Non-diabetic cat dx with kidney disease.

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TigzMom

TigzMom

Member Since 2015
Hi all
Need some help...My non-diabetic cat, Boo, has just been dx today as having kidney disease. Lovely, right after I get his diabetic bro, Tiggy in remission, here we go with this!
I changed Boo over to the same low-carb diet when I changed Tiggy over when Tigz was dx with diabetes in April.
Boo was doing totally fine, however, two days ago, he had bloody diarrhea and vomited after eating. No other symptoms.
I wasn't sure if it was just some gastroenteritis or what, but I decided to take him in yesterday to the vets to make sure. The vet called today saying Boo had kidney disease.

The vet said he needs fluids, which I'm doing at home. (I can't afford to pay for him to be hospitalized for IV hydration).
The vet said the x-ray was clear. We're still waiting on the results of the urinalysis, as they could only get blood yesterday. I had to bring Boo back to the vet today for the SQ hydration training with a vet tech, so I dropped off a clean catch urine specimen.
Although the DVM who is treating Boo is in the same vets clinic as Tiggy's DVM, they are two different DVM's. Although this vet is aware that my other cat is diabetic and that they are on the same diet.
This DVM kept insisting that because of Boo's "kidney disease", he needs to be on a different diet than Tigz. She said that a diet high in protein is bad for cats with kidney disease. Is that right? I thought, the right kind of protein was important, as well as low phosphorus.
The vet got a little upset as I was kind of hammering her with questions and concerns.
I seriously cannot feed both my cats two separate diets. I also live in a very small condo and I don't want diet changes for Boo to affect Tigz current diabetes remission.
I feed both mainly Tiki cat canned and Weruva canned which I thought were good.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
Cats in END STAGE kidney disease should go low protein. Otherwise it is very old research a vet is going by to follow the low protein model for a kidney disease cat, new research shows that reducing protein in the early stages adds to the muscle wasting of the disease.

Phosphorus is very important. If your foods are not low phosphorus you need to get a binder ASAP.

I have found research that supports renal prescription foods. What I have done is for the cats that will eat it, I let them have the renal foods as free fed and meal feed them the high protein foods.

I have fed all of my renal cats low carb, high protein foods. Smokey also had CHF and when her CKD did not come under control well, we had to let her go a few months after diagnosis because the treatments for one contradict the treatments for the other (she also had what looked like metastatic cancer showing up on her xrays so we weren't going to win her battles no matter what :( ). Sophia came to us an emaciated mess of a geriatric cat with CKD. She lived for 1 yr and gained 2 pounds! She was eating the prescription food when she came to us. She got her nose into another cats food dish one day and after that she wasn't going to eat that junk. Even blind she was finding the other cats' food dishes. Taz was diagnosed with CKD in Dec of 2012. She eats mainly Wellness, but gets a variety of high protein wet food. She almost reached the top of stage 4 early on and is now in the lower part of stage 2 for numbers, just above normal (we go in for # check next week, she's been so stable we haven't checked them for 6 months). Taz lost quite a bit of weight just before diagnosis and in the early stages when we were trying to get it under control. She has maintained her weight, gaining and losing to stay just above that. She will be 18 this fall.

If the vet persists, you can tell her no, tell her you can't afford it, or take a little home and then tell her he won't eat it. I wouldn't suggest 100% reducing the protein, CKD cats really need to work to maintain their muscle mass.
 
Thanks for all the info.. This really helps! He's not in end-stage yet. The vet didn't give me all his lab numbers yet, but finally said that Boo's kidney disease was at the beginning stages. His blood pressure was totally fine as well as they checked that too.
 
Thanks for all the info.. This really helps! He's not in end-stage yet. The vet didn't give me all his lab numbers yet, but finally said that Boo's kidney disease was at the beginning stages. His blood pressure was totally fine as well as they checked that too.

Not sure what you mean by a "binder"? I'm not familiar with that terminology in this instance. Also, what range is considered "low-phosphorus"?
Pls advise
Thx
 
I agree with Melanie. My cat Sheba is diabetic and early stage CRD. I feed her home prepared food but also use Weruva for the carb content. Cats in the kitchen Weruva brand is low phosphorus canned. Some of the pouch ones are OK too. Go onto the Weruva website and they list all the phosphorus, protein, carbs etc. You should be able to feed the two cats the same.
Phosphorus is the most important thing, to keep it as low as possible. The new thinking is high, good quality protein is best....not protein with bone meal etc added with makes it less good quality. I would not use the prescription diet from the vet. Weruva is very good providing you check the phosphorus levels. Phosphorus best to be under 200 if possible.
tiki could be good also .....but I don't know that brand.
If you go onto Tanya's CRF website they have everything you need to know about CRD including food lists, binders, what all the blood tests mean etc. it is a fantastic site for CRD cats.
 
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Also, Melanie and Smokie, you mentioned the "new research" specific to CRD and protein.. Where would I find this? So, I can show my vet?
Pls Advise
Thanks
-d
 
It should mention it on the Tanya's CRD website. Go to the site....there are pages and pages of info and you should find it without much difficulty. Look under diet for a start...and go from there
 
TigzMom said:
Not sure what you mean by a "binder"? I'm not familiar with that terminology in this instance. Also, what range is considered "low-phosphorus"?
Click to expand...

Phosphorus binders. Its a medication that binds to the phosphorus in the food so your cat can't absorb it. The most commonly used is Aluminum Hydroxide. The prescription foods get really low in phosphorus, for otc foods I look for something in the 1% or less range or under 200-250mg per 100cal , depending on the measurement you are looking at. With a phosphorus binder, its easier to feed them what they will eat because that number isn't as important.

TigzMom said:
Also, Melanie and Smokie, you mentioned the "new research" specific to CRD and protein.. Where would I find this? So, I can show my vet?
Click to expand...

I am working right now, I will look to find it tonight sometime. But as mentioned, much of the resourses are on Tonya's CKD site http://www.felineckd.com/
 
I think there is information on Dr. Lisa's catinfo.org site as well. I also think she has food ranked by phosphorous levels. I just wanted to add that I made sure my kidney cat had filtered drinking water (not straight tap) so her kidneys wouldn't have to work as hard to process any impurities. Not sure if it helped but I tend to think every little bit does. Good luck!
 
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