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Cat Forum / Health and Behavior / August 2003Feline kidney disease
My 16 year old cat was recently diagnosed with kidney disease. The vet had me switch his food to Hills K/D, and told me to give him a baby aspirin every other day. He doesn't seem to get filled up on the cat food, and the vet suggested that I not feed him canned food. Fortunately, all his blood work came back normal except his BUN and Creatinine which were high as expected. Also, his urine was less concentrated because he was drinking more water. And, he had lost about 2 pounds. My question is, besides changing his diet, is there anything else I can do? I bought some liquid vitamins and give those a couple of days per week. Has anyone else had experience with feline kidney disease? Are there any home-made cat food recipes that people have tried? He seems to like the yellow portion of a hard boiled egg. Thanks ---- Penny This is a great site about feline CRF (chronic renal failure/kidney disease) - tons of useful info: http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm Cathy -- "Staccato signals of constant information..." ("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon > My 16 year old cat was recently diagnosed with kidney disease. The vet had > me switch his food to Hills K/D, and told me to give him a baby aspirin [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Thanks ---- Penny Cathy, Thanks for the website. It really is very detailed and informative. I didn't know there was a canned K/D cat food. I'm going to ask my vet about giving it to my cat in addition to his dry food. He just doesn't seem to be getting enough to eat (cries all the time until I give him a small amount of the canned food). I'm hoping that his BUN and Creatinine go down when I have him retested at the end of the month. Penny ======================================== This is a great site about feline CRF (chronic renal failure/kidney disease) - tons of useful info: http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm Cathy You're welcome, I referred back to this site a lot when one of my cats was diagnosed w/ CRF. The info is detailed enough & written clearly enough to be immediately useful in a very practical sense. I -think- the canned version of k/d is a relatively recent addition to the prescription diet line. Good luck - I hope his levels go down the next time bw's done. You're lucky that he has an appaetite - a CRF cat often had a depressed appetite, & then it's a worry trying to get them to eat - any kind of food. Cathy -- "Staccato signals of constant information..." ("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon > Cathy, > Thanks for the website. It really is very detailed and informative. I [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Cathy Loves_to_read <pennybr@charter.net> wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav: > Cathy, > Thanks for the website. It really is very detailed and [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > that his BUN and Creatinine go down when I have him retested at > the end of the month. Penny Um, scratch my last message. I should have read everything before starting areply. :)  SignatureBrandy??Alexandre? http://www.swydm.com/?refer=BrandyAlx Well, would you? Loves_to_read <pennybr@charter.net> wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav: > My 16 year old cat was recently diagnosed with kidney disease. > The vet had me switch his food to Hills K/D, and told me to give [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Thanks ---- Penny He won't let you feed the canned k/d? Did he say why? Kami hated the canned k/d, frankly, and that's why we eat Science Diet Senior. She's been perfectly steady in her condition on it, so it's not yet a concern--the protein and phosphorus levels are very close to the prescription. However, they have added a new variety to the k/d which is a more juicy ground texture instead for that dry loaf junk they've always had. There is much more moisture in canned food, so I say quiz him some more about why he's recommending what he is recommending. SignatureBrandy??Alexandre? http://www.swydm.com/?refer=BrandyAlx Well, would you? >However, they have added a new variety to the k/d which >is a more juicy ground texture instead for that dry loaf junk they've >always had. Yes, it's the "with chicken -- minced" variety and I'm a big fan. <g> I've had trouble getting my Merlin to eat any of the kidney diet canned foods (he looks at me like I'm Benedict Arnold when I try to sneak in Purina NF). I broke down and tried the new Hill's k/d and he gobbled it up like tuna. Yippee! As to the original question re: what else can you be doing -- does the vet not feel any subQ fluids are in order? Elevated creatine usually calls for at least some hydration therapy, does it not? Namaste, Donna >He doesn't seem to get filled up on the >cat food, and the vet suggested that I not >feed him canned food. You need to find a new vet. A cat with CRF should not be fed *dry* food. A canned diet is a very important part of treating a CRF cat. Moisture is extremely important and dry food does not even come close to meeting a cats water requirements. Cats are poor at making up the difference and shouldn't have to. You might want to join the feline CRF yahoo group and ask for a vet recommendation for your area. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Feline-CRF-Support/ Your vet is doing your cat no favors by telling you not to feed canned food. Megan Signature"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray My vet didn't say I couldn't feed him K/D canned food, I had some Innovative cat food that he said I shouldn't use. I'm going to ask for the canned food now that I know he has it. He told me to feed K/D food, not specifying dry or canned, so it may have been my mistake. In the meantime, I still have one can of Innovative that was open, and I'm feeding him small portions of that until I get the K/D canned. Thanks everyone for your comments. Penny IMO, if he'll eat either of the k/d foods you're ahead of the game a bit. Cathy -- "Staccato signals of constant information..." ("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon > My vet didn't say I couldn't feed him K/D canned food, I had some Innovative > cat food that he said I shouldn't use. I'm going to ask for the canned food [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Thanks everyone for your comments. Penny |
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