Food for cat with diabete and kidney disease???

[Gigi and Valentin]

Hi , I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I am French but I will explain to the best of my ability in English Valentin's story. Valentin is 17 years old, he is a wonderful happy cat who likes to beg all day for dry cat food that we give him as a treat. He was diagnosed in 2011 as being diabetic and was in remission a month after his insulin treatment started. He ate canned food for diabetic cats until he started having kidney problems and was switched to KD canned food for renal problems. He was diagnosed as being diabetic again in May and I verified his glucose and gave him insulin until June 19th. He has not needed insulin since then and I hope that he is in remission again. The problem is food, KD is for renal problems and has a lot more sugar content (carbohydrate) then food for diabetic cats (less than 10% suggested). I want to know if there is a type of food that is specifically made for cats that are diabetic and have also kidney problems, food with less protein and less carbohydrate. How much does an older cat need to eat each day ? I do not want him to lose weight because he is not a big eater ( the only thing he would eat a lot would be dry food and we only give him a few pieces a day as treats). To help him eat more should I put tuna or salmon oil on his food is it ok since he is diabetic with renal disease, what would you suggest?

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Even if a cat is in diabetic remission, it still needs low carb food to stay in remission.

Here is a CDN food list that a member @Wendy&Neko put together. It is slightly out-of-date because Wellness recently changed its formula and labels and upped the phosphorus. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...KQ9wlZAe1Xy3LDTDVRofU/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=0

To read about Wellness: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/wellness-canned-food-has-changed.179834/#post-1990134 and http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...phorus-new-as-fed-values.179901/#post-1991243

If Valentin will not eat anything on the list, you can feed low carb Fancy Feast or Friskies pates (anything with a sauce is higher in carbs) and mix it with a phosphorus binder that binds the phosphorus. That is what I had to do with Rover. I gave the KD a try and his number skyrocketed. http://www.felinecrf.org/phosphorus_binders.htm

The binder that most vets carry is really for dogs. It contains sweetener. The powdered aluminum hydroxide powder from thrivingpets.com is best. A few ounces lasts a long time.

If you can upload any lab results regarded the diabetes and the kidney disease, there are people here who can help interpret them.

It's a long weekend for all of North America and the forum might not be too populated at times, but more people will chime in to help.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Also, if you can tell us the insulin and dose and what Valentin's blood glucose numbers are, that would be extremely helpful. Are you home testing? A diet change can bring numbers down dramatically and that means that less insulin is needed. The only way to monitor this is by home testing (which should be started before a major diet change).

If there is anything unclear about what I've posted, I apologize (I'm recovering from a major illness).

 

[Gigi and Valentin]

Even if a cat is in diabetic remission, it still needs low carb food to stay in remission.

Here is a CDN food list that a member @Wendy&Neko put together. It is slightly out-of-date because Wellness recently changed its formula and labels and upped the phosphorus. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...KQ9wlZAe1Xy3LDTDVRofU/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=0

To read about Wellness: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/wellness-canned-food-has-changed.179834/#post-1990134 and http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...phorus-new-as-fed-values.179901/#post-1991243

If Valentin will not eat anything on the list, you can feed low carb Fancy Feast or Friskies pates (anything with a sauce is higher in carbs) and mix it with a phosphorus binder that binds the phosphorus. That is what I had to do with Rover. I gave the KD a try and his number skyrocketed. http://www.felinecrf.org/phosphorus_binders.htm

The binder that most vets carry is really for dogs. It contains sweetener. The powdered aluminum hydroxide powder from thrivingpets.com is best. A few ounces lasts a long time.

If you can upload any lab results regarded the diabetes and the kidney disease, there are people here who can help interpret them.

It's a long weekend for all of North America and the forum might not be too populated at times, but more people will chime in to help.

 

[Gigi and Valentin]

Thank you for the information, I will try to find a canned food in Wellness that has less protein for his renal disease and low carbohydrate for diabete. I will also read on phosphorus binders because I do not know what they are and for what purpose they are used.
The aluminum hydroxide powder from Thrivingpets.com, is that a powder that you put over the food? Or do you mix it with the food, and what does it do? Is it ok for cats with renal disease?
With cats having both diseases renal and diabete you would think that there is one canned food that exists for both those conditions.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Read the links carefully. It is a lot of information to take in. Be careful with the Wellness. As I mentioned, the formula has changed and the phosphorus levels of the food has risen. There are more suitable foods on that list. In Montreal, you would probably have to go to Global Pet to find them. Tagging @Marvin's Mom - Nat and @Photorecon who have spent a lot of time staring at tins in the cat food aisles in Quebec.

You mix a very small amount of aluminum hydroxide powder into the food. It binds the phosphorus in food so that the phosphorus is not absorbed (or much less of it is). Too much aluminum hydroxide can lead to constipation. You will have to monitor the litter box.

 

[Gigi and Valentin]

Also, if you can tell us the insulin and dose and what Valentin's blood glucose numbers are, that would be extremely helpful. Are you home testing? A diet change can bring numbers down dramatically and that means that less insulin is needed. The only way to monitor this is by home testing (which should be started before a major diet change).

If there is anything unclear about what I've posted, I apologize (I'm recovering from a major illness).

I home test Valentin and he does not need insulin since June 19th, I hope that he is in remission ; his glucose numbers now are between 5 mmol and usually 8mmol (90mg and 145mg) except for yesterday when they went up to 11.7mmol (210), but today everything is ok
I want to find a canned food that has low protein for his kidney problem and low carbohydrate for diabete, because now I give him KD and also Royal Canin renal support which have low protein for his kidney problems (6-6.5%) but have more than 10% carbohydrate content, the vet says that it is better to give him food for his renal disease first.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

The low protein approach is old school and not good for a post-diabetic cat. You can read about the protein debate here (again, it is a lot of information to take in all at once): http://www.felinecrf.org/nutritional_requirements.htm#protein

 

[Wendy&Neko]

What stage kidney disease is Valentin? It is old school thinking that low protein is required unless he is end stage kidney disease. The current research is that good quality protein is needed, to also keep their weight up. If you have not yet been to the Www.felinecrf.org website, I highly recommend it for kidney treatments. Neko, who had diabetes, kidney, and heart disease, liked a lot of the products in the Weruva line. Check out this list on the catinfo website to see which are low carb (under 10%) and low phosphorus, ideally at or under 200. Just note that the Wellness line was reformulated Fter this list was written. I also fed a lot of raw or home cooked, where I could control the amount of phosphorus and put in high quality protein. I also had to worry about salt content.,