of cats with crf. The way to go is raw or a quality no grained canned food
If tyhe numbers are ok, your cat doesn't have kidney disease anyway but you should still feed proper food which means NO DRY FOODS

Treatment of Chronic Renal Failure

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://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/CanFoodOld.html

You should be giving sub-Q fluids as needed.


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/EducationDetail.asp?cat=KidneyDisease
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/kidney_failure_where_to_begin.html
http://www.felinecrf.org/
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/FelineCRF/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=3
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-Phosphorus-Management/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=5

About that vets diet. This report is for dogs but applies to cats
http://mousabilities.com/nutrition/crf/bovee_protein_RD.pdf
http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Opera/21...

Posted by J C
What to feed a kidney-compromised cat will get you as many answers as there are vets. I will tell you what my own vet has told me. I have two cats with kidney compromise. One is 16+, the other is only 11 but he has a birth defect called uremic dysplasia, so he's treated like a cat with kidney compromise.

First, ditch the dry food. That puts too much of a strain on the kidneys as it dehydrates the cat. It also contributes to his weight problem. Low protein diets are only appropriate for cats in end-stage renal failure. Prior to that, the low protein just contributes to muscle wasteing as the cat needs to get the protein they need from somewhere - and they get it from their own muscles. So a cat actually needs a diet high in a high-quality protein. This means you need to eliminate any by-products from his diet. That's not high quality protein, it's scrap "parts" and makes the kidneys work harder.

My own cats eat high-protein, no-by product foods and their kidney numbers are good. They get an assortment including Wellness, Merrick, Natural Balance, and others. There is no sunken look to them around their flanks, they are sleek and shiny, and they love their food. Cats tend to dislike the K/D very much since it's so low in protein.

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