what food for kitty with kidney impairment?

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Mister's Owner

Mister's Owner

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I don't have tons of money but I have been feeding
Friskies shreds "turkey and cheese" with am insulin
and Friskies shreds "beef" with pm insulin

and 1/2 can Friskies special diet "turkey and giblets" at 6 hr mark

So now special diet is being discontinued. .. what is a good replacement for low carbs and phosphorous?

People keep suggesting fancy feast and he cant have it his bgs
sky rocket because they are to high in phosphorus.

he also hates boiled chicken and freeze dried foods.
 
Good morning. Merlin has Stage 3 kidney disease. I too was using Special Diet Turkey & Giblets. After about two weeks of trying different cat food, he landed on Welness Grain Free Turkey. It is 4 carbs and at 1% Phosphorous. SD T&G was at 5 carbs and .75 Phosphorous, so Wellness is a little more Phosphorous. However, since I have been using Wellness, his numbers have gone down. I indicated in my spreadsheet back on June 5, when I switched him. You can see that his numbers have decreased. Have you checked out Tanya's CRF website for food? Just in case you didn't, here is the link to the list of foods that are sorted by phosphorous. Tanya's website indicates that you should stay below .5% and no more than 1%. http://felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm
 
I see you had a question about dosing on the Insulin Resistance thread. Let's discuss that here. Looking at your spreadsheet, I would increase your dose to 3.25 on a day you can monitor. You are getting a nice drop but he certainly can drop lower. We consider a cat regulated if they are in the mid to lower 200s at pre shot and in double digits at nadir. (But above 50 which is approaching hypo territory). So he can drop lower at both preshot and nadir.

I'd suggest posting here daily with your numbers and get feedback. BTW, what is your name?
 
My name is Tina . And Thank you I will do that BMJ thought maybe 3.00 was to high so I lowered it back to 2.5 and his numbers did drop a little for 3 days.
I leave from 830a -1p sometimes to clean for his insulin money. Monday I will be home all day. His current insulin times are 340a-340p so any suggestions for tomorrow?
im willing to try anything ..just hopefully he never hypos cause that scares me. I havent checked for ketone s Im going to buy ketone strips for the old meter this week.
 
Do you want to try a new syringe that has the half marks and also allows you to give smaller doses? They are called U100 syringes; 3/10 ml (capacity), 31 gauge and 8mm in length. They have the orange caps and I buy mine at Walmart (ReliOn brand) and I believe you can buy online too. They are like $13 for 100 of them. You have to use a conversion chart which is found here: Conversion chart

You will still need to enter in your spreadsheet in the U40 dose though. So if you are giving 3.2 tonight, you would dose 8u on the U100 (because it is a smaller needle) but put the 3.20 on your spreadsheet. Many of us here use the U100's. Holler if you have any questions.http://www.felinediabetes.com/insulin-conversions-printer.htm
 
Quick question. . Sorry so many
I only did 3.0 for 4 days and only tested at mostly preshot and 6hr mark.
I did get a 77 one night.
so shouldn't I try the 3.0 and test around the clock before 3.25?
 
Whenever I try a new dose, I do get an extra test in around +3 and then test again at +5 (that is because Merlin's nadir is usually at +5 or +5.5). It gives me a great idea of the direction of what his nadir is going to. If the +3 is say like 50% drop, then I may want to test at +4. Extra testing never hurts as it give you more data to analyze and make better decisions. I am with Sue and would try the 3.25u especially since you are going to be home to monitor. What a great chance to see what that increase will do. If Mister goes low (below 50), you will just bring him up with your current, low carb food or possibly go to your hypo kit.
 
I knew after waking so many times for husbands pain meds that I wouldn't wake up every 2 hrs. If I gave mister 3.25 u at 340a so I gave him 3.0.
Problem though...
before I try the 3.25 at 340p. Is it normal for them to act sick.
everytime he gets 3.0 his ears feel like they are on fire and I find him sleeping by the water bowl.
so I tested at 757a it was 167 and gave him a 1/4 th of the friskies special diet can.
 
That was a nice drop. I hope you can test in a few hours and see if there is a green hiding in there somewhere. The 3 units seem to be a good dose for a yellow preshot. Let's wait awhile before going up to 3.25. I think my earlier advice was premature. He seems to need awhile to settle into a dose.

Do you test for ketones? His numbers aren't terribly high but hanging out at the water bowl and not acting well isn't good. If you don't have ketone strips, you can get some at the drug store. (Same as humans use). If he isn't likely to let you put it in his urine stream, pick up some aquarium gravel Oliver wouldn't let us watch him pee, so we'd put him in a room with a clean litter box filled with gravel and he'd "christen" it. Since it wasn't absorbed by the gravel, we could get our sample.

Any chance of an infection? Peeing and pooping normally?
 
He is peeing and pooping normal....
He does need dental though.
However I dont have the money for it yet and it scares the crap out of me.
I really wish there was a vet that helped and took payments.
My husband is disabled with a plate in his L5/S1 and bulging disk still at L4
permanent nerve damage so ssd and workers comp for life.
it sucks because it doesn't leave much for being able to get anymore income:(
and than add the grandbaby while my daughter does the 12th grade.
Yahh im sure im not the only one in this vote.
someone always has it worse, and Im just thank for to be able to manage :)
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
That was a nice drop. I hope you can test in a few hours and see if there is a green hiding in there somewhere. The 3 units seem to be a good dose for a yellow preshot. Let's wait awhile before going up to 3.25. I think my earlier advice was premature. He seems to need awhile to settle into a dose.

Do you test for ketones? His numbers aren't terribly high but hanging out at the water bowl and not acting well isn't good. If you don't have ketone strips, you can get some at the drug store. (Same as humans use). If he isn't likely to let you put it in his urine stream, pick up some aquarium gravel Oliver wouldn't let us watch him pee, so we'd put him in a room with a clean litter box filled with gravel and he'd "christen" it. Since it wasn't absorbed by the gravel, we could get our sample.

Any chance of an infection? Peeing and pooping normally?
Click to expand...
1031a 149
should I test again in 2 ?
 
Tina, can you start using +# instead of clock times. We are all indifferent time zones so the hours fron the shot are much more helpful. Is the 149 4 or 6 hours since the shot?

He is in safe numbers. I think you could test again if you like. It would be nice to have a "picture" of the cycle - especially when he starts back up.
 
Ok 389 at shot time
+3 / 261
+5 / 139

He starting to get a little agitated with extra tests or maybe just breaking the routine.
So how many hrs. Do you think i should wait to test again?
 
It's possible that he dropped lower after your tests am or pm. Sometimes after a lower day, the next day is a little higher and flatter. But the good news is that you're getting yellow pre shots, instead of higher ones, so he has been staying below the renal threshold most of the time. That means his pancreas has time to heal.

Remember, it's just one cycle. We're looking at the big picture.
 
Take a look at the beginning of your spreadsheet and scroll downwards. Notice what the colors do. The glucose levels are slowly coming down.
 
Well something is happening because i accidentally over slept one hr. And istead of the usual huge spike
he was 290 at shot :)
Last night at +6 he got a 177
 
Wondering if I should pull back on the 3.0 insulin?
mister keeps acting weird . Was 272 at shot and at +4 148 acting like he is starving and sleepy so I gave some food.
Also noticing a lot more urine in the litter box.
 
He's getting some really good numbers. Honestly, I'm wondering if upping a smidge might push you a little lower too. He's been on this dose for a bit now and he hasn't been in unsafe numbers. What do you think?

How's he acting now?
 
I think his body just isnt used to the 130-150
he lays at the water bowl sleeping whenever he gets down in these numbers amd asks for food a lot.
I noticed he gained 2 lbs and is limping more in the passed 2 weeks also. Wondering if he has a bladder infection?
Shouldn't he have less pee in the litter box if his numbers are lower? Also i over slept and insulin was 1 1/2 hrs late and he was 309 bg and is acting normal again .. Talking and playing
 
Some cats do get used to higher numbers, but you do want him in lower ranges. We consider a cat in remission if they range from 40-120 off insulin. The longer he stays in ranges above 250, the less time his pancreas has to heal.

If he were mine, I'd try to keep him below 250 and see if he perks up.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA) said:
Some cats do get used to higher numbers, but you do want him in lower ranges. We consider a cat in remission if they range from 40-120 off insulin. The longer he stays in ranges above 250, the less time his pancreas has to heal.

If he were mine, I'd try to keep him below 250 and see if he perks up.
Click to expand...
Thank you
Im also trying to find another cat food and he loves the wellness grain free chicken, but I think all the vegetables dont agree with him.
what do you feed?
 
I feed Fancy Feast classics and Friskies pates, but my kitty doesn't have kidney issues. Did you check out that thread I posted earlier that had diet ideas?
 
I only seen really expensive cat foods :(
But i havent checked the yahoo groups out yet.
idk maybe its something else besides his kidney s...
He was laying in the box for the wellness grain free .
but he was extremely sick when it came to fancy feast which is a shame because he loved them.
 
I'd look at Tanya's site and the Yahoo group and search this site for kidney diet (there's a little Search box on the top RH side of this page). I know nothing about the specifics but know some people use a binder with higher phosphorous foods if they find one their cat will eat. If you try Fancy Feast (and decide to accommodate his kidney issues in some way) you might start with either chicken or turkey and feed just one flavor for a few days. Mix it with his current food so you are slowly replacing. See if he begins to tolerate it (some tummy distress isn't unusual). There are some flavor of Fancy Feast my cat can't eat - the beef flavor so make him throw up.
 
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