Kidney Failure in cats, apart from prescribed food, what other foods can they be fed?

Hi Cat, just wanted to thank you for your advice, and that we took Foxy back to have a check up and she has put on 100g in 3 weeks, the vet was very happy with that, and he wants to see her again in 3 months to check progress.

Thanks again

(a very happy!) Cherry Xx

Hi Cherry,

As kidney diets are low protein (to reduce the amount of dietary toxins the kidneys have to deal with) it is often best to avoid any plain meat sources at all as these are more or less all protein. Certainly I would keep any extras to the renal diets to the absolute minimum. To increase the variety, ask your vet for different makes and flavours of the kidney food. There are several out there and most cats will find at least a couple they will like. Also, you can use supplements to flavour them and make them more interesting, the most common of which is one called Kaminox. It is available from your vet and smells like smokey bacon crisps! Also, kidney diets are fine for cats without problems to eat, so sometimes it can be easiest to feed all the cats on the renal food, so there is no temptation.

Cat

Hi Cat,

Thanks for your explanation, it was very helpful.

My vet suggested coley, and also chicken (both unprocessed) that could also be given to her, which will be helpful for when they both need feeding and I have to leave them, as then it doesnt matter whether they eat each others, is there other fish/meat that can be given, as I just want as big a variety as possible, as you would not belive how fussy Foxy can be!!!. I also brought from the vet, renal dry food, but foxy doesnt like this at all, is it OK for my other healthy cat to eat these, as I have caught her sneakly scoffing these. Sorry for all the questions, but I know that when I go to work and leave them I will be constantly worrying whether I have done the right thing with food etc, and want to know I have done all I can for her.

Thanks

Cherry
Xx

Hi Cherry,

Chronic Renal Failure, to give kidney disease in cats its proper name, is unfortunately a common problem in older cats.

It is a particularly frustrating disease to treat for two main reasons. The first is that the symptoms of renal failure, both the ones you see in the cat (such as drinking more) or the ones we vets see on the blood tests, don´t appear until over 70% of the total kidney mass has been destroyed, meaning the problem is well advanced before we know anything about it. The second reason is that the kidneys are a non-regenerative organ, which means once the cells have been destroyed, we cannot get them back. For both these reasons you are already on the back foot when treating kidney disease and treatments are aimed at supporting the remaining protion of functioning kidney and stopping (or slowing) any further degeneration.

The mainstay of treatment for kidney disease is diet and the bottom line is that if the cats will eat the renal diets, they will live longer. The diets effects are two fold. Firstly, one of the main roles of the kidney is to de-toxify the blood and a lot of toxins in the blood come from the food. The kidney diets are designed to produce very low levels of toxins, thereby reducing the workload for the organs. Also, kidney diets are rich in nutrients for the kidneys to help them function to their maximal capacity. In practice this means these diets are low protein, low phosphorus and supplemented with vitamin B, fibre and omega 3 oils.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get cats especially to eat kidney diets. This is probably a combination of the fact that cats are always suspicious of new foods and that the diets, mainly due to their low protein levels, are quite bland. The key is to introduce the new diet very slowly, take up to a fortnight if you have to. Once a cat starts on a kidney diet they should be on it for life so you are under no time pressure. Also, there are supplements and syrups that you can add to the food to make it tastier which are also good for the treatment of kidney problems and you should ask your vet about these. There are several makes of kidney diets on the market, all of which are only available from your vet. You can try rotating these to give her some varitey but it is very important for her treatment that she eats only the renal foods in the long run. However, it is important to remember that it is very damaging for cats with kidney problems if they don´t eat at all, so do ensure she always eats something.

It is always a challenge when you have one cat in a household on a special diet, so you may need to think about changing your feeding regime. For example having set feeding times or restricting her access to the other cats food, or vice versa.

There are other treatments for kidney disease and these include regular injections, additives to the food and tablets. However, none are as effective as a dietary change, which is why it is so important to persevere.

I hope this helps

Cat