Hi there Butch,

I have a cat slightly younger than yours that has the same problem. He
was first diagnosed with renal problems about 1.5 years ago -
technically called CRF (Chronic Renal Failure). I also suspect he had
been ill for a while before he got to the vet. He is much better than
he was, he has had the odd turn when he been taken to the vet but for
the most part he has been well. You'll find your cat not as active as
a normal cat due to the loss of kidney function. As you probably know,
the kidneys process protein (meat) and cleanse the blood of toxins
(amongst other things). You'll notice your cat drinks lots more than a
normal cat to help compensate for the kidney failure. The most
important thing for you to do is to make sure your cat has plenty of
water around - I have about 5 bowls around the house.

Diet:

Your cat has most likely been put onto a low protein diet food like
Hills Prescription KD. There seem to be two very different views on
diet for renal failure cats:

1) Vet prescribed diets like Hills KD. These are low protein diets
with suppliments to compensate for the loss of kidney function. These
contain poor proteins that are said to be easier for the kidneys to
cope with but require your cat to eat more.
2) Cooked chicken (boneless of course) or cooked white fish. These are
high protein, easy to digest foods. The protein is very pure and your
cat will need to eat less to get the required energy.

The arguments seem to stem from the fact that while the prescription
diets are low protien the additives and processing adds more chemicals
for the kidneys to deal with, and on the other side of the coin the
pure proteins are easy to digest and have no additives for the kidneys
to process.

I feed mine the vet prescibed diet in the morning and chicken at
night.

The SINGLE most important thing I did for my cat was to put him onto
Missing Link Feline Formula which is a natural vitamin/mineral/food
supplement. Within a couple of weeks of doing this he was much better
and is still going now.

The sad thing about all of this is that renal failure is terminal and
irreversable. You can only make your cat comfortable and keep an eye
on his diet. The rest is up to him. Some cats last only a few months,
others last years. Mine has been extremely sick before, to the point
where he didn't eat for a week and stopped drinking...I thought it was
all over - but on day 8 he ate a tiny morsel of cat food and slowly
improved - so don't give up when it looks grim.

Best of luck with it all, feel free to ask questions.

Troy.

Pray!  We'll send purrs for his return to health.   MLB