Food for older cat with kidney disease

[marko]

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

[Winston]

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

Cindy

[luckypenny]

I can't offer any advice but I know Growler's thread is full of valuable information.

Just wanted to send Zig lots of .

[Tim W]

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.

[growler~GateKeeper]

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

Originally Posted by Tim W

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.

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by marko

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!

[Love4himies]

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 .

[hazelrunpack]

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!

[marko]

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.

[luckypenny]

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

[marko]

Thanks for that LP! Wow, nice!
Sorry to be so lame and lazy - which exact wellness product are we talking about and is it available in both wet and dry?
Many thx! M

[luckypenny]

Originally Posted by marko

- which exact wellness product are we talking about and is it available in both wet and dry?

Yes, Wellness is available in both wet and dry .

Originally Posted by growler

The canned Wellness Turkey, Chicken, Beef & Chicken, Kitten varieties are all good low phos foods...

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%

[marko]

Doh - it was right there....so much to read...
Thanks for spoon feeding me LP

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by marko

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.

[ancientgirl]

I've got no advice to offer, but I just wanted to wish you luck getting Zig in a good place with this.

[marko]

So I purchased the wellness Indoor health (dry) http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_w...or_health.html
and a wet can of turkey and chicken...we'll see how it goes.

In terms of DRY (I'm in the switching battle now...but today is still dry)

Quick question growler or anyone that may know. Low phosphorus recommended, got that. My research also says this is important.
The vet's dry food (Hill K/D) .49% phosphorus 28.6% protein
Wellness Indoor health .78% phosphorus 30.85% protein

Hill's kd therefore has significantly (25% +) less phosphorus.

So why in your opinion is wellness the better choice?

Thx - Marko

[sugarcatmom]

Originally Posted by marko

Hill's kd therefore has significantly (25% +) less phosphorus.

So why in your opinion is wellness the better choice?

Because it's about more than JUST the phosphorus. For one, cats still need a reasonable amount of phosphorus in their diet - it's an essential nutrient after all. What you're looking for at this stage is for foods roughly under 1% DM, which Wellness is. The quality of the ingredients is also important, and Hill's really drops the ball in that department. Just take a look:

K/D Ingredients
Brewers Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Pork Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Chicken By-Product Meal, Dried Egg Product, Dried Chicken, Powdered Cellulose, Fish Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Beet Pulp, ...

There's hardly even any actual meat in it, just a lot of grain, filler, and crappy by-products. Now here's the Wellness:

Wellness Indoor Health ingredients
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Rice, Ground Barley, Ground Rice, Whitefish Meal, Natural Chicken Flavor, Tomato Pomace, Oat Fiber, Chicken Liver, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a natural source of Vitamin E), ....

While I wouldn't normally be a fan of all the rice and barley, at least it has meat as the first and second ingredient, and it doesn't contain corn or by-products or powdered cellulose or unnamed fish meal (often preserved with ethoxyquin).

[growler~GateKeeper]

SCM is right the ingredients are much better in the Wellness, I also prefer the higher protein level. Often crf cats refuse to eat or don't eat as much as they should, so when you up the protein level it gives them more of what they need in a smaller amount. The higher protein also makes the food more appealing, cats eat based on scent & taste, the vet prescription food is often refused by cats because they can't smell anytihing worth eating.

[marko]

Thanks so much for the explanations! I think the biggest battle will still be the switch to wet which I know is so beneficial. He just shuns it every time, but we'll try again with the continued tips that we're reading from your thread growler.
Thanks again everyone

[Merlepoo]

Just recently found out that Spice has KD, Vet sold me 5 - 5.5 oz cans of Hill K/D for $17.00 ouch.

I was at petcetra and they had Royal Canin, I wasn't sure which one to buy and they didn't have Renal LP21. So I got Innova Cat & Kitten canned - http://www.naturapet.com/products/731

I got a can and some Dry ( as we will be going away and it will be easier on my neighbour who will be checking on her and feeding her )

I also got a can of Nutrience Holistic Beef Stew - looks like all good stuff but know I read it has broth in it too.

What do you think - should take them back and see if they have Wellness? and if so which canned wellness?

Thank you.:
ca: