Protein poisoning????

Anyone ever heard of protein poisoning? The vet said that the reason for my cat's kidney infection is too much canned food that caused too high level of proteins in his body.
Never heard of something like this. Cant even imagine it is true.

anyone?

... cats are carnivores! Wet food is closer to real food!

Sounds like a vet that thinks dry is the only way?

my grandma has been having cats for last 15-20 years, never gave em dry food, always gave em food that she cooked for everyone else ( i was jealous-sometimes more meat was goin for the cats) and they were outside cats-NEVER EVER anyone of them had intestines/kidney infections. I dont know what the hell is goin wit my cat and the "vet" is always supposing that i need to bring my cat AGAIN and AGAIN for more tests-well my paycheck cant afford it.

In my opinion, I'd find a new vet. Protein loss in urine usually means some kind of kidney problems are going on....it doesn't come from what they've eaten. It is filtered out of the cats blood by the kidneys. The official name for protein in the urine is proteinuria, in case you want to research it. Many for your kitty!

Uhm....no. Time to find a new vet. Best wishes with your kitty.

I think your suspicions are right, and I would go to a different vet. Wet food is good for cats, and many vets now will tell you so, since knowledge about cat nutrition has improved.

If you're going to end up paying a lot for medical treatment, you want to know that the vet is qualified and doing the right things.

In a cat predisposed for kidney disease a diet rich in protein (actuarally phosphorous) might trigger the disease to develop, but high quality protein is not a health problem for healthy cats.

Not all vets are created equal. Just like doctors, some are great and some aren't. A vet that says something so old fashioned is not up with the latest research. The other thing is making you come back and back is suspicious.

You might want to get a second opinion, but at least in humans there can be a diet too high in protein, especially if so any reason you're predisposed to kidney issues. For example, diabetics usually need to watch their protein intake so as to not stress their kidneys (I'm type 2 myself). So, I wouldn't be too surprised if some cats have problems with certain very high protein diets. What sort of blood panels and tests has your vet done and what sort of diet has he suggested?

hmmm, it was jsut strange that my cat can have more proteins in his body than it is supposed to be. The food he has is of a great variety so it is not only canned food he has but anyway-will check with another vet.
thanks all

You are not the first person I have ever heard of to be told this by their vet. Your vet is a general practitioner who has good general knowledge about loads of health conditions in several species - but is not a qualified feline nutritionist. You don't expect your local physician to be able to diagnose and treat every single medical condition because it would be unrealistic to expect one person to hold that much knowledge, you'd expect to be referred to a specialist consultant who had trained and got qualified specifically in that area of medicine - and the same thing applies to vets and our pets.

I do not believe for an instant that feeding a high quality wet food has a negative impact on kidney health. Dry food may be a different matter, as it can result in chronic dehydration. If you have been feeding a good quality wet food then you have done absolutely nothing to cause this! Those with existing kidney disease due to old age and failing health may need to be on a protein-restricted diet because their kidneys are not functioning well enough to cope with it, but healthy feline kidneys do not become damaged as the result of a protein rich wet diet, at least as far as I know! Cats are evolved to eat a meat rich, protein rich diet.

What age is your cat?

he is a little over a year, not really old, and the food is always mixed.

Don't let your vet have you believe that you caused the problem! In such a young cat it's more likely there's a congenital problem causing the damage. It takes quite a lot to destroy the kidneys in such a young cat so unless you actuarally have fed the cat poison (which I of course don't think you have) there's no way you can be blamed for this.

Good grief, you poor thing- he's barely even an adult, and there was me thinking he would be an old man. Trust me, even if you were feeding him an awful diet (which you're not) there is no way that would be responsible for kidney damage in such a short space of time. I can only think that he must have been born with weak kidneys - ways they could become damaged could include injury, infection, or ingestion of something toxic, but I imagine you would have noticed had he been unwell.

Please do not let your vet make you feel guilty, there is no way that this is your fault.

What kinds of tests did your vet run? I would ask what led him/her to the conclusion that there was too much protein in your cat's diet. There may be certain disorders that are caused by excess protein, or more specifically, excessive amounts of a particular amino acid. Talk to your vet. If they just assume that all kidney issues are due to excess protein, look for another vet. However, if their assumption is based on tests that they ran, then the diagnosis may be valid. There are certain genetic diseases, such as cystinuria, that could cause your kitty to be intolerant of high levels of a specific amino acid. However, specific tests would need to be done to verify this diagnosis--if the vet is merely comparing symptoms to a study they read, that would not be sufficient. I'd talk to your vet and find out more about there statement.

http://www.isrvma.org/article/61_34_6.htm
http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/dvm...l.jsp?id=46550