High BUN levels (kidney issues) & Food

Mattie to the vet yesterday for a dental cleaning and to have a "tumor" on her eyelid removed (probably just folliculitis). They did her bloodwork before the anesthesia and her BUN levels were just outside the high range of normal.

My vet thinks Mattie is older than I was previously told. When I adopted Mattie in October 2007, the shelter said she was 9 months, but my vet at the time said 1-2 years, closer to 2. My current vet is saying that she could be 7-9 years old now. Anyway, my vet wants to run a senior bloodwork panel on her to figure out what is going on with the high BUN level.

If she does have kidney disease, I'm completely lost as to what to feed her. I have read that low-protein is better, which seems counter-intuitive for a carnivore... My vet doesn't push Science Diet (but does have a little of it in her office). For now I'm feeding Mattie just wet food.

What is a good diet for a kitty who is dealing with kidney issues (even if it's early stage)?

what do u feed currently>??

And I do 100% agree do the panel... and see if anything else is out of wack...

IMHO and experience NO low protein is not the way to go ... but it is a way if you ONLY feed 9999999i( Punky is helping me) dry food

I found 90% raw with 10% canned worked for Kandie ... For most a mostly canned diet helps greatly with watching calcium, phosphorus , magnesium and the DIGESTIBILITY of the proteins given

Until this week, she was eating 1/4 cup of Wellness Complete in the morning and 3 oz of wet food at night (Chicken Soup, Natural Balance, Wellness, occasionally Meow Mix). When I ran out of the Wellness, I was going to pick up a bag of Taste of the Wild because it's cheaper...

I've fed her all wet food this week (mostly Natural Balance) - 6 oz a day.

I don't have time to do a RAW diet...but I think I can swing feeding her only wet food. Chicken Soup is the cheapest wet food that she'll eat, that I like the ingredients for. Would feeding primarily Chicken Soup (with some Wellness & Natural Balance thrown in) be o.k. , or would a prescription (wet) food for kidney issues be better (like Hills k/d wet food)?

Rx food has a place... When I had Kandie we did Rx food if she had an episode( usually an infection) for a couple weeks to a month)... You likely are okay with the choices you use for wet

None of the grain frees are really kidney friendly..

I am feeding my CRF cat Natural Balance's limited ingredients canned diet - the ones with green pea. I emailed NB and their numbers seem to be good for CRF. Maybe a little low in vitamin B but the other numbers are ok. My cat has refused to eat all the Rx foods and will consistently eat NB as long as I vary the flavours.

With CRF, it's a balance between feeding a kidney-friendly diet and getting your cat to eat. If your cat refuses to eat the Rx foods you have no choice but to feed him what he will eat. It is not good for a CRF cat to lose weight. Also, canned food is the way to go - he needs the moisture. Also, getting a drinking fountain. Eventually, administering subcutaneous fluids at least every other day will be necessary to hydrate your cat. For convenience's sake, vets will say sub Q fluids once weekly but that doesn't make sense. My vet told me every other day or daily is best. With the Rx foods, you can try rotating them so your cat doesn't get sick of them. I find with Rx foods, animals get sick of them easily, especially HIlls' K/d.

Hopefully the reason for her rather high BUN will just be the higher protein diet she is on -- that by itself does not mean anything wrong with the kidneys, most cats on high protein diet have higher BUN. You have to look at the combination of not just that but creatinine and the urine specific gravity (cats with kidney disease lose ability to concentrate their urine) .

I will never again feed a low protein diet to a cat except maybe in the very end stages of CRF. Many informed vets have moved away from that way of thinking because it causes some serious problems in itself, that then sometimes get blamed on the disease..... low protein leads to anemia and muscle wasting -- and anorexia since it is not very appetizing . Cats burn protein whether or not they get it in their diet. If they don't get it, they break down their own body tissues (thats the muscle wasting) and then guess what? the kidneys still have to deal with THAT protein.
The more recent thinking is to focus on the QUALITY of the protein and on the amount of phosphorus. so feed a moderate to high amount of high quality digestible protein like muscle meat from poultry or rabbit. And try to avoid high phosph. and use phos. binders to reduce the amount of it the kidneys have to deal with.

I'm in a similar situation with my 6-year-old boy(from a shelter, so he may be older!) who has a high creatinine level but just under lab range BUN. We're testing to see if it's something other than CRF, but in the meantime, my vet suggested k/d.

He's beginning to eat it (I mix in low sodium tuna or sardine water, which he loves), but I'm concerned about the low protein.

Can I supplement with my own meat--chicken or bison? He usually will eat them, and it seems to me that the protein would be good for him.

If it comes down to you needing to put your cat on a specific CRF diet of low phosphorus/low protein, I recommend looking up Hi Tor Neo (I bought mine at PetFoodDirect.com and Amazon.com) and see what your vet thinks of it. Boo really liked it. Just a suggestion. Always ask your vet first.

I looked up the Hi Tor Neo, and it had great reviews from people who said that their cats would not touch Rx foods but loved the Hi Tor.

I ordered a case, but my guy resisted that, too! I've been trying to get him to eat it by mixing in a little low sodium tuna water or sardine water, but although he nibbled a little at first (for a few days), by yesterday, he just stared at the dishes and refused it.

This morning, I was so frustrated that after he just stared at the Hi Tor, I opened a can of k/d and gave him a serving with nothing added to entice him.
He ate it!

I wonder whether he was associating the tuna/sardine water with food he hated because I'd been mixing that with the k/d from the beginning.

It also could be the need for variety. One of the reasons I bought the Hi Tor is that I knew even if I got him to eat the k/d, I'd need something else for variety. Otherwise, he'd eventually reject it.

Now I'm going to change off between the k/d and the Hi Tor and give him both from the can without adding anything and see if that does the trick.

(I've been weighing him to insure that he isn't losing much weight during his holding out periods. He hasn't lost more than a few ounces, and that's a benefit because he needed to lose a little.)

Just an update...I had the full blood panel screen done on her, and my vet said everything else looks fine. She just wants to do another check in 6 months, and said that some cats just have higher BUN levels. So yay for that!

Thanks everyone for your advice/thoughts.