CRF diet?

CRF Diet????

Very recently, I found from a vet that all three of my cats' blood creatine is a bit high indicating decreased kidney function. They are 13 years old, not that old since many of mine lived to around 20. For years I fed them Petguard a high quality wet food (no erzatz dry stuff), so I'm kind of confused (and upset.) The main reason I just joined "the cat site":  We need your CRF food recommendations!

Kidney disease!!!! Does anyone here know of a good wet cat food for ailing kidneys? Hills, Rx, Purina, even Royal Canin list meat by-products high in their ingredients, and recommended by a very good vet! Do we have to accept that to get the only kidney-friendly diet? I don't think I can make their food and get all the proper nutrients correct. But for now, I'm starting to mix some plain white rice in their canned Petguard.

Ptolomy's, WhollyCat and everyone else: your posts could not be better for us. Lowering protein isn't even intended to cure, only helps reduce waste to lessen stress on their kidneys. I think you make a lot of sense and we should definitely continue to avoid any by-products and meat "meal" ; they have unknown contents, though surely are not high quality food since it's "not fit for humans". Is there a commercial wet food that's really high quality meat protein?

High quality protein would also mean that they need less food and same result, less pee and poop! (Not good news to them since they love their food!) They are showing no symptoms now and actually look great. Except they are drinking more water than their usual (almost never.)  I feel very lucky to have found this so early and I am really hoping it can be reversible, but I know from past experience that it's basically not and only progressive. Many times I have given subcutaneous fluids for my older cats and I, too, am amazed by how much it helps, even when they're pretty sick. No doubt it prolonged my cats' lives and gave me the job for years longer than I ever imagined!

Yes, I will start monitoring potassium, creatine, BUN, etc. Could it be more important for their diet to have lower phosphorous and maybe salt to control blood pressure IF it's high? But still: What to Eat???

Please don't get me wrong, When I've had a cat that isn't eating at all, ANY food is good food. No ifs, ands or buts.  Try, try, try, Anything. Try sneaking it onto his paws so he'll lick. Make pheasant! (Could I stand making them road-kill?!) Actually, mine always turn out to finally go for some junk like Meow Mix or potato chips!

Congratulations, Iluvcats3 for getting Ptolomy so much better. May he have years of happy life ahead!

Jakey said:

CRF Diet????

Very recently, I found from a vet that all three of my cats' blood creatine is a bit high indicating decreased kidney function. They are 13 years old, not that old since many of mine lived to around 20. For years I fed them Petguard a high quality wet food (no erzatz dry stuff), so I'm kind of confused (and upset.) The main reason I just joined "the cat site":  We need your CRF food recommendations!

Ptolomy's, WhollyCat and everyone else: your posts could not be better for us. Lowering protein isn't even intended to cure, only helps reduce waste to lessen stress on their kidneys. I think you make a lot of sense and we should definitely continue to avoid any by-products and meat "meal" ; they have unknown contents, though surely are not high quality food since it's "not fit for humans". Is there a commercial wet food that's really high quality meat protein?

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Jakey, I've requested that your post be moved to its own thread so as not to hijack this one. Once a mod does this, I'll post a reply.

Hello,

{Jakey, I've requested that your post be moved to its own thread so as not to hijack this one. Once a mod does this, I'll post a reply. }

Cat Health>>CRF Diet...   ????  Jeeze, I did not intend to Hijack anyone!  Sorry!

I've had too much wine tonight.

I'm posting to mark this thread, I will give you my experiences with my CRF kitty tomorrow (later today).
 

My Spaz was diagnosed with late stage CRF early in 08.

She had crashes at least once a month, subQ fluids weekly helped, but not enough.

I put a call in to the vet I used to use for a my birds, she was an avian vet, but she was also an holistic vet.

We decided to change Spaz's diet, high protein, no/low carb.

I took her off of dry and fed only grain free canned and raw.

She regained a lot of her lost muscle mass, increased her energy levels, and most importantly, no more crashes and less frequent subQ treatments.

But she was end stage when diagnosed in 08, still, I had her with me until early this year.

We honestly did not worry with what was in the food as long as it was a quality protein source, we focused more on keeping her eating and not wasting away.

As for what to feed to get a crashed cat eating again?

The trick for Spaz was first stage, all meat baby food, slightly warmed, her favs were turkey or chicken.

Arlyn, thank you. Four more years for Spaz is really amazing. I'm going to do just what you wrote!
 

To be honest, I never expected her to go 4 years

She was three weeks shy of her 18th birthday.

The hard part for me was finding a grain free that wouldn't bankrupt me, I found my local feed store carried Taste Of The Wild grain free canned.

Not the best out there, but not bad, and it was accepted by my picky kids.

For raw I fed (still feed the others) chicken and turkey necks and giblets and chicken wings.
 

Hi Jakey,

This ladies site gave me a LOT of information about CRF after my little Salem was diagnosed (Pictured - she was only 7, but was already very late CRF stage at the time she was diagnosed) This lady helped me really understand a lot about the disease and what exactly I should be asking my vet, but in addition she has a very detailed section on her site dedicated to diet http://www.felinecrf.org/diet_and_nutrition.htm

So please do check it out: http://www.felinecrf.org/

All the best x

I think what you really want to concentrate on is low phosphorus.  Good quality protein is great, low or no carbs is great, but it's the phosphorus in kidney cats that causes the most harm, or so my Vet told us.  And it's better to try to find foods low is phos rather than use a phosphorus binder.  If you feed raw, be sure to make it nutritionally complete.  When Arlyn stated she feeds chicken and turkey necks, and giblets and chicken wings, I'm not sure if she meant as snacks or just what, but as stand alone meals, I don't think those would be 100% nutritionally complete.  You've got to balance out the % of meat vs organs vs bones (and certain organs are considered "meat" vs what we would call organs, if that makes any sense at all ) (I feed raw and am still buying commercially prepared complete meals because this balancing act is driving me nuts )

Jakey, since your thread was moved from a different thread, not sure if you checked into this site or not, but here's some reading on phosphorus:  http://www.felinecrf.org/phosphorus.htm, and within that site is info on diet, among lots of other things, including which foods have how much phos in them, etc. 

How are your furkids doing at this point, since your original post was in  August?

Yes, I feed raw as snacks/treats, definitely not as a meal.
 

Arlyn said:

Yes, I feed raw as snacks/treats, definitely not as a meal.
 

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Whew!   Glad to hear it!