Rx kidney foods (k/d)

First, a disclaimer- I know nothing about kidney problems in cats, never experienced it before and never had to get Rx food for any cats before.

That said, my cousin/best friend (who i wish would join this site!!) took her cat William to get a teeth cleaning on Wednesday, and she picked him up yesterday. She didn't give me huge details, but she said vet told her his kidneys are pretty bad and are functioning at 25%. This was all new to her and she wasn't prepared to hear that sad news! Also, she wasn't prepared to have to now feed him $18/4 lb. bag of k/d food and $1.50 k/d cans. I told her I'd ask The Cat Site people what they thought. I'm guessing if his kidneys are that bad then the food is necessary, but are there any websites or anything that sells it for cheaper? She's going to do what it takes to take care of her baby (she's got 2 other kitties too) but money's tight and if there are any places any of you know to get food cheaper than from the vet, any help would be appreciated. If you have questions I'll try to get more info from her too... Thanks!

I don't have any financial advice, but I can tell you that the K/d will help to slow the progression of the kidney disease, so it's very important that your cousin keeps William on it. My RB cat Snowball was diagnosed with early kidney disease, and largely because we kept him on a strict diet of k/d from the very beginning, he was able to enjoy seven more years of life.

Please read the crf sticky in the health forum... youll get lots of ideas... I myself used the crf RXs only during uti issues with my RB Kandie ... DIET is extremely important as is open discussion with your vet... 25% function is when most kittys show CRF symptoms ...

Thanks for your responses. I'll pass along the info.

I do want to reiterate that she is definitely going to feed William the k/d as long as he needs it, she doesn't want to see him get worse quicker. If she's got to pay $18 a bag, then she will. She loves her furbabies!!

Here is a good site.

http://www.felinecrf.org/

My Gray One, when she was diagnosed with CRF, was in the moderate stage.
I fed her the prescribed food and she lived almost another five years.

Dusty has early CRF too, and I've wasted lots of $$ on food she won't eat. She is a Fancy Feast addict. She will eat Innova Evo dry and FF in limited flavors. I figure any food is better than no food. I occasionally give her raw chicken liver too.

I sent her the CRF link from the Health Forum and she's even more adamant about keeping him on this food.. and kind of pissed that her vet didn't make a big deal about his kidneys when it seems it IS a big deal!

Also, so far William can't eat the dry as of yet because of his mouth, he got 4 teeth extracted yesterday... Cousin's going to try putting it in a food processor with water for now in hopes he can eat it. I guess he's not cool with the chicken flavor canned k/d either... Do they make any other flavors of that?

Our cat, Neeko, also had renal failure. Here is a link that might help (scroll down to the part about changing the flavors):
http://www.justanswer.com/questions/...cat-food-bored

IMO - dry food for renal failure is stupid. I would feed the canned....I know cost is a factor, but the kidneys are unable to process waste - canned will be less harsh on the kidneys & IMO prolong life.