Newbie, Need Advice!

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annerich

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Hello,
I have a sweet 12 year old cat Bonkers who has been monitored for CKD after his blood work showed a high BUN. Recently he was diagnosed with diabetes. He had lost wt and was drinking lots of water! He and his 2 brothers and sister all eat the same dry food. He is taking 1 unit of Protamine Zinc twice a day. He has gained almost all his weight back but I would like to switch him to wet food. I am a little concerned about his kidney status. Before he got diabetes my vet convinced me to switch him to K/D food. Now he is eating commercial high protein dry food. I think the K/D may have triggered the diabetes. Any thoughts ?
I learned about this site after I picked up Dr. Hodgkins book at Half-Price Books, just looking for any more information and answers. I have no problem home testing or even giving subQ fluids (I am a retired Registered Nurse). Any advice would be appreciated and thanks! confused_cat
 
Welcome! As you are a RN, this process should be easy. And you have the benefit of a patient who purrs.....

Check out this site by a vet who posts here: www.catinfo.org. She's our expert on diet.

We would urge you not to change the food until you are testing his blood sugar at home (we'd be glad to teach you how). When we switched Oliver from dry to wet, he went down 100 points overnight. If we had just given him his usual dose, he would have hypoed.
 
The k/d may not have caused it, but it didn't help...very high in carbs. If I remember right, the concern with kidney problems is phosphorus, and you want a food that is low as possible?
Here are a couple of links to canned food information. Like others have said, you'll want to switch to low carb canned food eventually, but you'll also want low phosphorus I believe. These charts give you all the numbers. Carbs lower than 10% is what you want to look for.

http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodOld.html

http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html

Carl
 
Here is a recent thread about kidney issues and food phosphorus content: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=64309

I know this is all dependent on what stage of CKD a cat is at, but what I usually hear is that in the early stages, a low-phosphorus, high-protein diet can be a good option. I seem to recall that the high-protein dry foods that I am aware of (EVO and Wellness Core) are very high in phosphorus, plus the wet is favored for kidney health in general because it gets more moisture into the kitty. I don't think dry foods are included on the spreadsheet that is linked in that thread, so I wanted to point that out. As indicated in the thread, there are some low-phosphorus, high-protein canned foods out there that could be suitable depending on your kitty's needs.
 
Welcome!

I had a CKD kitty, and unless you're in the end stages it's really not good to feed the prescription diets. The low protein causes muscle wasting if fed long term.

The good news is that there are commercial foods that are good to feed for both conditions. You simply need a low carb, low phosphorus canned food, preferably without byproducts (higher quality protein sources are easier on the kidneys). Keeping your cat as hydrated as possible is key to managing the disease, along with low phosphorus foods, so you'll definitely need to ditch the dry food completely. Mixing water in with the canned food is one good way to help with hydration. Many people also find that cat drinking fountains also encourage cats to drink more. Anything you can do to get moisture in your cat is important.

Here's an updated food list with the values for several premium foods: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8...MzhkYTkxOGM4NThk&sort=name&layout=list&num=50. You're looking for something with less than 10% carbs and less than 250 mg/kcal of phosphorus. The foods I would suggest are Merrick's Before Grain Beef, Merrick's Before Grain Turkey, Merricks' Cowboy Cookout, Merrick's Surf & Turf, Wellness Turkey, EVO 95% Chicken & Turkey, and Blue Wilderness Duck.

If those are out of your price range (although I would strongly urge a food without byproducts, keep in mind that it's still cheaper than the prescription food), the next best thing to feed are the low carb Friskie's Special Diet flavors. These are Turkey & Giblets and Salmon Dinner--make sure they are the ones that say "special diet" on the can, though. PetSmart carries them, and some grocery stores. Here is an updated list of just the phosphorus values for many commercial foods. They can be cross referenced with Binky's chart for carb values if there's something on there that you want to feed. On this chart, you're looking for something that is less than 1% phosphorus (these values are on a dry matter basis, not mg/kcal): http://www.felinecrf.org/canned_food_usa.htm

Do NOT use Binky's list for phosphorus values--the carb values are still ok to use but the phosphorus values are really out of date, and some things that were low on that list are now ridiculously high in phosphorus. You can cross reference the carb content from foods on Binky's list with the phosphorus values on Tanya's canned food list, however.
 
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