Kidney support diet for my civvie cat

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Hastings (GA) and Paula

Hastings (GA) and Paula

Member Since 2021
I just paid a hefty chunk of change to the vet for my hefty chunk of a civvie cat to find out that his mystery malaise and gastritis was most likely due to him gulping air when stealing Hastings' leftovers because he knows he's not supposed to do that. One upside of all the tests to figure things out was that the vet found evidence of very early stage renal insufficiency. I know a lot of folks on the FDMB have kidney kitties, do you all have food suggestions/guidelines on what to look at for that? Right now he eats the same as my sugar kitty, so FF and Friskies chicken and liver pates. But I know that I should be looking at phosophorous and sodium content vs carbs for kidney disease.

Also I feel guilty because he has GAINED 2 lbs now clocking in at 20.5 lbs while in my care...testament to just how much food he's been sneaking when my back is turned. (I'm now feeding them in separate rooms and he is getting FF pate 3 oz cans at all meals/snacks instead of the 5.5 oz can of Friskies that Hastings gets at his pre-shot meals.)
 
Hastings and Paula said:
Also I feel guilty because he has GAINED 2 lbs now clocking in at 20.5 lbs while in my care
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Believe it or not, this is good news for a CKD kitty! Most tend to feel poorly because of their kidneys being unable to filter the toxins out, so the appetite goes off and vomiting starts from acidic tummies. Cats seem to really like the renal food, but it's low in protein which a CKD kitty needs in abundance. The idea that protein is bad for kidney cats, especially ones in early stages without protein in their urine, is old school. CKD kitties are prone to muscle wastage and anorexia, so whatever can add muscle mass is better than carb loaded food that they can't convert to energy as well as protein.

The Weruva foods on the Tanya list that Wendy sent to you are good because a lot of them are low phos and low carb. Another option is raw feeding. If you feed boneless meats, it's low to zero carbs, low phos, and high on moisture, another thing a CKD kitty needs. I transitioned my senior kitties to it after one was diagnosed with CKD and possible IBD/SCL (we know she has SCL now) and they love it. My Ruby's kidney values were lowered dramatically as a result of the diet the last time we did bloodwork. She's still CKD and will always be, but it's been diet controlled.
 
I second all that Katherine said. How awesome that your early- stage CKD kitty is still interested in eating like a little piggie!
One of my civvies was diagnosed with 2nd stage CKD right after Jack was diagnosed with diabetes (two years ago). I switched to low phosphorus/low carb raw and canned foods that are also low in both. I use EZ Complete Raw -- a food supplement that I add to the meat that I grind. It's made by Food Fur Life. I believe the food is the reason why Celie's kidney values immediately improved.
Four of my cats prefer the raw, while one still adores her canned food.
 
I just posted this on someone else's condo, so I'm cutting and pasting but you might find this helpful to get started:

I buy boneless ground meats from raw pet food purveyors (though you can buy from the supermarket too--stick to vacuum sealed packages rather than the ones in trays with cling film) and mix it with either EZ Complete (https://www.foodfurlife.com/cats.html#/) or Alnutrin with Egg Shell Calcium (https://www.knowwhatyoufeed.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=51). The two products are meal completers, as raw meat alone is not balanced and does not provide all of the nutrients that a cat needs, and they contain egg shell calcium instead of ground bone meal like other meal completers do. EZ Complete is not shipping at the moment because of a pandemic related shortage of one of their ingredients but they are supposed to resume by the end of this week/early next week. The Food Fur Life website has a lot of information about raw feeding in general like how to source the meats and food safety. The difference between the two mixes is you have to add liver and a source of Omega 3s like fish oil to Alnutrin. EZ Complete contains chicken liver and Omega 3s in the form of powdered green lipped mussels, so you don't have to add, but if your kitty has a sensitivity to poultry, Alnutrin is more flexible because you can choose your own organ meat like beef or lamb.
 
Thank you everyone! I'm reading through all the resources now. Hercule is early enough that it's not even showing up in his blood work, only as dilute urine indicating that his kidneys aren't able to concentrate it as well as they should. I'll have to look more into raw diets and see if that's feasible for us. I'd like to keep my two cats eating the same thing since no matter how much I try to separate them at meal times they manage to open doors and get into each other's dishes.
 
PerfumedCatMom said:
I started Ruby on raw and then got my civvie, Olive, to start eating it too, but I still find the Sure Feed microchip feeder to be really helpful so that I know how much each cat is eating because they can't get into each other's bowls (believe me, Ruby tries!): https://www.surepetcare.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder. It's a little pricey but one of the best investments I ever made.
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I saw a tiktok video about that recently!

If you wanna see it in action

The video also has a code for 10% in case you wanna try it, @Hastings and Paula
 
Hastings and Paula said:
Thank you everyone! I'm reading through all the resources now. Hercule is early enough that it's not even showing up in his blood work, only as dilute urine indicating that his kidneys aren't able to concentrate it as well as they should. I'll have to look more into raw diets and see if that's feasible for us. I'd like to keep my two cats eating the same thing since no matter how much I try to separate them at meal times they manage to open doors and get into each other's dishes.
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I can relate to your problem, I faced something similar a few years ago, and what I did is I have all my cats civies with kidney issues and my diabetic with kidney issues and a totally healthy civie eating the same diet, that would be a low carb ( all cats benefit from a low carb diet), high quality protein and low phosphorus ( to take care of everyone's kidneys) diet with omegas and vitamin B complex ( to help) added. So far I have had very good results since everyone's problem has remained under control even with de cysts problems of my civies ( they have PKD )

Given the fact that your boy is in early stages if it were me I would not consider a kidney diet because those are pretty high in carbs and you do not want your diabetic eating it by accident, and very low in protein that can cause loss of muscle mass and it is actually not needed until further on if the kidney problem advances (could be years from now if ever), which hopefully it won't since you are taking care of it early
 
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