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Old November 21st, 2015, 02:22 PM
izzycat izzycat is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2015
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Low phosphorous food for cat with kidney issues

I am looking for suggestions and advice about high quality low phosphorous and low sodium foods to feed my cat Izzy. Here's the scoop: Two weekends ago, I had to take her to the vet on a Saturday because she couldn't poop - this is the 2nd time that this has happened in the past year and both times, the vet had to give her an enema. The Dr. did bloodwork and determined that she is in the very early stages of kidney issues, and that I should change her diet to a low phosphorous/low sodium diet. Because Izzy is so active and petite (she weighs 7.2 lbs), the vet said to not reduce protein though. I have a follow up appointment in 3 weeks to go over the results of a new high-tech kidney test that was done. She is 12 years old and, other than her kidneys, everything else is smack dab in the middle of the "healthy" range on her bloodwork, and she is the picture of health. She is active, happy, loving, has a shiny coat, runs around the house and jumps on things, plays with her toys, and eats and drinks regularly. The kidney thing really came as a shock, and I'm researching obsessively. I would really like to chat with others who are going through or have gone through this to give me some advice and pointers.
Anyways, my main point of posting here is that I DO NOT want to feed her the prescription junk!!! I have been feeding her "Taste of the Wild" grain free dry food for years, and she loves it. She is an extremely picky eater and refuses to eat anything other than "her" food--she will not even eat cat treats! A few years ago, I "tricked" her into eating a spoonful of wet food everyday just in case anything would ever happen where I would have to give her medicine, as wet food would probably be much easier to do this with. Thank goodness I started doing this, because I have to give her 1/8 tsp of Miralax everyday, and it's super easy to just mix it in with the wet food. Plus, with the kidney issues, I want to get her eating more wet food and less dry food. However, I'm having a hard time finding canned food that she'll actually eat, though... As far as dry food, I found a kind called "Spot's Stew Grain-free Chicken Formula" that is low in phosphorous & sodium and has high-quality one-source protein. I've been gradually mixing more and more of this in with her regular "Taste of the Wild" to transition her to the new food, and so far, she's been eating it just fine. For the wet food, though, it's not so good. I got her some "Soulistic" chicken and pumpkin, which is one of the lowest on the phosphorous/sodium charts, but it's actual shreds of chicken, and Izzy likes the mushy stuff that she can just lick. She's not much into chewing... so I have been putting a scoop of the Soulistic chicken on a plate and using a paring knife to mince it up into tiny little pieces so it resembles the "mush," but she just takes a few licks then leaves the rest of it in the dish. I tried Wellness Duos Beef & Liver pate, but that was no good either. I ordered "Weruva" online, as they seem to have the lowest phosphorous/sodium levels and high quality ingredients, but I'm afraid that she won't like these foods either. She has been so picky this past day and a half that she has had barely ingested any of her Miralax, and I'm getting worried that she's gonna get constipated again and have to go to the vet. So I put out a waterdish with the Miralax mixed in with it for now, but she's being a stinker and needs to eat! She normally eats just fine--I think that she's getting a little pissed at me for trying out all these new foods... I have seen all the tables and charts listing the different foods and their phosphorous amounts, and I have spent countless hours everyday for the past 2 weeks researching different foods and writing to the companies to get info. I'd really like to get some input from others who have had similar issues. Thanks!
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