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Apologies if this has been asked and answered a thousand times before. Chronic kidney disease is pretty common in cats, as I understand it. So, ours was recently diagnosed, based on a big increase in drinking water and peeing. Blood/urine samples confirmed it, and they prescribed the special food. My family's been down this road with other cats in the past...they hate the damned food. Ours seems to be okay with the dry, but she won't touch the wet stuff, even if we drizzle tuna water/oil on it. I understand that the special food is lower in protein -- the first ingredient listed is water -- so my question is, would it be OK if we gave her a heavily-watered-down, smaller quantity of her old canned food that she DOES like? It seems counterintuitive to feed her *only* dry food when she's already thirsty...
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May 9, 2020 01:09
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 22:20 |
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YourCreation posted:The main point of the diet is protein and phosphorus restriction. There are a TON of kidney prescription diets these days, so try some variety and see what she likes. It's literally the only evidence based thing you can do to prolong her life/quality of life. We are going to try other brands, but the vet only carries two, and it took them a week to get me the authorization (they won't send it to Chewy directly, which annoys me) so it's not trivial and will take time. I read that ipakitine powder can help with phosphorus levels, sprinkled/mixed into canned food that she might be willing to eat; and we were buying pretty premium food (Wellness, etc.) which is in line with the more-recent idea that smaller amounts of higher-quality protein are good (as oppose to an across-the-board protein reduction.) E.g.: "Recently, use of "renal diets" in treating cats with CKD has become controversial, weighing the potential benefits of these diets mitigating the clinical consequences of CKD versus the purported potential risk of protein malnutrition consequent to the high protein requirements of cats. As a result, some veterinarians have recommended feeding diets containing high levels of dietary protein instead of "renal diets". This divergence in therapeutic opinion has evolved from recent studies suggesting that senior cats may require more protein than younger cats and the observation that at least in some cats with CKD, body weight, body condition score and/or muscle mass may decline over time." http://www.iris-kidney.com/education/protein_restriction_feline_ckd.html Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it. As with most things, I'm overwhelmed by the divergent opinions, the pet food sellers' "information" which is a conflict of interest, the tinfoil hat "I cook my cat's food fresh daily!" crowd, etc.
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May 9, 2020 14:54
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