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Old August 20th, 2009, 08:30 PM
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Food for older cat with kidney disease

Hi Everyone,

Seems like l'il Zig (he's now 16) is at the beginning stages of kidney disease.
He's still doing great but I'd like to change foods.

He's been a dry cat food boy his whole life, but I'd at least like to give wet cat food a try as I hear it's recommended.

Can anyone recommend a few good cat food brands of both canned and dry food for cats with early crf ? I'm asking for both in case he dislikes the wet cat food.

many thx in advance - Marko
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Old August 20th, 2009, 10:10 PM
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Marko I dont have any exact advice on the types or kinds of foods but thought I would send you the link to Growlers ongoing thread. It has a lot of good info in it...good luck with Zig!

http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread....&highlight=crf

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Old August 20th, 2009, 11:19 PM
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I can't offer any advice but I know Growler's thread is full of valuable information.

Just wanted to send Zig lots of .
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Old August 20th, 2009, 11:48 PM
Tim W Tim W is offline
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Go to your vet and buy a special brand of food thats disgned for kidney problemed cats. Its a little more pricey but is the best for your cat.
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Old August 21st, 2009, 01:06 AM
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Hey Marko sorry to hear Zig has the start of CRF welcome to the club

As Winston () has given you the crf thread link in there I have a little summary here: http://www.pets.ca/forum/showpost.ph...&postcount=220

The key to comparing foods is on a dry matter basis -basically the aim is as close to 1% or below dry matter phosphorus- in the summary there is a link to explaining how to convert to dm, let me know if you have questions.

The canned Wellness Turkey, Chicken, Beef & Chicken, Kitten varieties are all good low phos foods, Nature's Variety Instinct Chicken has okay phos good for occasional meals. There is also a link to a canned food chart there but that is not necessarily fully upto date and they don't have every possible kind of cat food. For reading the charts you want to find a food that has phos listed at close to 1% or less I wouldn't go higher than 1.30% but again you want good ingredients and not superlow protein levels, the Natural section of course is the best place to look.

For dry food I have the specific numbers for Wellness varieties and Complete Health Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal & Rice Dry is a great number @ 1.12%
Complete Health Deboned Salmon, Salmon Meal & Deboned Turkey Dry is a great number @ 1.01%
Healthy Weight, Indoor Health are excellent numbers @ under 1%

There is a link for some other dry foods but it is not neccessarily completely up to date as formulas do change over time and they don't have every possible kind of cat food. For reading the charts you want to find a food that has phos listed at close to 1% or less I wouldn't go higher than 1.30% but again you want good ingredients and not superlow protein levels, the Natural section of course is the best place to look.


If you find a food online or in the stores and want to know if it's good or not I can tell you if you give me from the bag/can the listed percentage of water, phosphorous.

Many Many & for Zig If you have any questions let me know


Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim W View Post
Go to your vet and buy a special brand of food thats disgned for kidney problemed cats. Its a little more pricey but is the best for your cat.
Actually it's NOT better for kidney cats. The theory of low protein food is old & outdated thinking, cats are carnivores they need actual meat protein or the body starts taking energy out from the muscles causing even more muscle wasting than normally happens.
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Old August 21st, 2009, 06:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marko View Post
Can anyone recommend a few good cat food brands of both canned and dry food for cats with early crf ? I'm asking for both in case he dislikes the wet cat food.
There are some tips at this link for converting kibble addicts over to wet food: http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitionin...o_Canned_Food_ The key is to stop free-feeding dry and to try to make the new canned more familiar to Zig. Pulverizing some of his usual kibble and sprinkling it on top sometimes helps.

The 2 most important variables in feeding kidney cats (after willingness to eat the food!) is water and phosphorus, so if you can eventually wean Zig off the kibble, that would be best.

Hugs for you and Zigglet!
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Old August 21st, 2009, 07:06 AM
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Can't add anything to growler and SCM's advice, but just wanted to send Zig some .

If I could get Puddles off kibble anybody can. I did have to eliminate all of her old kibble from the house as she could smell it, and wouldn't eat her Wellness .
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Old August 21st, 2009, 10:26 AM
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Aw, Marko, I'm sorry to hear about Zig. I've got no advice, but I do want to send along my best wishes for the little darling!
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Old August 21st, 2009, 10:41 AM
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Thanks so much for the info and comments everyone. Lottsa reading ahead. Like I said he's just at the beginning stages and apparently most cats that live long enough eventually have to deal with kidney disease or kidney problems.

Today we tried some wet (medi cal kidney) for the first time and Zig could not be less interested. We even mixed it with some kibble...I see a link on converting kibblers, so that's the first one I'll read. I also see there are good and better foods...the problem is availability I guess. My vet only sells (for cats with crf or kidney problems) medi cal and science diet k/d.

If anyone has any links on good places to purchase these foods....(in canada for me and the USA for others) it would be most appreciated.

Thanks again all.
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Old August 21st, 2009, 10:52 AM
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In Montreal, I know Wellness is available at:

TooZoo 4072 St Laurent (514) 842-9996

Club K-9 6004 Sherbrooke West (NDG) (514) 489-4004

Little Bear 4205 Sainte-Catherine West (Westmount) (514) 935-3425

Naturalanimal 4932B Sherbrooke West (Westmount) (514) 488-4729
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Old August 21st, 2009, 12:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marko View Post
My vet only sells (for cats with crf or kidney problems) medi cal and science diet k/d.

If anyone has any links on good places to purchase these foods....(in canada for me and the USA for others) it would be most appreciated.
I'd go with the Wellness food rather than anything from the vet clinic. As Growler mentioned, feeding CRF cats a low protein diet goes against more up-to-date thinking and can actually do more harm than good. That's even if you can get a cat to eat these unappealing foods! Much better to find a good quality, lower phosphorus wet food, and Wellness fits the bill in that regard.
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